This could also be titled Apache and Spitler the easy way. The primary route from
the Apple Canyon Road above Hurkey Creek Campground is scenic but long and
boring. The less well known route up Fobes Creek is about 4 miles shorter,
several hundred feet less altitude gain, and equally scenic. It traverses the
less well traveled part of the PCT between Palm View Peak and Spitler. If there
are any faults, the section before Spitler is steep for the PCT.
The driving route begins about 7 miles east of Mountain Center where the Fobes
Canyon (dirt) road leaves Highway 74 on the left. It is sufficiently well graded
for standard cars, but the parking area is small, accommodating only 4 or 5
cars. The road continues beyond the trailhead, but is gated a little further on
out of sight of the parking area. Don't try to verify this unless you enjoy
backing up on narrow dirt roads, since there is no space to turn around.
The "new" Fobes trail is not that shown on the Palm View Peak topo, but is to the
east of Fobes ranch, switch backing up the slopes of Pk. 6432', reaching Fobes
Saddle just east of the old trail junction. The old trail junction is marked
"Private Property".
As a challenge to the reputed ease of this route, we met on Highway 74 at a late
9:00am. We bypassed Spitler to ascend Apache first and ate lunch there. It was
cold and breezy so we dropped off the summit a little to bask in the sun out of
the wind. It didn't take long to reach the summit of Spitler, and then dropped
down to the PCT to return down Fobes Canyon. The total trip took 6 hours, 20
minutes. The participants were: Stephen Bache, Dianne Edwards, Gary McNulty,
Virgil Popescu, Hanna Shay, Ray Soucy, and George Wysup.
