Rabbit Peak #2

18 March 1999 (Private trip from Clark Lake)

By: Mars Bonfire

Let's cut right to the chase: I'll never do this route again as long as I live nor during any reincarnations. How's that for an endorsement? It's not that the hiking time is unacceptably long or the terrain is unusually difficult; it's just that, while the route makes sense for DPS, the most energy efficient way for us to get Rabbit and adjacent Villager is on a backpack or long day hike up the north tending ridge across S22 from Thimble Trail. With so many peaks and so little time, energy efficiency matters.

We found the Rockhouse Cyn road to Clark Lake heading north from S22 between mile markers 27 and 26. Pavement ends around 0.2 mile and a major fork goes left to private property. Rockhouse Cyn road continues through a flat area used by RVs and soon a major fork goes right to private property. Around 5.1 miles a fork to the right with a sign "Authorized Vehicles Only" occurs. At 5.4 miles a sandy parking area appears on the left and has a no campfire sign. This is near the eastern base of the high point of Coyote Mountains (which serves as a good focal point the return.)

The hike begins with deceptive ease heading northwest across the nearly flat northern margin of Clark Lake. After around 1-3/4 miles the large rounded boulders of a major wash begin, requiring some rock hopping. After passing two gullies to the north we gained the north-northwest tending ridge and followed it over wandering connections to a saddle at the base of the center western ridge coming down from the major bump south of Rabbit. A couple of hundred feet up this ridge is a short steep section of massive rocks that required us to use our hands for upward progress in addition to balance. This ridge line is steep and to avoid burn out we went into the meditative rest step - rest step #1 ... rest step #5367, or thereabouts, and we intersected the use trail from Villager. From here on it was familiar ground and we easily gained the register. There were no sign ins since the March 13-14 scheduled HPS backpack. Four days without company. What a lonely life. Be compassionate. Stop by and visit the Big Rabbit.

Any peak, any time*. (*Offer limited to HPS List, excludes lightning and avalanche conditions, other restrictions may apply, void where prohibited by law.)