North Maggie Mountain

North Maggie Mountain 10234′ and Peak 10,113′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 8:00
Distance: 11.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 5700′
Crux: Class 3
Trailhead: Balch park, pit toilets, seasonal potable water

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The Sierras were experiencing some unusual unsettled weather, with daily afternoon monsoonal rain and lingering showers into the morning. A midweek day off was looking like some of the worst weather of the cycle, with 70% chance of rain all day along Tioga, and 40% chance in the southern part of the range. I had wanted to try and find a West side outing where I could snag two SPS summits, but with the possibility of rain all day, it didn’t seem worth the risk. So I settled on North Maggie Mountain above the town of Springville which, at just over 10,000′, would keep me below tree-line for the day. Although it would be a short outing, I still left home early to get a jump on the potential rain, driving into Mountain Home State Forest and Shake Camp. I parked off a dirt spur road near the campground and headed north, the granite summit of Moses Mountain (which I climbed in 2014) looming above.

The trail quickly entered a fresh burn area, which I quickly realized was the burn scar of the enormous Castle Complex Fire in Sequoia NP in 2020. I knew the fire was close to the area, but hadn’t realized it swept through the canyon, although fairly spotty and patchy near the edge of the fire perimeter. The trail dropped a few hundred feet down to a fork of the Tule River, also entering the Middle Tule Grove of Sequoias, the majority appearing unscathed by the recent fire.

The trail crossed the river and climbed in and out of burned pockets, slowly gaining elevation below the western slopes of North Maggie Mountain. Most parties ascend via the drainage NW of the summit, formed between North Maggie Mountain and 10,113′. However, as I planned to tag this unnamed summit anyways, I considered climbing the west face directly, going up and over 10,113′ before dropping off and heading to the true summit. Looking up slope, it didn’t look terribly overgrown and my impatience got the best of me as I started up through the forest. Cross country travel through the pines was relatively straightforward until I neared the base of several large granite domes. It wasn’t so much the rocks themselves, but that the pines were replaced by manzanita and scrub, making it far more brushy and unpleasant.

The domes scattered across the western slope of 10,113′ were enourmous, each several hundred feet fall and had what looked like very interesting climbing with knobs and chicken heads; were it not for the rought cross country approach it would likely make an excellent crag. I moved onto third class slabs at the base of one of the lower angled domes to get above the scrub, following ramp systems along the base, even tunneling through a cave at one point.

It overall wound up being the most enjoyable part of the day, and a part of me was sad to have reached the ridgeline and return to the pine forest. Now on the ridge, I hooked southeast towards the unnamed summit, with a few bits of scrambling around some granite obstacles up the boulder-y high point, reaching the summit at 10:45.

Clouds had been slowly building all morning, and although the true summit was close, I didn’t want to waste much time. So I dropped 400′ off to the east to the connecting saddle then started up the other side, taking about 45 minutes to cover the distance between the two summits. There were a number of boulders vying for the summit and I tagged each one before spying the summit register in some rocks on an eastern summit block. I scrambled over to it, quickly determined that there was no way this was actually the highest rock, and moved it over to a more likely contender near two large pines at the summit. The views from the top were best to the northwest and Mineral King area of the Sierras, with the Kaweahs peeking out behind Mount Florence and Vandeaver. To the east were Angora and Coyotes Peaks, two of the more remote summits on the west side of the range. Olancha Peak could be seen through a gap in the peaks, although all the summits surrounding Mount Whitney were blocked from view. To the south was the Needles and Dome Rock, although the south face rock features were similarly out of view. To the northwest I could pick out Homers Nose, one of the few other SPS Peaks I had tagged this season.

Due to the fire, the summit had no entries the year before with only two so far in 2022, although that could be in part to it’s location on an incorrect rock. After a short lunch, I dropped off the summit to the north finding loose talus to drop down before steeply dropping into the drainage to the northwest. For the typical ascent route, I was surprised to find it fairly bouldery and brushy, with the Castle Complex Fire having crept the drainage and new growth covering any potential use trail. It was still probably better than the direct line I took, but far from ideal.

Thunder started rolling in the distance halfway down the drainage, but further to the north near Mineral King; I would stay dry all day. The descent back to the Tule River took close to two hours, far longer than I expected, and I followed a use trail south before picking up the main trail again at a river crossing.

Now back on the trail, I was able to pick up the pace, hiking past more Sequoia and back to the river crossing near the start. The uphill back to Shake Camp was almost as painful as I expected, although the cloud cover that had moved in made it a bit more tolerable. It was shortly after 3 by the time I reached the car and I hopped in, heading back down through Springville and to the 99 to head home.