Heald Peak is located in Kern County, about 5 miles east of
of Weldon, 175 miles from Los Angeles. It is in Sequoia National
Forest.
Heald Peak was added to the HPS Peak List
in 1974. It was named by the USGS to honor Weldon Fairbanks Heald
(1901-67), who conceived and established the "100 Peaks Game".
See the Summit Signature for
more history and some background about the name of the peak.
Peak Guides
HPS has two current documented routes to the
peak. Route 1 is 10 miles round
trip with a total of 3500' of gain, a combination of trail and brushy
cross country.
More usually used is Route 2,
6 miles round trip, cross-country from Nicolls with 2200' gain (more like
3500' total when Nicolls is included). This, too, can be brushy, but
is probably less so than Route 1. The main challenge for either
route is simply finding the trailhead.
