San Sevaine Lookout

Hiked: 2/26/2025
Distance: 2 miles round trip on use trail
Summit Elevation: 5240'
Elevation Gain: 730'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.6
Round trip time: 2 hours
Recommended water: 16 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Forest Road 1N34 (gate open seasonally)
Difficulty: Easy

I was looking for an easy HPS peak I could do as a day trip. San Sevaine (HPS #260) was one of the closest left. When I checked the status of forest road 1N34, I discovered it was going to close in 3 days for the summer. It would reopen in September. That was motivation enough. I drove on Sierra Avenue to the gate for 1N34. It was open and I started the 8 mile drive to the radio towers near San Sevaine. The road definitely needed 4x4. It was rutted, rocky, and muddy. The last quarter mile to the towers was the worst. The drive up was about an hour. I spotted the use trail about 100' down the road. It was in decent shape as it dropped down the slope toward the knob where the lookout used to be. I spotted either a coyote or deer sprinting downhill not far from the road. I brought along loppers since the trail gets quickly overgrown with whitethorn. The vegetation grew thicker as I went along. While there were signs of clipping, I had to do quite a bit of my own to get through some areas. I hit an old road bed near the saddle and followed that through some turns. On the way up the knob, the use trail went through 4 tunnels cut in the whitethorn. I had to crawl anywhere from 10' to 40' at the longest. The last tunnel was not even visible until I cleared the opening of branches. Loppers were a must. Maybe you could get by if you followed someone within a week. Even with the loppers, I garnered a collection of scratches passing through. At the very top was a small boulder pile. Two registers were in a PVC pipe with a lid, but both were soaked and mostly ruined. San Sevaine needs a new register. The views were OK. Nice look at Etiwanda and Cucamonga, but this was not an HPS peak that will wow you. It was easier on the way back with fresh cuts, but no faster. It's about a 600' climb back up to the towers.

San Gorgonio left, San Jacinto right

Knob below is where the lookout used to be

Tunnel time

Summit

Looking back at the towers, Cucamonga, Etiwanda

Lookout ruins

Towsley Benchmark and Oat Mountain Redux

Hiked: 2/23/2025
Distance: 10.9 miles round trip on use trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 2884' (Towsley), 3745' (Oat)
Elevation Gain: 3540'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.8
Round trip time: 8 hours 50 minutes
Recommended water: 112 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Towsley Canyon Park
Difficulty: Strenuous (brush, route finding)

Nate Underkuffler planned a hike for his 39th birthday from Towsley Canyon Park to Oat Mountain. It was a revenge hike with route modifications from his unsuccessful attempt the prior year to rach Oat from the northeast. The standard route was a road hike from the south. In early 2024, I was still recovering from an ankle break and could not join the group on a cross country scramble. I was able to reach the top of Oat Mountain that day via the standard route, and I waited for the group to reach the road until they informed I was informed they had cliffed out. This year, my ankle was solid, and seven hikers were determined to make the eastern route work. The group included Nate, his father Craig, Dima Kogan, and three people I hadn't met before: Matt, Wes, and Dave. Most of the group were young and strong. Craig and I were in our 60s, relying more on our experience and skill. We expected severe brush on the upper ridges. I was armed with Fiskar loppers. As a group, we had four loppers and a hand saw.

The first few miles were on the Don Mullally trail, then we followed an overgrown use trail up a drainage, to a ridge and Towsley Benchmark. The benchmark was immaculate, but no register was around. We took a break in the shade, then continued east on a good use trail up and down along the narrow ridge. We turned south on a connecting ridge that would take us to the fire road. We expected the brush to get much worse. At first, minor clipping was all that was needed to reach a large sandstone outcrop. The brush got steadily worse, but everyone was chopping and sawing through it. The sun was out in force and temps increased to the low 80s. The worst part of the ridge was the last 1000', but we made steady progress and burst through the last of it onto the Palo Sola fire road.

Towsley Peak center

(L to R): Matt, Dima, Craig, Nate, Wes, Dave (and tailgate)

Thicker brush near the top of the ridge
We gathered in the shade below Oat Mountain to decide the next course of action. Nate wanted to make a game time call on whether to take his planned route down a different ridge back into Towsley Canyon or bail on the standard road route to the south. Dima and a few other people were planning to bail due to low water. The heat had taken its toll. It was already 2 PM and I was concerned about having enough time to complete the other ridge. I donated a 32 oz gatorade and a 16 oz water to the group that wanted to take the ridge down. That was enough for Dima to change his mind, then Nate, Wes, and Dave geared up for it. Craig, Matt, and I planned to summit Oat, then take the road down. We parted ways. The three of us continued up to Oat and had lunch under a large tree. We made our way down, encountering one bull, a coyote, and a few calves grazing on the green slopes. We took a shortcut near the bottom to explore the abandoned Nike missile silos. Nate's wife was kind enough to pick us up and shuttle us back to Towsley Canyon. On the way, we got word the ridge group had run into harsh brush and were going to come down the south side as well. When we got back to Towsley, I found my tailgate missing. Gone. It had been stolen in broad daylight at a busy county park with a lot street traffic. The thieves left my bags in the bed alone. It was brazen, but at least there was no other damage to the truck. I said my goodbyes, then drove home, knowing I would have to deal with the tailgate the next day. It was a fine hike with an unfortunate end. The initial estimate to replace it was $4200, covered by insurance except for the deductable.

Bull on patrol

...and it's gone

Coyote Mountain, Coyote West, Peak 2589 and Mist BM

Hiked: 2/18/2025
Distance: 10.9 miles round trip on use trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 3193'
Elevation Gain: 3480'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.8
Round trip time: 7 hours
Recommended water: 132 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Rockhouse Canyon Road
Difficulty: Strenuous

My last visit to Coyote Mountain (SDC #71) was 2017. I wanted to take the long south ridge this time, stopping at Mist BM and Coyote West along the way. I drove to Rockhouse Canyon Road, then took an unsigned dirt road a short distance toward the foot of Coyote. I started up the closest slope, which had a use trail, only to discover it did not connect with the ridge. I had to drop down and cross a gully to reach the ridge. Mist BM came quickly, but was in a random location. There were 4 fingers stabbing eastward from the ridge and Mist was the third highest. I don't pretend to understand the logic. There was a benchmark and register from 2022. I signed in without removing my pack.

Tequila sunrise

Coyote far away

Mist benchmark

I continued up the ridge, eventually descending into a large dry lake. This was the coolest feature of the day. The caked mud on the perimeter showed that it held water at least a little while on the rare occasion of heavy precipitation. I crossed the dry lake as the ridge continued to undulate. There was a lot of extra gain from the contours. I climbed a steep section of gully, then hit a relatively flat section. There were a few places where I followed an old road, other segments had a faint use trail, and the rest was open desert with very little vegetation. Even cholla and ocotillo had only a meager presence on Coyote. I crossed Peak 2589, a forgettable bump. Before the final ascent, the ridge gave up 200' to a saddle. I took a gully up to the top, then traversed a short distance to Coyote West. It seemed almost level with the official high point and had a reference mark. There was a plastic jar with several full registers. The oldest date from 1993. As I approached the summit, I saw someone already there with a dog. I thought it might be someone local on a Tuesday, but the hiker was John Pru (sp?) with his dog Gracie. He was an avid hiker and peakbagger from Massachusetts with 44 state high points. He had come up the standard route. He and his wife were traveling the county by RV and had been in town a few days. We had a lengthy chat about peakbagging and I suggested some nearby off the beaten path hikes. We left the summit at the same time, returning along our different ascent lines. I tried some route modifications on the way down looking for easier alternatives, but they were mostly worse. I picked up one mylar balloon on the way out.

Across the dry lake

Coyote West

Coyote summit

John and Gracie

Back across the dry lake

See also:
Coyote Mountain standard route

Buried Mountain

Hiked: 2/6/2025
Distance: 0.7 miles round trip cross country
Summit Elevation: 1472'
Elevation Gain: 130'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.1
Round trip time: 25 minutes
Recommended water: 0 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on unnamed dirt road
Difficulty: Easy

After Palen, I spent the night in Blythe and headed home in the morning. Buried Mountain was a quick bonus just south of I-10 near the Orocopia Mountains. I exited at Cottonwood Springs, then took Box Canyon Road a few miles to a dirt road leading to Buried Mountain. The road was in good shape, but I parked before the end to extend my break from driving. I didn't bother taking anything with me since the trip was so short. The open desert was barren with little vegetation. I got to the top in a few minutes and found a pile of rocks at the high point. There was a register in a glass jar, but in a different cairn in a hole about 25' from the top. There were only a handful of signatures. I descended down the north ridge, then got back on the freeway.

Semis on I-10

Orocopia Mountains