False Sombrero Peak

Hiked: 1/5/2018
Distance: 2 miles round trip on use trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 3463'
Elevation Gain: 1359'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.08
Round trip time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Recommended water: 64 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on North Indian Canyon Road
Difficulty: Moderate

After hiking Sombrero, I drove from the end of South Indian Canyon Road to the end of North Indian Canyon Road. False Sombrero (SDC #63) had two major sections. The first part was climbing up a rough gully and the second part was a steep sandy slope. It offers up a calf ripping 1359'/mile of gain. From the turn around, I started north into the gully. I didn't see any use trail so I picked my way up and around the boulders and thorny plants. Occasionally, I saw a footprint in the sand, but mostly the terrain felt wild. It had warmed up since the morning into the low 70s and I expected to run into some slithery reptiles but didn't. Once I got out of the gully, I tackled the long sandy slope toward the saddle. I found a use trail and did my best to slog up. The sand was 3" deep and it was like walking on the beach at a 35 degree angle. Because I finished Sombrero ahead of schedule, I didn't have any time pressure so I took my time going up and sliding back. It was slow, but eventually I got to the saddle. I continued around north of the peak, then scrambled up. The summit block was an easy class 2 from all sides. I found the register inside a glass jar inside a red can. The register was small and although it went back to 1989, it wasn't full. Outside of list chasing peakbaggers, I'm not sure who would even know about False Sombrero. I went through the list and recognized nearly half the names. I took a lot of photos of the register pages for posterity before signing my own. The views were even better than from Sombrero, especially of the Sawtooth Mountains and the Inner Pasture. I hung around the summit for 20-30 minutes, an eternity for me, resting and enjoying the sights and perfect weather. I couldn't help but think of the poor souls in most of the country dealing with sub-freezing and sub-zero temps. The West is the best. Get here and we'll do the rest. Returning was much easier as I casually plunge stepped the sandy slope and scrambled back down the gully. It was a short, stiff hike and worth every step.

North gully and False Sombrero

Rough country heading for the saddle

Looking down the sandy slope, Sombrero in the background

Summit block

Indian Valley

Red Top right, Inner Pasture, Laguna Mountains left

Red Top and Sawtooth Mountains high point

First entry in the register

Paul Freiman

Bob Burd, Tom Becht

Ben Baumann and Anna Tan

Daren Sefeik

Craig Barlow

Greg Gerlach, Kelley Laxamana, Larry Edmonds,
Shelly Britton, Mikey Sullivan

Matt Hanan

Patrick O'Neill

Driving out