SocalHikes.com - Southern California Hike Reports and Trail Information » Chilao

Hillyer & Pacifico Loop

Zé — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:00:34 +0000

Final Stats:

Gain: 5000 ft
Distance: 18 miles

A long one

View Album

Others’ photos and Meetup link here

GPS track here

KML Google Earth file

Mt Hillyer & Pacifico Mt Loop at EveryTrail

The original intention of this hike was to hike to Hillyer, Pacifico, & Bare mountains in one trip. Originally I wanted to drive to Alder Saddle, but two things kept us from doing it that way; 1) I read info indicating the road was only paved part of the way from the ACH to Alder Saddle, and 2) I called the ANF and they indicated that the road was closed.

So instead, we drove up to Chilao and parked near the beginning of a route up Hillyer. We ascended the expectingly unimpressive Hillyer via the west, then headed north. We ran into the Pacifico Mt / Santa Clara Divide road, which at this point was paved…and we saw a few cars on it. We tried to avoid the road instead going cross country until hitting Alder Saddle, which was paved with another car. So yeah, so much for it not being paved and being closed.

From there, we climbed up Pacifico via its SE ridge. This was nice and steep and, the last 500 ft or so was really nice terrain, lots of big granite rocks and pine trees. I really liked Pacifico.

From here we descended back down to an intersection with the PCT. We started late but still wanted to try to go to Bare Mt, so we followed the PCT for a bit then jumped off and went along a ridgeline that would eventually hit Bare. However, at some point we realized it really wasn’t feasible, so we descended south and hit the PCT at a new spot. Then we followed that which headed east and south. We tried to find a trail we expected to cut across to the Christian campground, but could not find it. We ended up taking another use trail “shortcut”, and we eventually met up with the Silver Mocassin trail, which took us about a 1 mile from our cars.

The whole thing took about 18 miles, a bit too many for that sort of hike. I’d still like to get to Bare Mt., so I’m thinking of some way to combine it with Winston Peak and Winston Ridge. For another day.

Some lizard

Down from cross-country toward PCT

Upcoming Hike: Hillyer, Pacifico, Bare Mtn.

SocalHikes Hiker — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:47:26 +0000

This should be an interesting one. Going to start off at Chilao and work our way to the three peaks mentioned in the title. There were some routes that Zé and I mapped out. Zé’s route includes more of the fire roads to get from peak to peak with some jaunts along a couple of ridges. My route involves road in the beginning to get to Hillyer, and then after this is all fire break and cross country exploration until the ridge at Bare Mtn.

Here are the routes, Zé’s and mine.

To choose a route, I left it up to the group to vote. I have a feeling Zé’s route is going to win out. It is about 3 miles less and will probably allow us to get back to the carpool spot before sunset. Also, if the group size gets a little bigger, then I’m going to go with Zé’s regardless due to safety and separation possibilities.

Want to join? Check out the Meetup page and be sure to read the whole thing.

Upcoming Event: Vetter to Chilao

SocalHikes Hiker — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:16:36 +0000

This is going to be total exploration hike. The only part I’ve done is from Vetter to Alder Creek.

Brief Description:
Elevation gain is near 5000′.
Distance: A hair under 17 miles.

Here’s the upcoming route:

Vetter to Chilao
Find more Hikes in Anf, California

Link with distance indicators: http://www.mapmyhike.com/hike/united-states/ca/-anf/794634244728

Long description:

We’ll be parking at the Vetter Parking lot and then hike our way up to the Lookout Station. From there we’ll take the ridge down until we get to Alder Creek.

After this point, we’ll be taking the south ridge up to Roundtop. We can have lunch here and hang out a bit. After this, we’ll head back down halfway the south ridge before cutting east.

This will take us across Alder Creek and we’ll take a ridge up to the Mt. Hillyer Fireroad. This is some more off trail up a ridge until we get to Hillyer. Once at Hillyer, there’s a trail that takes us to Chilao.

That’s about it.