Seven Teacups

Hiked: 5/23/2026
Distance: 4.5 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 4157' (at the teacups)
Elevation Gain: 1000'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.0
Round trip time: 2 hours 20 minutes
Recommended water: 32 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Mountain Highway 99
Difficulty: Easy

Leisa and I spent Memorial Day weekend in Kernville exploring the Southern Sierra. We drove past Kernville to a turnout on the side of Mountain Highway 99, the starting point for the trail to Seven Teacups. The teacups are a series of deep cylinders carved by water flowing through Dry Meadow Creek. The round trip was a little over 4 miles and the trail was easy to follow, though temps were in the high 80s. We hit a couple of obstacles at the end. First was getting over the creek. A 20' log had been placed at a narrow point, but the water was 4' deep there and flowing strongly. We explored upstream about 100' and found a spot where it was only shin deep and we could wade across. Leisa decided to take the log. I decided to wade. She made it across the log easily and I met up with her on the granite rocks on the other side. After crossing the creek, the trail went up and down the side of the creek with some scrambling to reach the start of the tea cups. They were deeper than photos suggested, between 10-30' deep with falls in between. Leisa found a great viewing spot where we could see all the teacups at once. My impression was that this canyon would be a tough descent even with proper ropes and gear, but canyoneers might not think so. Since it was Memorial Day weekend, there were many people on the trail, but fewer people made it to the teacups. Heading back, I followed Leisa over the log, then we reversed the ups and downs.

Pine Mountain Ridge

Hiked: 5/18/2026
Distance: 11.7 miles round trip on dirt roads and use trail
Summit Elevation: 7471'
Elevation Gain: 3080'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.4
Round trip time: 5 hours 30 minutes
Recommended water: 64 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Guffy Campground
Difficulty: Moderate

Pine Mountain Ridge (HPS #98) is the high point on a ridge in the Angeles National Forest that extends from Pine Mountain between San Antonio Ridge and Blue Ridge. It has low prominence, but great views of the northern aspects of the mountains around Baldy. My intention was to go nowhere near it. I had packed and planned for a bike ride along the closed section ACH to Dawson Saddle, followed by a one mile round trip to Mount Lewis (HPS #52). When I got to the closed section, there was a long convoy of dump trucks driving through the open barrier to work on the ACH. I didn't want to deal with the construction traffic or interfere with their work, so I looked for an alternative. On my drive out, I noticed the gate to Blue Ridge was open. I knew there were a couple of HPS peaks out there I hadn't climbed, so I downloaded a track to Wild View Peak on my phone before losing cell service. The track I had did a big loop over Pine Mountain, but I picked one tendril of the track, hoping it was Wild View. The dirt road to Guffy Campground was in good shape, but there were a lot of crews out clearing dead trees. I parked at Guffy and started down the road toward Lupine Camp. The road had a lot of big washouts before I reached the Prairie Fork of the San Gabriel River. The stream was steady but low and easily crossed.

Pine Mountain from Lupine Road

Prairie Fork
An abandoned dirt road continued on the other side of the river. It degraded into a dry streambed, then emerged on the other side. Before I got to Lupine Camp, I spotted a road cut going up to the ridge. I pushed through some plants to reach it. It was somewhat overgrown with knee high grass and talus. The grade was steady but not really steep. When I reached the ridge, the road split with one fork going left and one continuing along the ridge. I stayed on the ridge and soon reached the high point. A solitary boulder with a rusted register can marked the top. Inside the can was a piece of charcoal that used to be a register. It needs a new one. I had great views of Iron Mountain, Baldy, Pine, Rattlesnake, and South Mount Hawkins. On the way back, I was tempted to head out to another peak on the track, but I was already rationing my food and water. It felt surprisingly isolated along the ridge. The return trip had a lot of gain, but it was spread out over several miles. It wasn't until I got home that I discovered I had reached Pine Mountain Ridge and not Wild View, the other point on the track. I'll have to go back for Wild View, but feel confident I can drive part way down Lupine Road to save some effort. This HPS peak was of questionable quality, but I salvaged the day and worked up a lather outside. Can't complain.

Overgrown road

Near the end of the ridge

Iron Mountain #1 and Rattlesnake Peak

Pine Mountain (left) and Baldy

Pine Mountain Ridge from Blue Ridge Road

Clark Mountain

Hiked: 5/7/2026
Distance: 4.2 miles round trip cross country and use trail
Summit Elevation: 7906'
Prominence: 4232'
Elevation Gain: 2535'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.0
Round trip time: 5 hours
Recommended water: 64 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Clark Mountain Camp (picnic tables)
Difficulty: Moderate

Ben Baumann and I planned to meet up for Clark Mountain (DPS #32), the highest peak in the Mojave. With more than 4000' of prominence, it was visible 25 miles away on the drive up I-15. I exited Bailey Road, crossed under the interstate and turned on Clark Mountain Road. It was paved for a half mile or so before it turned to dirt. I went around a plant to where the road was gated. It was signed Public Access and not locked. I took the second left onto BLM NN120 and that went all the way to the camp with picnic tables. I recommend using a track for the drive in since there are so many crisscrossed roads. Ben had spent the night and was getting ready when I arrived. We talked about bringing a rope, but decided to leave it.

The path behind the picnic tables ended in the ascent gully. Ben spotted a use trail above the gully on the right and we followed for a while before dropping back into it. Further up, we exited on the left and made our way up to the cliff band that blocked further upward progress. Near the top, we looked around for the right place to climb. We spotted a long orange sling someone had left on the cliff tied to a bush. We thought that was the right way, but we quickly learned otherwise. The sling could not be reached from the ground. I went first and climbed a 20' class 4 section to a ledge. From there, I scrambled to the top of the cliff. Ben climbed up behind me. The cliff edge was about 2' wide with a 40' drop on one side and 100' drop on the other. It was clear we were off route and started down. Getting down was scary. Instead of trying to down climb where we came up, we dropped onto an exposed ledge with poor quality rock. We were able to use the sling on the top part of the ledge and that was enough to get us safely back on the ground.

Clark Mountain (left) from I-15

Reaching the cliff band

Wrong way!

Scary down climb using the orange sling
The correct route was only 80' downhill from where we backed off. A climbing rope had been tied around a tree above and reached the dirt. The class 3 was easier here, and the limestone was solid, though the formation was at a down sloping angle. I wrapped the rope around my left arm as a backup. Once I got to the tree, Ben followed. The route above was class 2 and marked with cairns. We dropped 100' before the final ascent. The 360 views over the jagged spines of Clark were fantastic. The original register book from 1995 was in good shape and full. We signed another register with more recent visitors. The benchmark was in good shape and I found one reference mark. We had planned to make the hike a loop and come down the less demanding west ridge. We expected more class 2 on the descent, but there were only a couple of places that required hands. The use trail on the west ridge was better defined and also marked with cairns. We stayed high on the ridge line and dropped off onto the road below where we started. A short hop up the road got us back. Clark turned out to be quite exciting, with added spice due to our initial bad route. Very fun mountain.

Correct route

Ben on the way up

Continuation above

Almost there

Register book from 1995

Looking back from the west ridge

Carrizo Mountain

Hiked: 4/21/2026
Distance: 12.1 miles round trip cross country, dirt road, and use trail
Summit Elevation: 2409'
Prominence: 1250'
Elevation Gain: 3043'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.4
Round trip time: 6 hours 30 minutes
Recommended water: 92 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Fossil Canyon Road
Difficulty: Strenuous

I took I-8 east to Imperial Highway (S2), then went north on Shell Canyon Road. The road turned to dirt and went by a shooting range. I missed the final turn that would have taken me to the 4WD parking area and ended up at the mouth of Fossil Canyon. It was close enough. I hiked about a quarter mile before reaching the 4WD parking area, then continued up the canyon. The geology was interesting: mud towers and shells embedded in the walls. The main route ascent gully looked loose, so I continued up the main canyon to the next gully that was narrow, but easy class 2 on solid boulders. A half mile later, I realized the gullies did not converge. I had to climb out of the one I was in and drop into the adjacent one. Descending loose scree tweaked my left knee, which has become a theme this year, and made me consider turning back. Carrizo was still a long way off, but I knew the cross country section was almost over. I climbed up one more steep gully, then spotted the dirt road that would guide me the rest of the way. Carrizo Mountain was not visible until I crested the final gully.

Memorial set up just off the road

First look at Carrizo Mountain
The southern face of Carrizo Mountain was marked by cliffs and badlands. Painful if not impossible for a direct assault. However, the road veered away from it, looping to ascend the more gentle east ridge. Road walking caused no discomfort, so I continued my quest. Once out of the gullies, the wind blew steadily at 20-25mph with stiff gusts. The road ended near the summit and a use trail took over. The summit had two benchmarks and great 360 views to the Salton Sea and Mexico. A couple of register were in a plastic jar, the oldest from 1998. There were entries as recent as the previous week. I spent about 20 minutes resting on the summit, then started down. I decided to take the standard route back and dropped down the loose gully I avoided on the way up. I'm not sure it was easier than my ascent route. I relaxed once I was back in the main canyon and coasted back to the truck.

Start of the use trail

Salton Sea to the north

Looking back on the way out