Sewart Mountain, Cobblestone Mountain, White Mountain #2, Alamo Mountain, McDonald Peak, Snowy Peak, Black Mountain #2

11 May 1991

By: David Eisenberg

Leaders: David Eisenberg, Patty Kline

In spite of our fears that there would be impassable problems with the road, we were able to drive to within 12 minutes hiking time of the trailhead. We figured that all of the snow would have been gone within the week.

We met Saturday morning at the Alamo Campground. We got into 2 cars to make the attempt on the road. At the end of the driveable part, we ran into Laura Webb. Laura joined us while we hiked over Sewart and then signed out to do Snowy and Black. The trail from the White ridge was much overgrown but we made it. We were prepared for a very hot day and brought lots of water. To our pleasant surprise, a cloud began forming over Sewart just as we started up the ridge. We remained in its pleasantly cool shade until we descended Sewart on the way back to the cars and the cloud evaporated as mysteriously as it formed. On the way off of Cobblestone, we ran into Alan Coles's group. They had backpacked in. Because of the brush, we hiked up the ridge instead of the trail. It was much clearer than the trail was 2 years ago when I did the peak before so we left a duck at the top of the ridge. On the way back, we left our extra water at the fork to Snowy and Black to make it easier for the next day.

That night we had a pleasant campfire with a potluck happy hour at the Alamo Campground.

The following morning, we began with a hike up Alamo right up from the campground. Our idea was to do the easy peaks first because we probably wouldn't want to do them after Snowy and Black. Following McDonald, we once more drove out to the last driveable spot, climbed Sewart once more, and then Snowy. On the way out to Black, we once more met Alan's group coming up the hill. This time there was no fortuitous cloud and their sweaty faces let us know what was in store for us. We crossed the never-ending bumps on the Black ridge and finally reached the summit in time for lunch. Then it was back over Snowy and then over Sewart (for the 4th time in 2 days!). We returned to our cars at 5.

Participants were: Erik Siering, David Jensen (Saturday only), Jennifer Lambelet, and Roy Stewart. Thanks to all for a great time.