Shay Mountain, Deer Mountain, Inghham Peak, Little Shay Mountain

8 October 1988

By: Jon Sheldon

Leaders: Jon Sheldon, Frank Goodykoontz

Getting up at 4:30AM to meet in Pomona at 6:00AM was not a lot of fun, but being on a scheduled Akawie/Goodykoontz hike usually is fun, so Ruth and I decided to make the sacrifice. It was still dark in Pomona so Dick used his flashlight to show us the directions on the map - the plan was to reconvene in Fawnskin. Frank as usual almost didn't make it but showed up just in the "nick of time" and we all took off.

Nineteen people met at the intersection of Highway 38 and 3N14 in Fawnskin and we further consolidated cars for the drive into the trailhead. We met Austin and Betty Stirratt and Dave Welbourne at Little Pine Flat to bring our group to 22. We managed a glimpse of the Space Shuttle being piggybacked on a 747 on its way back to Florida.

At the trailhead Frank announced that Dick wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be joining us on the hike. He also volunteered me to lead.

It was the first day of hunting season so we left our bullwinkle hats behind and started off at about 9:00AM, making short work of Shay. We then got adventurous and headed cross country from the summit of Shay to Deer passing through a bit of brush on the way. We crossed the trail at the usual turnoff to Deer and followed the standard gully. During the break Evan Samuels spied two people up high on the ridge. It turned out to be Bill T and Pat Russell who, being smart, slept in and left LA at 6:45AM and managed to catch up to us. We eventually met at a saddle and all 24 of us bagged Deer and tried to find some shade for lunch.

The day was getting increasingly hot and the thought of the climb up from Deer was not too appealing but there really wasn't much choice. So up we went. At the Shay/Little Shay saddle we met Bill Lien and Elvin Myers who met us at the Mount Baldy carppol point. Of course, we were in Pomona so they missed us, but they drove up anyway and had completed Shay when we met.

Six people decided they had enough and elected to head back down the trail to the cars. The remaining twenty of us went up and down and up and down and up and down and up to Little Shay. From Little Shay we headed directly down (steeply) to the cars with everyone arriving back at about 4:40 PM.

A few eager beavers had brought their camping gear and intended to climb some other peaks in the area on Sunday. Alice Cahill, Doug Hatfield and Ruth Adler joined Evan and me on a climb of Hawes, and the rest of the group headed for home.

Many thanks to Dick Akawie for driving to Pomona just to point us in the right direction and to Frank Goodykoontz for a great assist. The rest of the participants were Frank Dobos, Ruth Lee Brown, Laura Webb, Bill Harbach, Judy Corkum, Jennifer Lambelet, Barbara Cohen, Charlie Knapke, Eleanor Carter, Isabelle Gat, Sam Brandt, David Eisenberg and Asher Waxman.

A note on driving:
I drove back to Pomona via Hesperia and I-15. We saved about 3 miles and quite a bit of time as the roads were not as curvy.