Eagle Rest Peak, San Emigdio Mountains (HPS)

This one was a doozy, but a worthy doozy indeed. Located in the Wildlands Conservancy’s Wind Wolves Preserve, Eagle Rest Peak is often climbed as a two-peak day over Antimony, named for the silvery metal that 1850s surveyors mistook for silver. We found none ourselves, but managed to uncover no shortage of brush and attendant bushwhacking, taking on a fair share of leaf-litter, scratches, and sundry woodland souvenirs.

After countless saddles and bumps and nameless sub-peaks, we climbed the final sandstone cliff via a short Class 2 ramp to sit on the pseudo-knife’s edge summit ridgeline. Views were enjoyably vertiginous. Undoubtably one of the HPS’s finest summits.

Summit: 6,005 ft (Eagle Rest); 6,848 ft (Antimony)

Total distance: 9.3 mi

Elevation gain: 4,610 ft