Black Mountain #5, Split Mountain, Sunday Peak, Bohna Peak, Cannel Point

21 October 1989

By: Patty Kline

Leaders: Patty Kline, Frank Goodykoontz

A crowd of 21 people showed up at the Tillie Creek Campground near Lake Isabella on Saturday morning. The male to female ratio was quite unusual with Pat Russell, Ruth Boyer and myself being the only women. Triple list finisher Duane McRuer was along. Duane used to lead a lot with John Backus. Bob Hicks was also along, and anyone who is a leader in the Angeles Chapter knows Bob.

The day was somewhat overcast which was nice. I was afraid it could have been very warm had we been having a heat wave. It rained in L.A. early in the morning on Saturday, but we had no precipitation.

There was a carpool up to Black Mountain Saddle from the meeting place. Split and Black were done in a 12 mile trip with 4400 feet of gain. Fortunately most of the brush had been pruned back on the cross country to Split. We had lunch on the rocky summit of Split. Black was done on the return trip; making it an energizing, but long day.

Back in camp we all gathered at one campsite for a community happy hour with munchies, beer and Scotch. Fred Johnson brought the Scotch. He drove down from his home in Berkeley. Fred was one of the original "100 Peakers" in 1941 who helped start what eventually became a section. I enjoyed talking with Fred about his good times. After the community salad and a nice dinner we said goodnight.

Sunday morning we met at 8am at the campground. We had a slightly different group of 21 people for Sunday and Bohna. Sunday was a nice walk up a thickly forested trail to see a beautiful view of the High Sierra for 3-1/2 miles round trip and 1000 feet of gain. We then drove around to the Bohna road head where hunting season was even more evident than on Sunday. In the 2 1/2 mile round trip and 1500 feet of gain I was hoping that the hunters wouldn't miss a deer. We had lunch on Bohna and most of us climbed on to the rocky high point of Bohna where the register is not kept.

Then 14 of us drove for 2 hours above Kernville late Sunday afternoon in preparation for Cannel Point the next day. Frank Goodykoontz and I were the last to drive up. Frank found out from the ranger station that there was a storm due in that night that was to drop snow as deep as 2-3 feet down to 5000 feet. We decided to drive up to warn the others. The storm wasn't happening by 10pm after dinner. At Phil Weinreich's request an impromptu ascent of Cannel Point was led on that moonless night in case the snow came and the Monday trip would have to be aborted. It was a little slower at night with a white out on the rocky summit. The group got back at 1am. 12 people climbed or reclimbed Cannel Point on Monday. It was a beautiful day and the storm had totally missed us.

Of all the 32 HPS geographic areas I think area #1, in which these 5 peaks are located, is my favorite. Cannel Point is the farthest drive on our list, and only 2-1/2 miles and 900 feet of gain, but certainly worth it for the scenery. I will never forget the dense conifer forests, the rocky summits and the majestic views of the High Sierra Peaks.