Peak 4938 (Arrowhead Peak) has been on Kent's radar ever since we failed to gain it's summit back in November. Having to look at this enticing peak, everyday, from our living room picture windows only spurred him on to find a way to get us to the top.
After thinking on it for several months, he decided that coming down the ridge (rather than going up as we did in November) would get us to the top of it's white domed summit. So, after making plans to have John drop us off near the Icehouse Trailhead, the three of us (Mike, Kent & Allison), began our adventure. It had rained/snowed the night before and this allowed us a unique weather day that consisted of beautiful sunshine (with no wind), some low clouds and a fresh layer of snow on the Pine Valley Mountains.
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Unfinished business . . .
Today we are going to make it on top of Peak 4938!
(Click on the picture to enlarge) |
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John dropped us off at a spur road that lead to the upper Icehouse Trailhead . . .
You can't tell from this picture, but the road was a slimy mess, so we had him turn around and
we walked the road for about 1.5 miles to the trailhead. |
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| Interesting set of deer tracks in the sand |
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Fortunately, a good portion of the ground was still somewhat frozen as we began our walk . . .
This made for some interesting muddy ice puddles that had formed overnight |
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| Oh, oh! The ground is starting to thaw! |
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After about a mile of road walking, we finally broke from the trees and were treated to this
beautiful view of the Pine Valley Mountains . . . it's going to be a great day! |
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| The road began to thaw and became a sloppy mess |
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Thankfully, it wasn't far until we reached the trailhead . . .
From here, we headed off trail, making our way eastward towards Peak 4938 |
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We were surprised at how far away the peak looked (directly above Kent's white hat) . . .
But, we were glad that it was just an optical illusion and a half hour later we were at it's base |
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There were so many nice views of the Pine Valley Mountains along the way . . .
It was hard to narrow them down to only a few! |
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Some interesting moss growing on a basalt rock . . .
Hard to believe that it can survive the brutal summers! |
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Almost there! What's Mike looking at?
(Go to the next picture to find out) |
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He was looking down into this gorgeous view of Washington Hollow
(We're already planning a hike down this drainage) |
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| Mike found this lucky horseshoe . . . I believe we are meant to make it! |
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Starting up . . .
It was steeper than it looked, but was a relatively short ascent and we were standing on top 15 minutes later
(We ended up going up the draw that is left of center) |
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Kent found this arrowhead near the top . . . In honor of Andrew Cross (aka The Desert Drifter), we left it to be enjoyed by others . . . maybe you?? |
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| The clouds began to rush in from the canyon below as we made our final push to the summit |
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Strangely, if we looked to the south and westward it was still a bright sunny morning
(The ridge was acting as a dividing line for the clouds) |
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Standing on top and looking down into Washington Hollow
(Kent really needs to get his "head out of the clouds!" . . . or was he vaping? . . . ha!) |
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| The clouds cleared enough that we were able to get this picture as we began walking down the ridgeline |
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| Mike setting the pace as we head down |
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| Of course, one interesting rock was enough to slow him down and allow us to catch up |
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| What a beautiful day and a wonderful hike! |
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Looking back towards the summit of Arrowhead Peak (4938) . . .
Wouldn't you know the clouds had cleared out! |
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Heading down Peak 4184 (this is where we had turned around in November) . . .
You can see Kent, but where's Mike?
We know he's down there somewhere because his tracks are in the sand |
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| Almost off the ridge! |
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| Broom Snakeweed |
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We found Mike, at the bottom, with his prized Valentine's balloon he found stuck in a shrub on the ridge
(You can see the bottom third of the ridge we came down, just above Mike's head) |
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We did it!
(Click on the picture for an enlarged view of our route) |
Wow! Hard to describe what a great hike this was! It was everything and more than we had hoped for! We ended up covering 7.5 miles one-way and it took us about 4.5 hours to complete. If you'd like more information on this peak, you can click
here for a topo map (and another possible route) from when Tom did Peak 4938 a few years back. If you're interested in a GPS track of our route, just
shoot us an email and we will be glad to send it to you.
