Ascent of Junipero Serra Peak on 2012-07-07| Other People: | Solo Ascent
Only Party on Mountain | | Date: | Saturday, July 7, 2012 | | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | | Motorized Transport to Trailhead: | Motorcycle | | Peak: | Junipero Serra Peak | | Location: | USA-California | | Elevation: | 5862 ft / 1786 m |
Ascent Trip ReportI was camped at the first curve off of Hwy 1 on the Nacimiento Road, road my motorcycle from there to Santa Lucia Trail Head by the Santa Lucia Memorial Park Campground, which took about 2 hours. There was no one at the entrance to Hunter-Liggett base. I had stopped at the forest service fire station the day before and checked out the driving route to the trail head on their maps. It is a good paved road the whole way. I started hiking about 11 am, reached the summit in 2:44. The trail is very overgrown much of the way but thankfully very little poison oak like the trails along the coast. I climbed the tower and took some pictures, had lunch and then looked for the summit register, never did find one. I did find the survey marker on a rock. Going down I missed the trail at one point on the final steep descent before getting back to the trees/creek area and lost about 5 minutes climbing back up, but decided that was better than trying to bushwhack across and hoping to find the trail. Saw two guys sitting under a tree a ways above the old tractor, but no one else on the trail. Got back down to the trail head in 2:19, but was pushing myself both ways. I'm 64 but retired and do lots of hiking, so in pretty good shape. Wish I had some time to spend there and do some clearing on the trail but can't do it this trip - it really needs it. I rode slowly back to my camper to save fuel, the ride was longer than I had expected and wasn't really sure how much gas I had in the bike. According to the miles it should have been OK but I had done about 50 miles of off road riding previously and that hurts the mileage. But thankfully got back before having to use the reserve so all was well. The coast was covered with clouds as I came back down Nacimiento, was a beautiful sight!
Wow, for a little (sub 6000') peak, it shows up on 20 lists! |
| Summary Total Data | | Total Elevation Gain: | 3762 ft / 1146 m | | Round-Trip Distance: | 12 mi / 19.3 km | | Route: | Santa Lucia Trail | | Trailhead: | Santa Lucia Trail Head 2100 ft / 640 m | | Route Conditions: | Maintained Trail, Unmaintained Trail | | Gear Used: | Ski Poles | | Weather: | Hot, Calm, Clear | | Ascent Statistics | | Time: | 2 Hours 44 Minutes | | Descent Statistics | | Time: | 2 Hours 19 Minutes |
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