Location: Kern County, 14 miles west of Frazier Park, 90 miles from Los Angeles

Maps

Nearby Peaks: Mount Pinos, Grouse Mountain, Cerro Noroeste

Distance: 1.5 miles each way on trail from Mount Pinos

Gain: 600' total, 300' out plus 300' on return

Time: 2 hours round trip

Rating: Class 1, easy

Navigation: Easy

Original: John Backus, 1975

DRIVING ROUTE 1

• Drive north on I-5 to the Frazier Park exit. Turn left (west). Note your odometer and go as follows:
• At 7.2 miles Lockwood Valley Road forks left and the Cuddy Valley Road goes straight. Keep straight.
• At 12.4 miles, junction with Mount Pinos Road (straight) and the Mil Potrero Road (right). Go straight on the Mount Pinos Road.
• At 22.5 miles, a large paved parking area and a dirt road with a gate on the west (left) side. Park here (8340').

HIKING ROUTE 1

• Hike to the summit of Mount Pinos (8831'). Sometimes the gate at the parking lot is open and high clearance vehicles can drive to this summit, saving 1.5 miles each way and 600' of gain to Sawmill Mountain when done as a round trip.
• From the summit of Mount Pinos, walk about 0.2 mile west to the Condor Observation Site at a Chumash Wilderness sign, which marks the beginning of trail 21W03.
• Proceed west on this trail. The beginning of this trail takes some puzzling meanders while descending 300' to the next saddle, but was carefully routed to bypass rare plants found only in the Mt Pinos Summit Botanical Area.
• From the saddle (8560+), continue west toward Sawmill on the trail, which ascends steeply at first and then traverses rolling slopes on the summit plateau just south of the peak.
• At the point where the trail starts definitely downhill, leave the trail to the right (north) and follow the ridge west to the summit. There is a very large rock pile on the summit that contains the register.