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** Use at Your Own Risk **
02K |
Cross Mountain |
5203' |
Location: Kern County, about 16 miles north of Mojave, 120 miles from Los Angeles
Maps
| Auto Club | Kern County |
| USGS Topos | Cross Mountain 7½, Cinco 7½ |
| Official HPS Maps | TPO file - Save to your computer then open with National Geographic TOPO! |
| Viewable PDF file - Approximately 17 megs | |
| GPX file or Google Earth KML file to download to GPS units and other map software (How to use GPX and KML files) | |
| Routes as shown on CalTopo using the above files (How to use CalTopo) |
Nearby Peaks: Chuckwalla Mountain
ROUTE 1
- Distance: 7 miles round trip cross-country
- Gain: 2500'
- Time: 5-7 hours round trip
- Rating: Class 1, moderate
- Navigation: Moderate
Original: John Backus, March 1973
DRIVING ROUTE 1
- From Mojave, drive north on SR 14 for 19.5 miles to Jawbone Canyon Road on the left. Turn left. Note your odometer and go as follows:
- At 4.1 miles, pavement ends.
- At 6.3 miles, fork with a gated road to the left. Park here.
HIKING ROUTE 1
- From the parking area (2700'), hike past the gate (you may need to climb over the gate) for 1.6 miles, passing a fork left at 0.4 mile and some wrecked cars at 1.0 mile to a second fork to the left (south) at 2876'.
- Turn left. The road starts up a wash and then immediately turns and goes up a ridge. Follow the road to its end at a large boulder.
- Then turn left and go up to the top of the ridge to the shallow saddle at 4300'.
- Turn right and go up the ridge, keeping right to avoid some of the scree.
- Continue on to the summit.
NOTE
This route is not recommended until access on BLM property is resolved (May 2021). The gate remains locked and security patrol advises hikers that this is private property. BLM property is open to the public, but negotiating the private vs BLM parcels is potentially difficult.
ROUTE 2 - From Chuckwalla Mountain
- Distance: 8 miles round trip from Chuckwalla
- Gain: 3500'
- Time: 6 hours round trip
- Rating: Class 1, moderate
- Navigation: Moderate navigation following OHV tracks in desert terrain
Original: John Backus, March 1973
DRIVING ROUTE 2
- See the Chuckwalla Mountain guide.
HIKING ROUTE 2
- From the summit of Chuckwalla Mountain, hike down the trail for Route 1 for Chuckwalla Mountain to the flat area just below the mine prospect.
- From here, follow a motorcycle track southwest down into the saddle northeast of elevation 4616'.
- Turn left at this saddle and follow a motorcycle track up to bump 4616', then turn right at a track running northwest generally down the point of the ridge to the gully.
- Follow this down to an old cabin and auto body in the streambed at the bottom of the canyon (shown on the Cinco topo).
- Turn left and go up the canyon following a motorcycle track. Note carefully the prominent rounded bump 4762' on your right that is east of the very rocky subsidiary peak 4784' of Cross Mountain. When directly south of bump 4762', the canyon floor splits into a west and southwest branch.
- Take the southwest branch, which turns first west and then gradually northwest to a saddle at 4200'+.
- Just before this saddle turn right onto a motorcycle track that continues all of the way to the summit.
NOTE
The trip statistics, including Chuckwalla, are 11 miles round trip and 5200' gain.
Learn more about Cross Mountain.
Please report any corrections or changes to the Mountain Records Chair.