South Mount Hawkins Loop via Hawkins Ridge Trail and Pacific Crest Trail(edit)

Sights to See

• Crystal Lake Campground

Rate this Hike

★★★★★


Temecula_Dan 1 year, 11 months ago
Hiked 11/10/22 after storm – Went up all four Hawkins Summits (Hawkins, Middle Hawkins, Sadie and South Hawkins). Trail to windy gap had several washouts that were easily bypassed with careful rock footing. Windy Gap was cold enough to require insulated gloves. Last two northern switchbacks and summit of Mount Hawkins were iced over and not fun with micro spikes and carbide poles – had to self-arrest one time. Better to wait on Hawkins for either more snow or ice melt – definitely dangerous even with an ice axe and crampons as the pitch and lack of an alternate snow route work against you. Other 3 Hawkins peaks had great snow conditions and were an absolute blast to go up. Followed deer tracked use trails up Middle and Sadie from the main trail. Lots of big ice dropping from the trees but was able to avoid going under most. After mid-morning the weather was absolutely awesome, no wind and crystal clear views of the valleys. Didn’t cheat on South Hawkins ascent, opting for the alpine approach but did take the old use road back down to get back to the Windy Gap trail. Did the loop clockwise as Hawkins was the hardest and South the easiest. Didn’t see anyone all day but lots of deer and bear tracks. Quite an adventure to start the winter!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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stars
DaBeast 5 years, 5 months ago
This was a great day for hiking; clear and high 60s. The road from the trail to South Hawkins has several large rock-slides that have come down across the road, and the road is also washed out by a running stream. The stream had a nice waterfall though. The trail up Hawkins Ridge had some snow near the around Middle Hawkins, some of which was deep enough that footing was sketchy. There was also significant snow on the PCT - like 8 feet in places. The snow is definitely contained in several patches and below 7,500' there was no snow. The trail was in good condition, though there were some trees across some sections along Hawkins Ridge. The views from the various peaks were great, but you can definitely tell that there was a major fire within the last few years.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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