Walbrecht Peak and Blue Point in Jaw Bone Canyon, April 1, 2017

Today’s hike took Jorge and I back to the desert, to hike a peak north of Mojave. Diana decided to skip this hike, since she was not feeling a 100%.

Walbrecht is officially unnamed, the name given by the HPS to honor the first woman to finish the HPS list, Freda Walbrecht in 1952. It was proposed for list addition in 2002 but failed in the membership voting later that same year. We met at the Ride Share at Newhall Pass just after 7:00AM, from where we drove to the Panera restaurant in Palmdale to pick up some coffee and breakfast sandwiches. The turnoff for Jaw Bone Canyon is north of the town of Mojave, and has a visitor center with a very old turtle, which I have never been able to see the several times I stopped there.

On we went on several dirt roads to a shallow saddle, where we parked the truck, unloaded our gear, and started walking towards the rocky peaks to the south. Even though there is no trail to Walbrecht, Jorge guided us to the summit without any hesitation. From the summit we had great views of the various surrounding peaks and the snow covered Sierras in the distance. After signing the resister and exploring the neighboring rocks, we quickly dropped back down to our truck.

While driving back, we encountered a large snake, who was sunning itself in the middle of the dirt road. We stopped to take some pictures of it, at first thinking it was a rattle snake, but upon closer inspection it did not look line one.

We stopped at the bottom of Blue Point, where we hiked up an old mine road that quickly ended. Blue point is named for the bluish green color caused by oxidized copper in the rock. Climbing up to the top of Blue Point was steep but quick. From the summit, the views of the surrounding area were amazing with its incredible variation of colors in the rocks of the surrounding hills. We decided to hike to a slightly higher point, just to the north east from where we had a great view looking down on Blue Point. On the slopes of this high point were large clumps of yellow, orange, and purple wild flowers. Hiking back down, I suddenly slipped and fell hard on my butt. (A day later, it still hurts!).

Driving back, a guy waved us down. After stopping, he explained that he and his don were prohibited from driving their dirt bikes any further by park rangers, and asked if we would take them and their bikes back to the rental place at the entrance for Jaw Bone Canyon. Jorge agreed to help them out, and the bikes were quickly loaded in the back of the truck. Once we got back on the road, I asked the guy what had happened, and he told me that the rangers had stopped them because they were riding too close to the main road. I did not believe this story, but did not want to press him for further details. When we got to the rental store, they quickly unloaded the bikes, thanked us for their help, and we were on our way home.

The ride back on Highway 14 was very pleasant, with both sides of the highway showing large areas of blooming wildflowers.