Little Bear Peak Trip Report 08/25/2013

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Little Bear Peak - 14,041 feet
Date Posted	08/25/2013
Modified	08/27/2013
Date Climbed	08/24/2013
Author	climbnowworklater

LB via SW Ridge
This was my SW Ridge experience on LB. Hiked with Stereo311. Thank you to: ameristrat and FCSquid. Your TR's were essential to our success. We drove to the Tobin Creek TH and the road is rough. He had a Nissan Pathfinder in 4WD and we had to move slowly. Not difficult, but in a dry creek bed and large boulders so high clearance needed. About the TH: There is some confusion about Private Property issues. My family has land in the back country and was advised by an attorney that we must post signage to prosecute. I am not an attorney and am not advising anyone as to such. There is not one sign anywhere that states the legally important "no trespassing" or "private property". It is my opinion, they would have a difficult time in court prosecuting because they have not posted anything. The problem in my opinion is that the road is not private but certain plots of land are. The TH may be on private land but may not be. We may cross private land and NF periodically but you would never know. There is also no fencing or anything to indicate someone has made efforts to restrict access. I am not condoning parking at the TH but we felt very comfortable doing so. The trail is essentially 2 different experiences. The fist section is the forested "route finding" section. After some serious thought we both brought GPS units. WHAT A SMART DECISION. You could hike this with a map and compass but will have a hell of a challenge on your hands. First of all, the "tape" issue. Tape was seen periodically in patches. We started out seeing tape. But each piece was different. Some were bright some faded, some long and some just a knot on a branch. Then there were sections of no tape, just bush-wacking. The problem with the tape is that you don't know who put up what, when, and it is not consistent. The GPS not only saved us an hour + of route finding but we didn't have to clutter the place up with more tape. Unless you are an orienteering expert, do not go out there without GPS. The hike in the trees was tough, always up, up, up. The bush-wacking wasn't that bad so long as you were smart about your route. Then when you hit tree line only the terrain changes, not the up, up, up. We must have hit 4 false summits before S LB. The "knife edge" is borderline CL 4 and there is one loose rock on the edge so be careful. A fall here would result in serious injury or death. The traverse was straightforward but if you didn't know where to go, you'd have a bit of work up there. I think we did the traverse from S LB to LB in about 30mins. 20mins from LB to S LB. (again, thanks FCSquid, your detailed pictures helped tremendously.) All in all, a very strenuous workout, mentally and physically challenging. We took 9:45 minutes to RT the hike. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. video that Stereo311 made of our trip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL43sdjm-i8 ameristrats tr: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=13616&parmpeak=Little+Bear+Peak&cpgm=tripmain&ski=Include FCSquids tr: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=8565&parmpeak=Little+Bear+Peak&start=60&cpgm=tripmain&ski=Include

LB via SW Ridge

This was my SW Ridge experience on LB. Hiked with Stereo311.

Thank you to: ameristrat and FCSquid. Your TR's were essential to our success.

We drove to the Tobin Creek TH and the road is rough. He had a Nissan Pathfinder in 4WD and we had to move slowly. Not difficult, but in a dry creek bed and large boulders so high clearance needed. About the TH: There is some confusion about Private Property issues. My family has land in the back country and was advised by an attorney that we must post signage to prosecute. I am not an attorney and am not advising anyone as to such. There is not one sign anywhere that states the legally important "no trespassing" or "private property". It is my opinion, they would have a difficult time in court prosecuting because they have not posted anything. The problem in my opinion is that the road is not private but certain plots of land are. The TH may be on private land but may not be. We may cross private land and NF periodically but you would never know. There is also no fencing or anything to indicate someone has made efforts to restrict access. I am not condoning parking at the TH but we felt very comfortable doing so.

The trail is essentially 2 different experiences. The fist section is the forested "route finding" section. After some serious thought we both brought GPS units. WHAT A SMART DECISION. You could hike this with a map and compass but will have a hell of a challenge on your hands. First of all, the "tape" issue. Tape was seen periodically in patches. We started out seeing tape. But each piece was different. Some were bright some faded, some long and some just a knot on a branch. Then there were sections of no tape, just bush-wacking. The problem with the tape is that you don't know who put up what, when, and it is not consistent. The GPS not only saved us an hour + of route finding but we didn't have to clutter the place up with more tape. Unless you are an orienteering expert, do not go out there without GPS.
The hike in the trees was tough, always up, up, up. The bush-wacking wasn't that bad so long as you were smart about your route.

Then when you hit tree line only the terrain changes, not the up, up, up. We must have hit 4 false summits before S LB. The "knife edge" is borderline CL 4 and there is one loose rock on the edge so be careful. A fall here would result in serious injury or death. The traverse was straightforward but if you didn't know where to go, you'd have a bit of work up there. I think we did the traverse from S LB to LB in about 30mins. 20mins from LB to S LB. (again, thanks FCSquid, your detailed pictures helped tremendously.)

All in all, a very strenuous workout, mentally and physically challenging. We took 9:45 minutes to RT the hike.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

video that Stereo311 made of our trip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL43sdjm-i8

ameristrats tr:
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=13616&parmpeak=Little+Bear+Peak&cpgm=tripmain&ski=Include
FCSquids tr:
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=8565&parmpeak=Little+Bear+Peak&start=60&cpgm=tripmain&ski=Include

Comments or Questions

cftbq	Nice accomplishment 8/26/2013 2:10am And thanks for contributing to the limited literature on this route. As more and more people become disillusioned with the hourglass, I suspect it will become more popular. You analysis of the private property issues is forthright and welcome. Too bad there is so much uncertainty.
climbnowworklater	Thanks cftbq 8/26/2013 2:47am Supportive comments always appreciated. This will be a summit I will not soon forget. The navigating in dark, the workout, the scramble. I can see now why the peak in general has the reputation it does. But as you stated, the popularity will only grow for this particular route as it was substantially ”safer” than the hourglass alternative, imho.
painless4u2	GPS 8/26/2013 4:24am really helped us locate our car at the TH after coming off that ridge. Otherwise, it could have gotten interesting, especially being so tired.
bguindon	tobin creek trailhead directions 1/3/2014 6:37pm hi. i was looking for the tobin creek trailhead on the website but didn't see it. do you have directions? also curious if you considered a spring hike before you did your successful hike in the fall. thx.

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