Distance: 3.8 miles round trip on dirt road
Summit Elevation: 2767'
Prominence: 1207'
Elevation Gain: 975'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.7
Round trip time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Recommended water: 20 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Galivan Springs Road
Difficulty: Easy
Estelle was on my radar because it was a P1K and relatively close. May gray was in full flower as I drove by Lake Matthews in Riverside County. It was another dirt road hike on Galivan Springs Road. Shortly after I turned onto the dirt road, I was stopped a black, medium-sized, stray dog (no collar). It was in the road barking at my truck. When I got near, it ran in front of the truck and I had to stop. I tried to back up, but it ran behind the truck. Then, it circled, barking every few seconds. When it was behind me, I moved forward slowly before it ran back in front. We played this game five or six times before I was able to get far enough ahead of it that it couldn't catch me. Unclear property lines and these kinds of annoyances made me question whether these small IE peaks are worth the effort. I continued up the road just past the last house. This was where Robert Luher parked and the road looked unused and degraded after this point.
Unwanted dog attention continued immediately after I exited the truck. As I got my pack ready, there was steady barking from the last house. A german shepherd, a doberman, and a white dog of unknown breed were all sounding the alarm. At least they were fenced. The barking only stopped when I rounded a bend about a half mile up the road. In some places, the road was overgrown with weeds and grass. Other parts were clear, but it didn't look recently used. I gained about 300', then gave it all back as the road dipped before the final short climb to the summit. A loud static buzz filled the air as I followed power lines to the summit. Clouds had it completely socked. I found a reference mark and the benchmark in good condition. There was no register and views were utterely blocked by the clouds. The only thing of note at the summit were the hazy ghosts of giant electrical towers. Estelle gets my vote as ugliest summit with 1000' of prominence. I spent no more than 5 minutes looking around before reversing course. I met a work truck rolling by on the way back, but no hikers. I was concerned about meeting the stray on the way out, but the road was clear.
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