Mount Henry 12,207′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 13:20
Distance: 30.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 6,300′
Crux: Class 3
Trailhead: Maxson Trailhead, pit toilets
I was slowly running out of easier SPS summits to approach from the western Sierra with the majority remaining well over 20 miles roundtrip. Although it was early in the season for a 30 mile day, I now had an E-bike at my disposal to try and trim the mileage on some longer outings where allowed. I had found success with an E-bike on some longer desert outings earlier this year and thought Mount Henry would be a good test piece for the Sierra. The shortest approach was out of the Maxson trailhead near Courtwright Reservoir. This trail was briefly shared with the Dusy-Ershim OHV route which leads to the Voyager Rock Campground. Some maps also showed a separate 4WD road leading to Chamberlains Camp, although I could find no beta on if it still existed. Either way, even if I could trim off a little mileage, it would make the day more reasonable. With a goal of 15 hours, I woke up a little after 2 AM at the trailhead, eating breakfast and setting off under headlamp at 3. The initial road was in very rough shape with huge boulders studding the road for the first 100 yards. These almost seemed to be there deliberately to discourage most cars from attempting the road, as the quality very quickly improved. I was able to clip along on my e-bike at a fast pace, quickly reaching the junction with the Maxson Meadows trail. I initially continued on the road, hoping to take this to Voyager Rock campground and find the old 4WD road to Chamberlains Camp, but the road deteriorated very quickly. So I backtracked and started down the Maxson trail. The sign indicated no motor vehicle traffic, but no specific mention of bikes. I was able to make it about a half mile until a downed tree barred further progress and I stashed my bike behind some bushes. My 30+ mile day had quickly turned into a 27 mile day on foot, and I continued along in darkness. I reached the clearing and wilderness boundary shortly thereafter, seeing no sign of Chamberlains Camp or another trail, although I did not spend much time looking for it in the dark. The trail climbed steeply another 0.8 miles before the start of a long, slow arcing path along the north side of Corral Mountain along Corral Creek. I shut off my headlamp just before the Corral Creek crossing, with a trail junction on the opposite side. The water was just high enough where I needed to take one shoe off to step through the water across, and I took a very short break now 7 miles into my day. The mosquitos swarmed quickly limiting any significant rest, and I followed the trail east as it climbed steeply towards Fleming Lake. This was the first time all day I had views other than forest although they were still quite limited, with the Three Sisters and Dogtooth Peak to the west.
The unrelenting mosquitos pushed my pace, and Fleming Lake came after a little over four hours and eleven miles of hiking. A solo camper was just waking up—the only person I would see all day. Beyond the lake, the forest gradually thinned into meadow patches, and Lower Indian Lake (10,045′) was reached shortly before the five-hour mark. This was the first time I could see Mount Henry all day, a small patch of snow clinging to the upper slopes.
My line to the summit was obvious, climbing the ridgeline splitting the Turf Lakes and Indian Lakes drainages up to Mount Henry’s west ridge. The spring snowmelt meant the outlet for Lower Indian Lake was running swiftly, and I needed to take off my shoes once more to make it across the stream. Leaving the lake, I began cross country travel for the first time that day, close to 13 miles deep. The thin forested slopes were easy travel, sticking to granite slabs where I could. I had forgotten to top up my water at Lower Indian Lake, and found a patch of snowmelt with just enough of a trickle to refill my BeFree. The ridgeline climbed steadily up solid slab and over occasional patches of lingering snow to join the west ridge of Mount Henry. There was still a good deal of snow on the shadier aspects to the north, and it looked like the ridgeline actually had a little bit of scrambling, a welcome change of pace.
There was a solitary tower of rock at a notch in the ridgeline which could be easily avoided via class two slopes to the south. But there was an obvious class 2-3 weakness cutting across the south face, scrambling my way across to a gap on the far side. The ridge was initially steep off the notch but the grade quickly mellowed. I reached the high lingering snow patch just below the summit, the sun having softened it just enough to not need any additional traction as I kicked steps up to the high point. I reached the summit just over seven hours after leaving the trailhead, about an hour ahead of schedule. The e-bike likely accounted for roughly thirty minutes of that gain. After seven hours of mostly forested travel, the summit finally delivered the expansive Sierra views that had been absent for most of the approach. The summit was quite central in the range, and could identify most of the mountains in view, with the Clark Range to the northwest, Mount Lyell, Ritter and Banner to the far north, the Mount Abbot grouping and Bear Creek Spire closer to the north, Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys to the northeast, the Evolution grouping to the east and Mount Goddard dominating the view to the southeast.
Having made such good time, I took a longer than normal break at the summit, enjoying a sub I had packed for the long day in one of the only spots that was not overrun with mosquitos. Checking the summit register, I found I was the first to summit for the year, with only one entry in 2025 and two in 2024. Not surprising to be an unpopular peak at such a remote trailhead and relatively boring hike by Sierra standards. After my long lunch break I began my descent, following the ridgeline initially then dropping more directly down a class 3 gully directly into the Tuff Lake drainage. I refilled my water and set off through the forest, aiming for Lower Indian Lake as best as I could. My ascent line was a little better than my descent, as I kept dropping into muddy and flooded meadows.
Back at the outlet of the lake, I found the trail and picked up the pace, with 12.5 miles between myself and the trailhead. The camper at Fleming Lake had packed up as I hiked past his vacated site. There was a section of slight uphill that I hadn’t clocked on the way in as I cut across the southern slopes of Fleming Mountain. When I reached the notch above the steep descent to Corral Creek, I decided to leave the trail and take a more direct line, initially following very clean and open slabs before re-entering the forest.
I reached the trail less than a mile from the creek crossing, following it for a final shoeless ford for the day. A light breeze seemed to be keeping the mosquitos from attacking, and I took one final break on a nice flat granite slab along the riverbank, dunking my hat and shirt in the cold water in an attempt to stay cool for the upcoming uphill section.
I was about 4 miles from Chamberlains Camp, the majority of it uphill although only with about 600′ of gain in that long stretch. I made good time, taking a little over an hour to cover the 3.2 miles to the notch above Chamberlains camp with another 0.8 miles of descent to the wilderness boundary.
With only 1.5 miles of trail left until I reached my stashed e-bike, I half jogged, excited for the glory downhill pedal back to the car. I found my bike unmolested in the bush where I had left it and hopped on, finding the single track far less intimidating by day than in the darkness earlier that morning. I quickly reached the OHV road and started pedaling faster, knocking out the last ~1.5 miles in about 15 minutes. I was quite pleased with my overall time, the day clocking in at 13:20. Even without the e-bike, I would have crushed any previous 30+ mile outings, giving me confidence to tackle some even longer objectives towards the end of summer. I loaded my bike on the back of my car and headed home, grabbing dinner in Prather before getting home in time to read Avery a few stories before bed.