Distance: 10.1 miles round trip on dirt road
Summit Elevation: 8531'
Elevation Gain: 1570'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.2
Round trip time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Recommended water: 64 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Forest Road 2N13 gate
Difficulty: Moderate
I drove up to Big Bear for Butler Peak (HPS #46). March had been warm so I expected only lingering snow. Since Butler was a dirt road hike, I didn't even bring microspikes as a precaution. It was a cool 36F when I started at the gate to Forest Road 2N13, which is closed in the winter. The gain was minimal as I walked past Gray's Peak. Sheets of snow still coated the northern facing slopes and started to spill into the road. Sections of the road were completely covered. The snow was hard packed, but careful steps and low angles made it easy. I crossed a couple of streams that would be dry in the summer. I saw footprints in the snow, but didn't know if they were fresh or days old. The turn for Butler Peak Road was just below Hanna Rocks, a boulder playground I had climbed in 2022. The Butler lookout tower sat on top of an impressive rock spire. When I got the base, I met two women who had been in front of me leaving the footprints. The short trail for the final 100' to the tower was completely covered in snow. The entire north face was covered in 3-4' of hard packed snow that had been through several freeze-thaw cycles. After taking a few steps, both women turned back, not wanting to chance a fall. I was determined to make a go of it, heading toward the far end of short ridge. I clung to boulders and whatever vegetation poked through the drifts. Without traction, it got more dangerous the higher I went. A slip would have led to a long slide into the rocks below. I worked myself back to the spine of boulders below the tower. I spotted a metal pole that marked the trail and the base of the tower, but the 50' between me and the tower was steep packed snow. I squeezed myself into the randkluft, a 2' gap between the snow field and the rock and moved slowly toward the tower. I had to stretch to get over the last drift. The tower was officialy closed, but the steps were open. I climbed up to take in expansive views of San Gorgonio, the San Gabriels, and Arrowhead Lake. It was an exciting finish to an otherwise unremarkable road hike. It was spicy getting down, but I was able to backtrack without incident. It was the sketchiest thing I'd done in a while. Butler marked the completion of the fifty highest peaks on the HPS list.
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