Carl and I were going to do McClellan or Granite last week but it was raining so we did a shorter hike on Tiger Mountain. We met this morning at about 6:15 at our usual park and ride and headed east.
I was driving and I was concerned that eastbound exit 38 would still be closed – exit 42 is the exit for McClellan but we wanted to start the hike on the service road, NF9020, skipping the first, and rather boring, 1.5 miles (thereby clipping 3 miles off the hike round trip). Exit 38 was closed but I drove to exit 42, went over the freeway and headed back west and got off at exit 38 westbound. You come out right next to the Dirty Harry’s parking lot, so it was not a problem.
It is a bumpy, dusty trip up the old service roads but we made it to the right place (see track below) and were heading up the trail by 7am. It was a beautiful day and we started early enough to escape the worst of the heat. Plenty of views today:
The peak on the west in the distance is Change Peak and the criss-crossing white lines are the Great Wall and Olallie Bike trails.
Plenty of people scramble straight up that rock but not me – if you slip you die. Period. Falling down this peak is not a survivable experience and I, being an old man, am increasingly judicious in my choice of non-surivable experiences.
All in all a great hike on a great day.
