Tom Grundy's 2020 Sierra Challenge Day 5 Peaklet

8-11-2020 We got up early - 3:30, and started hiking up the road around 4. Emma joined us as we went past her car. Most of the road was fine, but there were a few spots I am glad I didn't have to try to drive by. We got to the start where Bob and Sean R were parked just after 6. I yelled "5 minutes" at them as Bob used to do at 5:55. We left around 6:10 and headed up the trail from the road instead of the one by the aqueduct up the hill. Where the trail was going to drop down to the creek we opted to head up the morraine and straight up the slope. It looked somewhat plant covered and inviting. In reality it was a little bit loose and I got quite demoralized and tired with my feet sliding down, especially if it happened when I was trying to step up. I was at the back of the pack, but never got too far behind. Once we reached a shoulder and turned the corner things were a little more rocky and I made a bit better time (so did everyone else). I cut under a ridge of rock instead of going over it and that allowed me to catch up a bit. We could see Fred and Clement on the summit and Bob headed up - turns out it was a false summit and I could gain some more time avoiding it on the way up. We had to drop down to a notch and scramble up to a suitably pointy summit.

Pk 12,634 and Checkered Demon on the left, Humphreys just right of middle, and Peaklet is on the right
from where Bob and Sean were parked

we headed up this slope - a little loose for happy ascending

Clement on top and Fred heading up to the summit

Bob, Fred, Iris, and Clement on the summit

summit panorama - Humphreys middle left, Basin on the Right with Bob, Iris, and Emma

Clement tries a yoga pose (inspired by Iris) and Fred holds his hands out to help balance

Mount Humphreys East Ridge

As we started our descent we ran into JD and Grant who came up a gully on the west side (the original plan). We probably should have come up that way, but because we came up the east side we knew it would make a good descent with a lot of steep and fast scree skiing and plunge stepping. We didn't beat Bob down (he headed down a different gully to the NW a while before we started down) but we beat Emma back who went the same way about when we left. We walked down the road until the cars passed us heading down. Then we put on our face masks and got a ride back down. There Bob was able to easily pull Emma's vehicle out of the sand and we headed back down the bumpy and then washboarded road back to the Church. There we did the usual food and shower as well as packed up for the next day. I also activated the new spot device which took longer than I expected (as expected - but it took even longer). We made it up to N Lake later than we wanted, especially since we planned on a 4 am start. This was one of the shortest challenge days ever - at least if you could get to the trailhead. We needed the extra time and more to recover and get ready for the big days ahead.

Iris was very excited to get her lip balm back
she dropped it but JD found it on his way up

JD on the summit

Iris making fast work of the descent through lupines

Total for the day 1 peak. Strava said 6.86 mi (iphone 5) or 7.4 mi (iphone x) and 5120 or 5317 ft of elevation gain.

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