Elevation: 7429 feet
Trailhead: Lamont Peak Trail
Route: Lamont Peak Trail
Difficulty: Easy hiking/running
I needed to drive out to Tucson for the month of February to do a rotation in their Emergency Department, so I decided to stop in the southern sierra and check out a new peak. Lamont peak is near Kernville and roughly midpoint between the bay area and Tucson so I slept at the trail head and climbed it the next day. I found complete solitude and surprisingly good rock, as well as a nice summit.
Right following my ambulatory medicine rotation, I found myself with a full weekend to get myself to Tucson by car, and plenty of mountains between me and there. Still being a bit cautious about going out alone, I picked the benign looking class 2 route up Mt Lamont in the domelands wilderness. Coming out of Kernville/Lake Isabella late in the evening, I drove up a pitch black canebrake road until a trail bisected the dirt in front of me. I tried to drive a little further, to a marked campground, but snow on the road stopped me so I back tracked to the trail head.
At first, I couldn't sleep because the full moon reflecting off the bright granite came in though the car windows. I'm still nervous sleeping alone outside, so I also felt unnerved in the total solitude. I must have drifted off though because I woke to a pink sky and the gradual treed ridge of Mt Lamont illuminated by the sunrise.
I got dressed and found a very faint trail heading up the ridge. I jogged here and there, but in general the trail was so weak and overgrown that I had to slow frequently to check that I was still on it. The trail was generally dry, but when I dipped onto the north side of the ridge snow appeared. After a little more than an hour, the summit of Lamont came into view and a quick scramble brought me to the summit register, which had this old entry from 1961:
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