Peak Vistas From the Pacific Crest Trail

Think Pacific Crest Trail, and dry lands do not come to mind. My vision of the 2,600-mile-long route is a trail-side landscape of forests and alpine lakes, as well as the snowcapped summits of the High Sierra and Cascade Range.

Lest we hikers forget, however, the West’s premier long-distance trail crosses both the Colorado and Mojave deserts on its way from Baja California to the southern Sierra. At Walker Pass off California 178, the northbound trail ascends from the desert floor for the last time and offers grand vistas of both the mighty High Sierra to the north and the vast desert to the south.

Near Walker Pass, the hiker encounters a transition zone between desert and mountains, highlighted by Joshua trees giving way to pinyon. This is high and dry country; the next water source for northbound hikers is more than a dozen miles away.

While exploring the vast territory from Utah west to California in the early 1800s, U.S. Army Lt. Joseph R. Walker led an expedition over the crest of the High Sierra in the fall of 1833. On his return route east in the spring of 1834, Walker skirted the south end of the Sierra by way of a route known today as Walker Pass. Historians credit Walker with discovering the Owens Valley between the Sierra and Death Valley and finding a route (the California Trail) from Great Salt Lake in Utah all the way to California’s far north coast by Eureka.

The Walker Pass region is part of the 74,640-acre Owens Peak Wilderness, set aside in 1994 under provisions of the California Desert Protection Act. It’s one of a dozen such desert wilderness areas west of Death Valley National Park.

Directions to trail head: From California Highway 14, 41 miles north of the town of Mojave, turn west on California 178 (the road to Lake Isabella) and travel eight miles to Walker Pass. Look for a historical marker on the south side of the road and the beginning of the trail opposite it on the north side of the road.

Parking is available in a dirt pullout on the north side of the road. Upon departure, be careful when you rejoin Highway 178 because visibility is poor and cars speed over the pass.

The hike: The sandy track ascends northeast over sage-scented slopes dotted with yucca, pinyon and Joshua trees. After a short (0.2-mile) climb, the trail offers desert views of pine-cloaked Scodie Mountain (south of Walker Pass) and the Indian Wells Valley shimmering below to the southeast.

The Joshua trees, whose presence defines the limits of the Mojave Desert, fall away like tired hikers as you ascend. For 0.5 mile or so, the path passes through a kind of no-man’s zone without trees before the pinyons appear in force about a mile from the trail head.

Now in the company of pines, the trail uses switchbacks among granite outcroppings to reach a saddle at the 1.7-mile mark. Here you’ll get the first trail-side views of the High Sierra.

Continue along the ridgeline, then make a 0.3-mile ascent to a second saddle. Amid a dense stand of pinyon, you can spread out a picnic and savor the views.

John McKinney is the author of “Day Hiker’s Guide to California’s State Parks” (Olympus Press, $14.95).

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Pacific Crest Trail

WHERE: Owens Peak Wilderness

DISTANCE: from Walker Pass to Crest Overlook is 4 miles round trip with 1,000-foot elevation gain.

TERRAIN: Transition zone between Mojave Desert and High Sierra.

HIGHLIGHTS: Joshua trees, pinyon, grand mountain and desert vistas.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Moderate.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Ridgecrest Field Office, 300 S. Richmond Road, Ridgecrst, CA 93555; tel. (790) 384-5400