Hiked: 4/6/2021
Distance: 18.1 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 6562' (Martinez), 5141' (Sheep)
Prominence: 1722' (Martinez)
Elevation Gain: 5444'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 4.3
Round trip time: 12 hours
Recommended water: 200 oz.
Parking/Fees: Adventure Pass at Cactus Spring Trailhead
Difficulty: Strenuous
First, the cougar. On the way back, Henry and I walked within 15' of a cougar resting in the shade under a small tree. Within 2 seconds, it bolted directly away from us at high speed. Had it charged, I doubt I would've had time to move before it reached me. It was a sureal moment and my first encounter with a cougar in the wild. My guess is it weighed between 100 and 120 pounds. Now back to the trip report.
Hardcore Henry and I met at the Cactus Spring Trailhead (5E01) planning a balloon style loop. The trail went close to Martinez (HPS #149, DPS #50) but Sheep Mountain (HPS #267) was a couple of miles off trail. We kicked off festivities at 6 AM with enough light to forgo a headlamp. The trail was well groomed and sandy, with a number of helpful wooden markers. About a mile in, we crossed Horsethief Creek with the only water on the hike. We were grinding heads down the first 6.5 miles to the base of Martinez. The two main routes were the southwest ridge and northwest gully. We decided to take the ridge up, gully down, then head cross country directly to Sheep. We left the trail for a steep slope and gained the ridge. On the ridge was a pretty good use trail with frequent cairns. The cairns were useful in showing the best route through the boulders. After topping three false summits, we finally reached the summit area littered with boulder stacks.
We left our packs below for the solid class 3 climb. There were two ways up the first 15' to a ramp that led around to the other side where a 10' chimney got you to the top. The view from the top was inspiring, with Toro looming above, Rabbit to the south, and the mountains of Joshua Tree northeast. We unpacked the register from an ammo box. The register was placed in 2003 but was only about 1/3 full. As an HPS and DPS peak, I expected more visitors. After soaking in the summit, we down climbed and started down the gully.
The gully looks very steep from afar. It is filled with mostly stable boulders and debris from runoff. Nothing was overly difficult or exceeded class 2, but it did demand attention. It was also long, dropping about 1500' before splitting into smaller channels at the bottom. By comparison, the gully route was more difficult than the ridge. Once we were out, we trekked cross country toward Sheep, hidden by intervening ridges and bumps. The high desert terrain was semi-open and included seveal kinds of cactus, junipers, cedars, and manzanita. There was enough space between the vegetation to allow steady progress. After a lot of ups and downs, we finally identified Sheep Mountain and circled a ridge to reach it. Sheep had an official benchmark and a register in standard HPS red cans. The oldest register was from 1983 and was badly weathered. We signed a newer one. We took our last break on Sheep then descended the ridge running southwest. Cairns marked a use trail to the bottom of the ridge before disappering. The way back to the trail was blocked by a ridge running perpendicular to ours. We debated whether to go around, but decided to power over it instead. Once we got over the ridge, we had a flat 1.5 miles back to the trail. It was here that we marched up on the mountain lion. After it ran away, I took a waypoint for reference. Until we got back to the trail, we checked the rear view frequently to make sure we were not followed. Back on trail, we met a red diamond rattlesnake. It was a 3' juvenile but old enough to warn us with a courtesy rattle. It crawled into an agave plant and remained agitated until we were out of earshot. The final four miles had about 700' of gain. Martinez/Sheep was a wonderful, big hike, exactly the kind of test I need from time to time.
Good thing you weren't solo on this adventure. That cat encounter could have turned out differently. Good sighting though. A rarity for sure.
ReplyDeleteMadison,
DeleteI've been thinking about this since it happened. I almost always carry bear spray but didn't this time to save the 1 pound of weight on a monster hike. And because I wasn't solo. Turns out it would not have helped in this situation if the cat had charged. Not enough time to react. Same if it pounced from behind. It would only help if it was stalking and I saw it first. Meeting a cat is very rare, and 99.9% of the time, they want nothing to do with people and retreat if possible. I feel grateful to have had that 2 second meeting, even though it was a little unnerving.