Oops, I did it again

After last weeks outing to Flagstaff Hill, I actually didn't think I would go back to this mountain (ever) again, because there wasn't really much which was extremely attractive for a mountaineer like me. However, I kind of had to, because I lost something precious up there (most likely during the bushwhacking up to the summit). So I studied the topo map at home and I tried hard to "squeeze" some sort of a "new and exiting" hike to Flagstaff Hill out of the map. North of Flagstaff Hill I found the mountain called "Shirttail Peak" which seems to have been quite popular during the height of the mining era, since lots of old pit mines, mine shafts and mine tunnels are shown on the US Topo around that mountain top. So why not climb Shirttail Peak, visit some old abandoned mines and also hike up to Flagstaff Hill from north to hopefully retrieve my lost item? Since I didn't find any information about "Shirttail Peak" in the www, I studied the map quite well and even looked at satellite images to find out how to avoid the expected bushwhack as good as possible. I felt well prepared to conquer Shirttail Peak and climb Flagstaff Hill from Rattlesnake Bar Road and find & retrieve the lost item.

About 3 miles before my planned starting point for my hike, I get a bad feeling. There's a big yellow sign on the side of the road "Private Property. Next 5 Miles. Left and right of the Road. No Trespassing!" No wonder I didn't find any useful information about how to hike to Shirttail Peak, it's most likely on private property. I keep driving anyway just to "amuse" myself, and sure enough there are plenty of "no trespassing" & "private road" signs everywhere, which clearly tell me that I am not supposed to go up to Shirttail Peak or Flagstaff Hill from the Rattlesnake Bar Road... Now what? Should I do it anyway and maybe risk to get shot? No! Should I just hike up to Flagstaff Hill on the same route like last week from the Salmon Falls Bridge? No! Should I just give up and go home? No!

Luckily I remember, that the Darrington Trail (which I partially took last week to approach Flagstaff Hill), goes all the way to the lake and ends at the State Park at the Peninsula Campground. From there I can walk back towards the Salmon Falls Bridge and get up to Flagstaff Hill too. This would at least give me a partially "new route". So I drive all the way to the end of Rattlesnake Bar Road to the State Park. Even though the campground is closed, there is a possibility for day use parking (very limited spaces though). According to the park ranger, parking is free during the off season winter months.

The Darrington Trail starts right at the entrance of the park and goes uphill in direction southeast. After a little more than half a mile I make a small detour to a nice viewpoint close to a water reservoir there. I then walk to the lake near the Deep Ravine cove. From here I don't actually follow the trail but instead walk along the shore. After another mile I get back to the trail and follow it to the beginning of the Hancock Creek cove. I don't walk all the way to where the trail up to Flagstaff Hill starts but take a shortcut, directly up the hill instead (some minor bushwhack for about 100 yards) and then follow the trail I took last week for approximately 0.3 miles.

At an altitude of approximately 800 ft, there is a clear path branching off on the left going south. I took this path by accident last week for a little bit and the turned around. Today I decide to explore it, because I have plenty of time even if it dead ends or doesn't take me to Flagstaff Hill. It first goes slightly uphill and then keeps altitude. Pretty much exactly west of P. 1213 an obvious downhill mountain bike trail comes down from the hill. I walk up there and get to the top of P.1213, south of Flagstaff Hill. A path then continues down the hill on the west side and gets to an old tin shack which is falling apart and later to an old mining road which is the only path shown on my map in this area.

Even though this road leads downhill towards Rattlesnake Bar Road, I decide to follow it for a while and try to explore an old mine indicated on my map. However, besides some thick bushes and a few path traces I don't find anything which looks like a mine. The question now is, whether I should try to get up to Flagstaff Hill directly from here or go back and take the path I took last week. With all the bushwhack I encountered the last time, I actually don't have much hope that the direct route is an option, even though the vegetation on the south side of Flagstaff Hill doesn't look all that dense. I decide to follow the old mining road a little bit and also check out the west side of the hill when all of a sudden I see another obvious downhill mountain bike trail coming down from Flagstaff Hill. I gladly "take this offer" and get up to the southern (false) summit (P. 1421) without any problems. Some mountain bikers must have cut out bushes and little trees in order to have a downhill trail which later connects back to the official trail up to the top. It's not indicated on any of the maps I saw, but is definitely an option for an alternative route up to or down from Flagstaff Hill.

After a short search in the thicket up there, I'm very happy to actually find the lost item! I also quickly visit the highpoint again. The view to the Sierra Nevada is actually pretty nice and thanks to the clearing skies up in the mountains, I get a glimpse of the freshly snowed in Crystal Range.

Even though I know there is a "Private Road" sign at the northern beginning of the path from Rattlesnake Bar Road up to Flagstaff Hill, I decide to take this gravel road to get to Rattlesnake Bar Rd anyway, because I can't find any "no trespassing" signs coming from this side. So in case someone catches me, I can play innocent "I didn't see any signs" :-) Once on the Rattlesnake Bar Road, I breathe a sigh of relief and walk back to my car along the paved road. There I have a nice chat with the park ranger who tells me that it is not a good idea to mess with the property owners in this area, because a lot of them grow pot here, and supposedly they are very protective of their goods.

All together it was a surprisingly enjoyable hike on a wonderful sunny fall day on a "new" route which I found by accident, and, I successfully found what I lost last week :-)