W6/NC-120 Lowery Benchmark (Blue Ridge)

The day after Thanksgiving was looking like it would be the only nice day of the week, so I took advantage of it and went for a hike. I chose a loop over two unactivated peaks in the Cache Creek area, in the Berryessa-Snow Mountain National Monument. First up was Lowery Benchmark.

Heading up. The lit peak is on the other side of the river.

My car said it was 28F when I pulled into the parking lot. The lot is the first one you pass, on the left, after entering the canyon on CA16. Plenty of parking, and a bathroom. I got moving quickly to try and warm up. After a mile or two of climbing I had gotten myself to a comfortable temperature. The trail was easy to follow, and I warmed up even more when the trail wound around to the east side of the ridge and I got some direct sunlight.

Cache Creek canyon, and the parking area.

After about 2300' of climbing I reached the ridge, and shortly after Fiske Benchmark. This seems to be the place where most people stop. I signed the register on top, then continued along.

On the summit of Fiske.

I quickly lost the trail and did a short but horrendous bushwhack to get back to the trail. I was worried the trail would be very bad and I wouldn't be able to get to Lowery in a reasonable amount of time. This wasn't a problem, and the trail was generally easy to follow, if overgrown.

This was the snowiest section of the hike.

The ridge was nice. There wasn't a breeze, so I stayed warm enough, and the views were excellent. A bit too hazy to see the Sierra, but I could see Mt Diablo to the south and the Snow Mountain area north of me. Plenty of snow on the higher peaks.

The high point there is 2798.

The benchmark was just off to the side of the trail. I stopped there and set up my antenna, sitting next to it. Propagation seemed decent, and I made plenty of contacts. I hadn't put on my warm coat, and after about 20 minutes of sitting still I was getting cold. I packed up and continued on to the crux of the route.

The Sutter Buttes were clearly visible.

There is a road network below Blue Ridge that I was planning to take up to Pk 2798, but no trail connecting the ridge to the road. From the satellite imagery it looked like there might be a break in the cliffs on the west side of the ridge, and I was hoping there would be a reasonable route down to the road. I was in luck.

The road below me as I stepped off the trail.

It turns out the Blue Ridge Trail switchbacks down to the end of the road. I stepped off the trail before the end, but I think if I had continued it would have been obvious the trail went down. As I was descending a steep but reasonable slope, I noticed something that looked like a trail below me. When I got down to it I could see it went towards the turnaround at the end of the road, so I took it. Saved me some difficult bushwhacking.

Trail sign at the road's end.

If you have a 4WD, high clearance car you could probably drive up to here and have a 1.5mi hike up to the summit. On the road I jogged down to the col, where the Fiske Creek Trail leaves to the north. I then started the long climb up to Peak 2798.

Mt St Helena.

Trailhead: Cache Creek Canyon Regional Park (Fiske Trailhead). This is also where Road 40 turns off of CA 16
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Follow the Blue Ridge Trail up to the summit. Trail is overgrown south of Fiske BM.
Red Tape: None.