Owens Peak, Southern Sierra (HPS)
A last minute phone call from mountain-buddy Vic, who was en-route to Mammoth for a weekend of skiing, resulted in our tagging Owens Peak, which I'd long wanted. A bumpy and scenic off-road past scattered Joshua Trees led to a glorious flat outcrop overlooking the defiles of Morris and Buena Vista Canyons, with views of HPS peaks Five Fingers, Russel Peak and Backus Peak. Two robust Pinyon trees make this an ideal car-camping site, one which I have yet to make use of.
After trailing the dry bed of Indian Wells Canyon creek for about 1.7 miles, a massive pile of boulders presents an obstacle, the seemingly obvious solution to which is contouring to the right/north in order to continue up the creekbed. WRONG!
Unbeknownst to us, the trail continues in a state of relatively impressive functionality just to the left/south of these boulders, and proceeds without much obstruction all the way to the summit. Hop along the top of these boulders to find the proper trail, for it is completely obscured by brush and rockfall to anyone who finds themselves even ten feet to the wrong side of it.
As for Vic and I, we didn't bother checking our maps, and in a state of typical masculine bullheadedness set our sights on a broad boulder chute which led to a ridge of exposed rock. Reaching it's top, we were faced with light Class 2 ledges (two of which were disconcertinly slick) before cresting the narrow ridge and looking down on the western Mojave desert.
From here, the trail was obvious and took us at a steady and tiring grade to the summit of Owens Peak, where views west into the tight valley of Canebreak Flat and north to the white escarpment of the Eastern Sierra--where Mount Langley and Mount Whitney made star appearances--did not disappoint. Just below us was the nub of SPS peak Spanish Needle, Death Valley's Telescope Peak stood clearly to the east, and far to the south the distant bulk of the San Gabriel Mountains were visible as well.
Without a question, peak worthy of it's dual-list status, as well as its designation as an HPS emblem peak.
Summit: 8,452 ft
Distance: 5.57 miles
Elevation Gain: 3,363 ft
Total Time: 5:30