Silurian Hills, California

Jakes Cabin was restored by Jake Samland

Three large, unvandalized trucks have gone missing in recent years

                             These "hills" are really jagged peaks infested with mine trails and relics. It takes 4wd to get at any of it.  RVs can park on Silurian Lake at mp SBD 19.6 on highway 127. The lake gets a good VZ signal. Storm Hilary dumped a lot of silt on the lake in 2023 and now deep cracks make it tricky for two wheelers. Updated 2024

• The 4wd south side road accesses most of the major peaks.  Drive to mp SBD 16.8 on highway 127. Turn on road #D111 and go 3 miles to the old RR. D111 keeps going east. At N35 30039, W116 03316 there is a major junction. Continuing straight to the east dead ends and accesses Silurian Benchmark. Going right at the junction takes you south nearly 6 miles to the big power lines at 26134, 00683. That segment isn't rocky but has a million tiny minor dips. A good road follows the power lines for over 7 miles back to the highway. Update 2022.
• MOSQUITO PEAK el 3000 is what hikers call the high peak in the western part of the range. Mine trails shown on the topo can be used to make an interesting loop. Drive to mp SBD 16.8 on highway 127. Turn on a 4wd road and go 3 miles to the old RR grade. Go north on that for 350 feet and turn east on D166. Go a mile and a third on a worse road to a T. Then go left and stay right at the next fork to the edge of a wash, about a quarter mile from the T. Hike up the wash and get on a mine road on the right bank at N35 30435, W116 05584 el 1350. Walk that to the end at a private claim el 1600, but not posted. A trail starts up the slope at the end of the road. Follow that up to where it levels off at el 2350. Along the way at el 1900 is a view of the return trail below. Next is a short side trail reading 30705, 05085 el 2350 goes to a car used for a winch. The main trail goes on and gets faint. Turn left to get to a saddle at 30818, 04976 el 2400 where the peak is in view. It's the pointy one. Go thru the saddle and walk level on a trail for 800 feet then veer left up an obvious drainage to get on the easy west ridge at 31069, 05099 and go up to the reg on top. Placed in 1980, it only had a couple of entries. Come back to the saddle el 2400 and go thru then down the drainage. A trail becomes obvious in about a tenth mile. It goes down the drainage then exits and goes down a slope where the return trail is in view. At the bottom, walk washes around to the return trail and be on it at 30311, 04768 el 1600 where it goes thru a saddle and then on .15 mile where it splits. Stay on the low trail going up the drainage on the right bank. The one up high on the left is hard to walk. The low trail goes to a saddle then go left up to the high trail. Follow that down where it seems to go into the wash, but it stays high on the left bank then it's a short way back to the start. The loop took me 3 hours, 15 minutes with nearly 2000 gain. Add more time to look at relics. Posted 2016.  RIGGS PEAK el 2400 is what I call the one nearly a mile to the west. Start from the same parking area and walk north up the main wash to a bedrock ridge at 30796, 05645 el 1600. Go up until it gets steeper then merge into the canyon on the right. Go up that to 30908, 05783 el 2000 where the rest is in view to the south saddle el 2250. The summit is at 31049, 05874. 100 minutes, 800 noticeable gain with a lot of bedrock. Posted 2020.
• SILURIAN BRIDGE MINES TOUR - these mine trails are a mile NE of the Riggs site as shown on the topo. Drive to mp SBD 16.8 on highway 127. Turn on a 4wd road and go 3 miles to a washout. Go left around that and shortly you come to the old RR grade. Go north on that for 350 feet and turn east on D166. Go a mile to a cabin then go left up a wash to a mine trail at N35 30558, W116 05879 el 1300. I walked the trail past the bridge and on to a tunnel with rails next to a wooden tower. I then walked back along a cliff base to the bridge and found a trail going up along the left side. It goes past a mine on the left and up to a tunnel el 1800. No one had been there in decades. I retraced back down the trail and met the main trail and followed it back to a fork shown on the topo. I went left to a third tunnel then had a short walk back to the start. One or two hours, 500 gain. These miners had a swimming pool above the cabin. Posted 2020.
• SILURWIND PEAK el 2926 is what hikers call the next major peak east of Mosquito Peak. A loop with a lot of mine relics can be done. Drive to N35 29844, W116 04717 on the south side road. Now turn north for a mile to the end of the road el 1600 but park 100 feet short due to nails and shell casings waiting for tires to come by. Hike up the main wash for a quarter mile to a large ore tower. 400 feet past that on the left bank is a trail that gains 700 feet to a mine, but that's a side trip. 800 feet up the wash past the tower is a trail on the right bank. Follow that along the wash then the trail goes back into the wash after a fall then on to the saddle at the head of the wash. Then go up a ridge at 31285, 04503 el 2150. At a steep section, it's easier to angle left then it tops out el 2650 and the peak is in view at the end of a craggy ridge which is easier than it looks. The reg is at 30936, 03944. Placed in 1973, Macleod and Lilley came in 1980 then I showed up in 2008. Next retrace from the summit for 200 feet to a saddle then go left down a class 2 canyon. Cut over to the right at 30525, 03959 el 2050 for easier walking. A tunnel can be seen down to the left. It's only 20 feet deep. I went over to it and used a trail there to get down to the flats. That loop took me less than 3 hours with 1300 gain. The Mosquito Peak loop can also be done from this same parking area because it goes right by it. Posted 2017.
• SILURIAN HILLS HIGH POINT el 3738 has a mine trail up the south side to el 3400. Drive the south side road to a wash at N35 29738, W116 03398. Drive up that on smooth gravel for nearly 2 miles to the mouth el 2250 of Owl Canyon. Stroll up the canyon until it opens up then veer left to a road at 29506, 00260 el 2750. Go up that to the trail at 29703, 00292 el 2900 next to a wooden post. It crosses a gully then is easy to follow to mines at el 3400. It's short walk from there to the reg at 30028, 00503. At the summit, a mine road can be seen running along the south rim of Owl Canyon. I walked back on that then down a canyon at 29476, 01524 el 2550. At a huge cairn, I cut over the left rim then down to the mouth of Owl Canyon. That loop took me 3 hours, 10 minutes with 1000 feet of noticeable gain. Some private land is in Owl Canyon but it seems abandoned and not posted. Posted 2017. In 2020, I walked north off the summit down the center of the main ridge and on to Silurian BM. Then I retraced to 30426, 01115 el 3350 where I could follow an easy ridge down to Owl Canyon. At 29826, 01815 el 2250, I crossed a wash and then across some minor drainages to get back to the start. That took 3 and a half hours with about 1000 noticeable gain, easy terrain.  ALTERNATE DRIVE - the road from the SE is mild sand, no rocks. Turn off highway 127 at mp SBD 9.4 and follow along power lines for 9 miles to N36 26694, W115 59309. Turn left there into a wash and go nearly 5 miles to the mine trail. Posted 2018.
•  SILURIAN BENCHMARK el 3636 - a loop can be done up the easy west ridge then down the north side. Drive the south side road to the major junction at N35 30039, W116 03316. Then go NE up the main wash for 1.3 miles to a road forking up the right bank at the triangle shown on the topo. Walk the right fork to the end at a tunnel in a gully. Go a few feet up the gully then climb right to a trail that ends at white tailings on a ridge just above. Keep going up the ridge to the summit. For the last bit I angled around to the north side for an easy grade. From the summit area there is a trail in view below to the NE at 30795, 01445 el 2900. I went down the NW canyon and cut over to it, but could later see that dropping down a north drainage at 30633, 01203 and then curving down to the left might be better. The trail goes to roads that lead back to the start. 2 hours, 40 minutes with 1400 gain. I had no GPS that day but this is all obvious. The reg, placed by M&L in 1980, needs a jar. Another loop option is to walk from the BM on the high ridge to the range high point. PEAK 1001 meters is to the north of Silurian BM and could be done as a side trip. To do it as a separate hike, drive past the triangle up the main wash for 3/4 mile then walk into the east canyon of the peak. Pick a route up or follow the easy loop I did. I went up the canyon and got on high ground at 31207, 01555 el 2600 then on to the main saddle el 2750. Then I switched back up the easy east slope to 31285, 01750 el 3100 where I could look up and see a good route thru crags to the south summit el 3284. Then I walked the ridge to the north summit and back down to the main saddle. 2 hours, 900 gain. GATORADE PEAK el 3000+ is what I call the next peak to the west. The north ridge is the easy and obvious route. At the summit block, go around the left side to the summit cairn at 30723, 02457. 90 minutes, 700 gain. A glass Gatorade jar was on the north ridge at el 2750. Posted 2018.
• FANTA MINE TRAIL - an easy loop can be done thru 4 canyons. Park on the south side road and walk to a trail at a mine camp with a thousand cans at N35 30143, W116 03556 el 1750. A Fanta bottle and Coke bottle had survived vandals there. They are the no deposit glass type that came just before plastic. The trail runs NW to the far bank of the main wash then stays left of a dark crag then dips into the wash and immediately climbs out at 30348, 03604 then soon there is a risky segment that has slid out. I went 10 feet higher to skirt that and left cairns but it's only a few feet. The trail goes on into a gully and on thru a saddle with a tall cairn then joins the main wash again. The trail then runs on the right bank to a boring mine at 30723, 03639 el 2350. They built a trail for that? From there, cross the main saddle at 30668, 03496 el 2300 then go north down a canyon for 2/3 mile then cross to the right over a low spot into the next canyon and stroll up that to the head and over the saddle el 2300 then down canyon back to the start. 3 hours, easy grades. SHORT VERSION - just come back from the mine in the main wash and go left around a fall. That might take 90 minutes. Posted 2018, 2022.
•  NORTH PEAK el 2700 is what I call a peak on the rim of a scenic, high basin at the north end of the range. Leave highway 127 at mp SBD 19.6 and drive across Silurian Lake to an easy 4wd road at N35 32301, W116 10081. Drive nearly four miles to a cabin. Go past the cabin then stay left at one fork and park at a major wash a quarter mile past the cabin. Walk north along the road for a fifth mile to the next major wash reading 32104, 06237 then go up that to a fork at 31969, 05584. Go up the left fork to the end then up the ridge to survey junk on the summit at 32242, 05114. To loop back, circle left around the basin to the far low rim then follow that rim to the left and get in a canyon at 31755, 05129 el 2300. Go on down to falls then angle up on the left side and go thru a saddle 31557,05324 el 2150 then down easy slopes into the canyon that you are parked at. Next use the obvious, smooth low ridge all way to the end and hit the creekbed then out in that. 3 hrs,1500 gain. Nice canyons and a lot of smooth walking. Sheep tracks here indicated one animal scouting for water. It must have come over from the Avawatz that has the only water I know of. Posted 2016.
• WEST MINE TRAILS LOOP - a good hike on the west side ties together two mine trails. Leave highway 127 at mp SBD 19.6 and drive across Silurian Lake to an easy 4wd road at N35 32301, W116 10081. Go nearly four miles to a cabin and park 300 feet past it next to a mine road cutting up a slope. Follow the road to a mine trail at 31784, 06249 el 1500. Take the trail to some mines at el 1750 where the trail gets fuzzy. From the mines, go up the ridge a short way where the trail can be seen going along the left side of the ridge. It soon fades at a steel marker el 1850. From there, cut across some gullies to get to a saddle at 31581, 06024 el 1850. Go down the drainage on the other side of the saddle to some more mines then walk a road from there to a trail at 31457, 06291 el 1450. Follow that down to a wash then soon a gap on the right leads to the flats then go back to the start. 90 minutes, 600 gain. Posted 2016.  RAILROAD PEAKS is what I call the cluster along the RR grade on the drive in. For the high one, drive back and walk a fifth mile to a trail at 32147,07129. Go west on that to a low saddle then on up the ridge until you see a pothole in the canyon on the left. Get in there and go on up the main creekbed to the reg. Geologists called this Middle Island Peak. 700 gain, 1 hour. More peaks just to the south have trails. From the RR grade, get to a bladed strip at 31364, 07380 el 1000 where there are 3 trails. The left and middle one go to diggings. Take the one far right, next to a tunnel, and climb to a saddle where the trail splits. Stay right on the low trail to the end at a mine. Angle up to the left a few feet into a saddle and then go left around a bump then walk the ridge to the head of the main canyon that has been on your right. The highest peak is to the left. Go along the base of the south side cliffs to a gully at the far end and up that to an easy ridge for the rest. Come back down the main canyon and get on a trail at a fall to get back. 2 hours at most, 500 gain. Less if skipping the peak. These trails are on the topo. Posted 2018, 2022.

  

  Silurian Lake

  
  

  

  Bottle on Gatorade Peak. It still has some in it. Yum! Leave it in place in case thirsty hikers come by. Gatorade went to plastic in 1998 according to the web.

This rig is dated 1946

Chuck Martin and P. T. Moore? Nope, just two friendly CHP officers who dropped by at Silurian Lake to see how I was doing.