Palm Benchmark and Egg Mountain

Hiked: 4/14/2026
Distance: 1.5 miles round trip cross country
Summit Elevation: 1927'
Elevation Gain: 543'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.4
Round trip time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Recommended water: 16 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on South Indian Canyon Road
Difficulty: Easy

I pulled off South Indian Canyon Road on the way back from Sombrero, just before it merges with North Indian Canyon. A word of advice to anyone following: drive a little further up the road before stopping. You'll save yourself some extra legwork getting to the benchmark. There was no trail here, and no use trail either. Palm Benchmark was a full cross-country boulder hop from start to finish. I worked my way up a large wash, gained the ridge, then followed the ridge toward the summit, trading a little elevation as I went. The high point stayed hidden until you're practically on top of it, which kept things interesting.

The summit itself was an 8-foot boulder with a benchmark bolted to the top and a register tucked inside a rusted can. Wes Shelberg placed it in 1997, and the signature count was surprisingly healthy for a peak this far off the beaten path. The view back to Sombrero was outstanding. Since the terrain was the same in every direction, I picked the most direct line down a nearby gully. Nothing harder than Class 2, but count on boulder hopping the whole way.

Back at the truck, I drove over to Egg Mountain. The dirt road went to the summit. There were no markers, and there's little worth writing up, so I'll leave it at that. While I was in the area, I swung north toward the Mountain Palm Springs palm groves near Egg. Anza-Borrego has been rolling out pay stations at popular spots across the park, and this one had a $10 parking fee for day hikers and $25 for camping. I understand the camping charge. The day-use fee for a roadside pullout gave me pause, so I pointed the truck toward home.

Summit ahead

Great view of Sombrero

On top of Egg Mountain, Sombrero distant center, Palm Benchmark on the right

Sombrero Peak

Hiked: 4/14/2026 (x2)
Distance: 3.5 miles round trip on use trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 4229'
Elevation Gain: 2061'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.6
Round trip time: 4 hours 15 minutes
Recommended water: 64 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on South Indian Canyon Road
Difficulty: Moderate

This was my second summit of Sombrero Peak. It was #46 on the Sierra Club San Diego Peaks list, but that list may have been retired by the Sierra Club. There doesn't seem to be a reference to it on the Sierra Club site. It is also #80 on the Sierra Club DPS list. That one is certainly still active. In any case, Sombrero was a fun scramble, even through it took me an extra hour to complete it compared to 2018. I blame age. The weather was perfect, cool and sunny. I intended to pay closer attention to the use trail that started at the end of South Indian Canyon Road, but a half mile later, I realized I was ascending the wrong use trail and had to course correct. Most of the slopes around Sombrero were fairly uniform with large boulders and vegetation. While the use trail was easier, I still made steady progress when I wasn't on it. I found the use trail for the final bump.

On my first trip, in addition to the boulder high point, I climbed a boulder that had a benchmark on top. This time, I investigated three possible high points and confirmed the middle boulder juts slightly higher than the other two contenders. Since I was alone on the mountain, I took a couple of aerial shots. The register and a couple of summit signs were stowed on a flat boulder below the high point. Investiagting the summit boulders took about 15 minutes, then I spent another 15 minutes lounging in the sun. Heading down, I did a better job staying on the use trail on the lower half, but the track is kind of messy. Use at your own risk. Back at the truck, I reloaded the water to prepare for a couple of smaller peaks in the area.

Highest boulder on the summit

Second highest boulder with a benchmark

See also:
Sombrero Peak 2018

Mobius Arch Loop

Hiked: 4/6/2026
Distance: 0.7 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 4600'
Elevation Gain: 80'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.1
Round trip time: 25 minutes
Recommended water: 0 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Mobius Loop parking lot
Difficulty: Easy

We started our second day in Lone Pine at the Museum of Western Film History. It had a large collection of props, costumes, cars, and other memorabilia. Then, we drove back down Movie Road to the Mobius Arch trail. There were half a dozen vehicles in the parking lot and several parties on the trail. I was surprised how short the loop was. The arch was popular and we had to wait our turn for photos. It did frame the Sierra in a cool way. On the way back, we met a chuckwalla that let me get pretty close before darting under a rock. On our way out, we stopped at the Shark's Fin. I wanted to scout it, but it looked beyond my climbing ability. We were on our way back to the OC by noon.

Leisa in the mobius

Alabama Hills High Point

Hiked: 4/6/2026
Distance: 1.1 mile round trip cross country
Summit Elevation: 5395'
Elevation Gain: 600'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.6
Round trip time: 1 hour
Recommended water: 16 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Iron Man Jericho Overlook
Difficulty: Easy

Leisa and I made an overnight trip to Lone Pine to see the Museum of Western Film History, the Manzanar Historic Site, and do a couple of hikes in the Alabama Hills. These were things we've wanted to do, but were usually too busy with big hikes in the Sierra. We visited Manzanar in the afternoon and finished the day with the Alabama Hills High Point. We drove down Movie Road, a sedan friendly dirt road, and parked at the Iron Man Jericho Overlook where an early scene in the Iron Man movie was shot. It's the scene where Tony Stark demonstrates the Jericho missile system, blowing up a row of Sierra mountains in the background. There was no trail to the high point, but we started toward the right to gain the ridge. This avoided the boulder piles on the east face. Once on the ridge, we stayed behind the boulders until we reached the summit area where some scrambling was needed to reach the high point. The summit boulder was a 10' class 2+ rock. I searched around the boulder and several others on both sides looking for a register, but none was found. We also didn't see any marks. Awesome views of the Alabama Hills and the Sierra and worth the effort.

Alabama Hills High Point from Movie Road

Scramble section, summit boulder in the background

Snow capped Sierra

Greater Roadrunner

Cady Peak

Hiked: 4/3/2026
Distance: 6.5 miles round trip cross country
Summit Elevation: 4630'
Prominence: 2430'
Elevation Gain: 2061'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.6
Round trip time: 3 hours 45 minutes
Recommended water: 64 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on BLM Road MT8685
Difficulty: Moderate

The desert heat wave finally broke, opening a window to bag Cady Peak before summer. I'd been working a stretch of peaks near I-15 and I-40, and this one was north of I-40 about 45 minutes east of Barstow. The P2K status made it attractive. I took the Hector exit, then Pisgah Crater Road under the interstate heading north. Past a power station, I stopped at a railroad crossing for a passing train, then continued north on the power line road about five miles (BLM MT8685) and parked at the mouth of a wide wash. The road was in decent shape. High clearance recommended for the last two miles.

The wash was the approach. After a couple of miles it narrowed, leading to a few dry falls. The final half mile was steep, loose, and thoroughly unpleasant. The desolate terrain showed almost no signs of life, vegetation nearly absent, even the hardiest cacti sparse. I stayed in the wash until I was directly below the summit, then scrambled straight up. On top: a wooden pole, a benchmark, and two reference marks. No register. I meant to bring one but was out of booklets. The 360° views were solid. I'd hauled the drone up, but the summit wind made flying a non-starter.

The descent was somewhat eventful. I tried angling toward a small saddle at the upper end of the wash, thinking it might beat reversing straight down. It didn't. A side-hill traverse to the saddle ran me into cliffs that pushed me back west. At one point I slipped on a slab and slid about six feet, landing on both feet in the sand. That one could have gone differently. Once clear of the steep stuff, it was an easy coast back through open desert.

Cady from I-40

Dry fall

Steep