Mount Jenkins 7921′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 3:15
Elevation Gain: 2635′
Distance: 3.2
Crux: Class 2
Trailhead: Indian Wells Canyon, no services
Mount Jenkins sits just shy of 8,000′ in the Southern Sierra above Walker Pass. The Pacific Crest Trail snakes across it’s eastern slopes only a few hundred feet below the high point, although many ignore it for it’s taller nearby neighbor of Owens Peak. I had actually attempted Mount Jenkins in February of 2013 during a long outing out of Walker Pass tagging Morris Peak, Mount Jenkins and Owens Peak, but turned back due to significant ice and snow on the route just a few hundred feet below the summit. After spending the morning climbing nearby Five Fingers, there was time for redemption utilizing the much shorter route out of Indian Wells. The “trailhead,” shared with Owens Peak, was a well maintained dirt road, and the Subaru easily made it to the trailhead about 8 miles from highway 395.
The HPS route ascends the east- northeast ridge of Mount Jenkins directly, and I expected to find something resembling a use trail to get us up. But the slope was a blank expanse of thin grass, and Holly and I started up the steep slopes, already tired from the steep slog up Five Fingers. The winds had picked up significantly- the forecast called for gusts up to 50 mph, and it was quickly apparent that Holly wasn’t all that interested in this obscure summit. I held out hope that a trail would materialize when we made it to the ridgeline proper, but we found nothing of the sort. In fact, the lower ridge was in a burn area, and the cross country involved scrambling over some deadfall with loose, ashy soil. Couple that with the fact that the winds were even stronger on the ridge, Holly bowed out quickly.
“How long do you think you’ll be?” Holly asked. It was 1 PM. I looked up at the summit above with snow in the upper, north facing gullies.
“5 PM?” She scoffed. The summit was still over 2,000′ above me, but with about as direct a line as you could ask for.
We parted way and I picked up the pace, quickly dancing around brush and deadfall as I climbed. I skirted some rockpiles and false summits along the ridgeline to the south, and was surprised when I hit the PCT only 30 minutes from when we had separated. I thought had remembered the PCT to traverse higher up on the mountain, at least up in the pines, and not quite as low as where I was hitting it. This bode well for me, as the use trail was well defined off the PCT.
I followed the PCT about 100′ south to the cairned turn off for the use trail and continued upward, leaving the burn area for healthy Sierra pines. I went up and over one false summit, the rocky highpoint only a few hundred feet above.
I continued along the use trail as it led me to a rocky rib of rock along the ridge. I immediately recognized this as where I turned back previously, a steep notch and gully being full of ice on my last visit.
I moved across the dry terrain easily and regained the rib of rock, spotting a cairn about 50′ below me. It seems both times I had been off route, and I dropped down to the use trail, bypassing the remaining scrambling and bringing me to an easy class 2 chimney to get me on the main north-south summit ridgeline of Jenkins.
I was nearly blown off by strong gusts and quickly scrambled to the highest point, finding some boulders to cover behind out of the wind. It had only taken an hour to climb the 2,000’+ since separating with Holly, although I was a bit annoyed at myself for turning back only 10 minutes from the summit last time and getting myself off route in the snow. The views were incredible to the north, with Olancha Peak and the entire Mount Whitney region blanketed in snow. To the west was Domelands and Lake Isabella, with Walker Pass to the south. Indian Wells and Owens Valley stretched to the east, with Five Fingers looking a bit unimpressive from high above.
It was obvious I would easily make my promised 5 PM return having reached the summit by 2 PM, but the high winds kept me from lingering too long. I stuck to the use trail on the descent, half boot skiing some of the looser sections below tree line. Crossing the PCT, it was a bit hard to get into much of a rhythm having to hop over dead trees on the descent, but I still managed to descend the entire 2,600′ in about an hour.
Holly was waiting for me at the car, spotting my orange jacket working down the ridgeline on the descent with a beer waiting in hand. The winds seemed to be getting worse, and we wanted to try and find a campsite out of the wind. Heading back down Indian Wells Canyon, every site we stopped at seemed to be windier than the last. As a last ditch effort, I drove up a steep sandy road east of the Five Fingers, hoping camping near some of the rocky outcrops might provide some cover. Although just as windy, they were incredible campsites and we decided to stick it out, watching sunset over the Eastern Sierras before traveling back to Arizona the next morning.
