Moments in Dirt and Ink

Owens Peak Wilderness, BLM Link to map. The scheduled Hundred Peaks Section hike was hitting in a sweet spot weather wise between far too hot the day before and a storm rolling in the day after and I was wanting to get a bit further afield than I have been getting recently, so I signed up. It does tend to mean a far too early meeting in a remote parking lot after already driving nearly two hours and then another few hours to get to the trailhead. The road up cannot be too bad as the Subaru made it. Watching it get there, often with a wheel floating a foot in the air, was certainly entertaining. A large rock leaving nearly enough road to get around right at the end seemed the most difficult obstacle, but was only a problem for the vehicle with the longest wheel base. It does not seem like a very early start as we collect at the marked trailhead. Looking back down the road up Indian Wells Canyon. Plenty of desert out there, but we are already up in the pinon pines. ...

Owens Peak Wilderness After heading up Scodie Mountain on an official Sierra Club Hundred Peaks Section trip, we join our leader, her carpool companion, and one of the Bills to climb Five Fingers unofficially. A dirt road off to the left just north of the brewery at Indian Wells is our starting point. We park at a thing marked "powers well" on the map and whatever it is, the ruins remain. The Bureau of Land Management has an information sign and a lot of fences as we are on a 4x4 road surrounded by the Owens Peak Wilderness. There are fewer fences to the north where we are headed as the rugged land is expected to protect itself. The HPS groups usually start off a little further up the road, but it is a short and wide open, if steep, expanse we are about to go up and it can hardly matter where we park. Climbing the scree slope on the south side of Five Fingers, looking up the road along Indian Wells Canyon. We start up the hill where a small path winds brief...