Distance: 3.2 miles round trip on dirt road, use trail, and cross country
Summit Elevation: 3171'
Elevation Gain: 1434'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.1
Round trip time: 3 hours 20 minutes
Recommended water: 20 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Corn Springs Road
Difficulty: Moderate
Corn Benchmark is a seldom visited desert peak in the Chuckwalla Mountains south of I-10 between Coachella and Blythe. Hi Corn is less than a quarter mile from the benchmark and only slightly higher. I exited I-10 at Chuckwalla Valley Road, then followed Corn Springs Road south for 8 miles. Corn Springs Road was a very smooth dirt road. I was able to go about 30mph on most of it, but it got a little bumpy near my parking spot. I think most cars could make the drive. I hadn't done much research or prep, so I made a navigation error right at the start. I climbed up a steep slope thinking the ridge connected, but realized I needed to down climb to the gully. That added about 200' of unnecessary gain. I followed the gully around a bend, then half committed to the ridge, not wanting to be forced to downclimb again. The ridge did connect and I used it to descend. There were bits of class 2 in the gully and near the top. I reached Hi Corn first with an easy summit boulder. On top, I found a discolored bottle of Corona. There were two registers in a glass jar. One was old and fragile with pages that disintegrated on touch. I left it in the jar. The other was placed in 2013 and only had six entries before mine. The most recent was from 2020. Views were nice in all directions. Hi Corn did not have a benchmark. After signing in, I made the short walk to Corn, which had an official benchmark and a pole still held up with guide wires. I didn't find a register on Corn. Views north were less obstructed, but otherwise the same as Hi Corn. The forecast was for sun, but dark clouds started to roll in cooling things off quite a bit. They didn't threaten rain, but changed the ambiance. After going down the ridge, I made a second navigation error by dropping into the wrong gully. I hit a dry fall with no bypass and climbed out to get in the right gully. A short, fun hike to kick off 2026.
Completely unfamiliar with these peaks (are one or both current or former DPS, that drew you to them?) but noting the R. Carey register entry, dug around the interwebs a bit. The original disintegrating register appears to have been a Lilley-Macleod placing from '83. What a cool history!
ReplyDeletesorry, asks Gloop
DeleteGloop,
DeleteI don't think these were ever DPS. I found them looking around maps of the mountains north and south of I-10. It was a bonus that peakbagger showed less than 10 total ascents. Bit of a drive, but there are more peaks in the area worth a visit.