HPS Big 4 Dayhike 10/20/2006 45 miles, 8000+ ft gain My longest hike to date. According to the HPS Peak guide Big Pine Mountain, West Big Pine, Madulce Peak, and Samon Peak are generally climbed on a 3-day backpack called "The Big Four". With 45 miles and 8000' of gain this would make for a fairly aggressive dayhike. As such it had been on my radar for some time. I had done Big Pine and West Big Pine earlier this year on a mere 37 mile hike. On that unpleasant occaison snow and rain precluded me from doing all four so I had to settle for only two. This time there would be no snow, but there would also be less daylight. Including twilight I would have only about 12 hours of light to work with. I calculated that I would have at least 4 hours in the dark even if I met my most optimistic estimate. Leaving home around 2:30am I was hiking by 4:26am. For much of the day all went well and I met or exceeded my time goals. As I had done before I went for the furthest peak first: West Big Pine. Thus, by the time I reached my first peak (in 5 hr 27 min) I had already gone 17.5 miles. This strategy seemed logical. Do the farthest first and then work your way back. Only later would I realize a flaw in this strategy. West Big Pine & Big Pine went easily but I was beginning to feel the mileage. At 22 miles I started down the trail to Madulce. I say down because this trail gives up a fair amount of elevation on it's way to the peak (always enjoyable). For 3 miles this trail turned out to be surprisingly taxing. It starts out great but just beyond half way things become difficult and tedious as the trail disappears into the forest. It took about 30 minutes longer than I expected for this one. It was now 2:14pm. After Madulce I headed for Samon. Along the way I filtered water at Chokecherry spring. It was 4:24pm when I started up the gully to Samon and I was beginning to feel pressured for time. As I worked my way up the gully I soon realized the flaw in my strategy. Having now done 32 miles my body wasn't exactly thrilled to be going up steep terrain. Uknowingly I had saved the hardest peak for last. Oh well, so be it. Even worse the route-finding on this peak is exceedingly difficult and the brush is formidable. This peak easily ranks as one of my least favorites. Getting off route a few times I quickly entered impenentrable brush and had to backtrack. Soon I was mocking this peak. "Is that all you've got", I yelled out loud. The peak obviously heard me. The closer I got to the summit the worse the brush got. Not having the luxury of time I forced my way through. Nothing was going to stop me now. By the time I reached the summit I was itchy and bleeding. It was now 6:09pm. I brushed off a few ticks and quickly signed the register just as the sun dropped below the horizon. Success! I was finished! Well, except for that minor matter of a mere 12 miles to get back to the trailhead. This peak wasn't through with me yet. As if I didn't have enough trouble doing this in daylight now I would have to run this guantlet in the dark. As expected, this proved to be quite difficult. It was 8:01pm (well after dark) by the time I returned to the Big Pine Road. I would have another 2 or 3 hours of hiking in the dark but at least I would have no further obstacles. I was out of water and my right knee had seized up on the way down from Samon but I was still moving. In the dark the final miles ticked by slowly. At one point I stopped when I saw a pair of brilliant bright eyes glowing back at me. I was concerned about a possible mountain lion encounter but quickly ascertained this was something smaller. Whatever it was it moved out of my way and then followed me for a minute or two. Later I would see the eyes of a heard of cows but I had already expected that. After nearly 5 hours in the dark I finally got back to my car at 11:34pm. It had taken a little more than 19 hours. This was longer than I had hoped for but at least it was done. I returned home tired and hungry around 2am. Log 04:26am - Started hike from gate at Alamo Cyn 05:42am - Reached road fork 07:02am - Passed gully to Samon Peak 07:07am - Chokecherry Spring (at sunrise) 07:32am - Left Chokecherry Spring 08:06am - Passed by trail to Madulce 08:27am - Reached saddle and trail junction by Alamar CG 09:13am - Passed track to Big Pine Mtn 09:27am - Reached saddle between Big Pine & West Big Pine 09:53am - Reached summit of West Big Pine 10:43am - Returned to Big Pine / W Big Pine saddle 11:08am - Started up jeep track to Big Pine Mtn 11:24am - Summit Big Pine Mtn 11:42am - Returned to the main road 12:21pm - Alamar Campground 12:32pm - Left Alamar Campground 12:35pm - Road/Trail junction by Alamar CG 12:57pm - Started down the Madulce trail 01:16pm - Trail junction 02:14pm - Summit Madulce Peak 03:32pm - Returned to the road 04:01pm - Chokecherry Spring 04:20pm - Left Chokecherry Spring 04:24pm - Started up the gully to Samon Peak 06:09pm - Summit Samon Peak (minutes before sunset) 06:19pm - Sunset 08:01pm - Returned to the road 09:56pm - Road fork 11:34pm - Returned to the gate/parking area Stats Time from Alamo Cyn gate to 1st road junction: 1 hr 16 min Time from gate to Chokecherry Spring: Time from start to West Big Pine: 5 hr 27 min Time from start to Big Pine Mtn: 6 hr 58 min Time from start to Madulce Peak: 9 hr 48 min Time from start to Samon Peak: 13 hr 43 min Total time: 19 hr 8 min Notes Water was running at Chokecherry Spring -- just a trickle from the pipe but more than sufficient. Filtered just to be safe. Samon: Ugh! More daylight would have been helpful. Madulce was much harder and longer than I would have expected. Don't do Samon last! That will rank as one of my least favorite peaks of all time. Route-finding was very difficult ... even more so in the dark. Brush is formidable (but thankfully trimmed). Wasted quite a bit of time when I got off route a few times. Right knee seized up on the way down Samon. Limped from there all the way back to trailhead with a stiff leg. Fortunately this only a mere 11 miles. Weather/temps were quite pleasant for the most part. There was a prety big temperature spread. Started out cold in the morning but was a bit warm on the sunny side of Madulce. Temps in the shade were refreshing. Flies! I won't say more. If you've been there you know what I'm talking about. Traveled light. Small pack. Sweater. Convertible Pants. 1 pair extra socks. Nevados light boots (brand new). Water Started with 1.5 liters Filtered 1 liter at spring on the way in Filtered 1 liter at spring on the way out Ran low on water after Samon (probably should have returned to spring) and had to conserve on the way back. Got rather thirsty. Sun http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_pap.pl Sunrise: 7:07am Sunset: 6:14pm Driving Drove the GT. Dirt road is a bit rough and there are a few minor water crossings but the GT made it. 90 minutes from home to trailhead (driving fast) 2 hrs back