View east from Bear Mountain #13
Nelson Lakes Bear Mountain #13, in Fresno County, is the highest Bear Mountain in California, topping out at around 9500 feet. I climbed it last Sunday with my friend John Wiley. It's a hefty hike: 18 miles round trip, much of it cross country. John was game even though he never knew Joe. (He took a course in labor law from Joe's father, David Feller, though.)
We camped Saturday night at Courtright Reservoir, a couple of hours east of Madera, and were on the trail by 6:00 Sunday morning. From the Cliff Lake trailhead to Nelson Lakes was about five miles. Nice trail, but the cross country traveling after Nelson Lakes was even nicer.
We climbed the ridge west of Nelson Lakes, and then followed the ridge as it curved southwest past Sportsman Lake and then back north again. That brought us about a mile and a half from Bear Mountain.
We camped Saturday night at Courtright Reservoir, a couple of hours east of Madera, and were on the trail by 6:00 Sunday morning. From the Cliff Lake trailhead to Nelson Lakes was about five miles. Nice trail, but the cross country traveling after Nelson Lakes was even nicer.
We climbed the ridge west of Nelson Lakes, and then followed the ridge as it curved southwest past Sportsman Lake and then back north again. That brought us about a mile and a half from Bear Mountain.
Approaching Bear Mountain #13 Hiking west, we crossed a jeep road, traveled along another ridge, climbed steeply for a quarter-mile or so, and finally reached the summit. (If you have a high-clearance 4WD, you could shorten this hike considerably, but you'd miss some of the nicest parts.) Fabulous views from the top, especially to the east. There was a weird register box that instead of a register had little knickknacks and toiletries and a couple of business cards left by other hikers. We left a note about our climb and mentioned Joe and the Bear Mountain Project.
We had originally thought we’d try to climb Nelson Mountain and Eagle Peak, too, but by the time we got to the top of Bear Mountain it was approaching noon, and we needed to get back to the Bay Area that evening. So we left the other peaks for another day.
We had originally thought we’d try to climb Nelson Mountain and Eagle Peak, too, but by the time we got to the top of Bear Mountain it was approaching noon, and we needed to get back to the Bay Area that evening. So we left the other peaks for another day.
On the return trip, John figured out we could save some effort by taking the jeep road north a little bit and then contouring around at 9200 rather than along the top of the ridge, which was a hundred or so feet higher. So we did that. We got back to the trailhead around 4:30 and stopped for dinner at La Esperanza in Madera, which I think Joe would have enjoyed.
David Sklansky
David Sklansky
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