San Joaquin Mountain

<-Pyramid Peak

Conness Lakes->

The Hike: From the end of the dirt road follow the trail to the north-northwest and then northwest as it begins to descend. Soon the trail reaches a very steep descent through many tiny switchbacks. Be careful on your way down as the path is dusty with lots of loose rocks. Near the bottom of this steep section, a side-trail comes in from the east. We're not sure where this trail originates from. Continuing to the northwest, the trail flattens and reaches Deadman Pass at ~0.45 miles. Lots of vetch, lupine, and paintbrush can be found along this section in mid- to late-summer. Further to the northwest the trail begins to climb steeply again. Along this slope some clustered broomrape can be found later in the summer. A snag arch is passed through near the top of this steep climb before the trail flattens some to continue climbing to the northwest along the sandy slope on the west side of the ridge. The trail then crosses over to the east side of the ridge and flattens out completely near the ridge line before another steep climb. Take a look back from where you came from occasionally for ever improving views to the southeast and south. A couple of small switchbacks are passed through on the east side of the ridge before an unnamed summit is reached (~1.9 miles; Peak 10896). Here a cairn greets those who've made it as well as a fantastic view of the Ritter Range with Gladys, Rosalie, and Shadow Lakes below. For those starting from the Minaret Vista this is a good turnaround point (~4.1 miles for them). All along the ridge line be on the look out for beautiful lupine and Brewer's monkeyflower. The trail continues downhill to the west and in some parts is hard to see. However, as long as you stay close to the ridge line you should pick it up again. In some cases, little cairns help mark the way. The trail shifts to the northwest for a short while to pass between some stunted white-bark pine before proceeding to the west for a bit and turning to the northwest again. Here, again, the trail disappears in some places as it travels over the rocky ridge line. Continuing to the northwest over relatively flat terrain the trail passes through more patches of stunted white-bark pine before starting another steep climb on the east side of the ridge to the north and then west to reach the ridge line again. Here the trail splits in a few different paths that eventually meet up. The ridge line is then once again followed to the north-northwest before it is left for the west side as the trail approaches Two Teats. The relatively steep climb continues up to between the two 'teats' (~2.95 miles). Views toward the Ritter Range continue to improve as more lakes become visible below them. On the north side of Two Teats the trail steeply descends toward the ridge line. The east side of the ridge is much steeper and a few spires that resemble sharp teeth are passed just west of the ridge line. This section of the trail is pretty rocky and again there are multiple paths that split off. Just past these spires the col between Two Teats and San Joaquin Mountain is reached (~3.1 miles). Now the final steep climb begins. The trail begins by following close to the ridge line on the west side before leaving it to the north-northwest and rejoining it soon after. The trail crosses over the ridge line just west of the southeast shoulder of San Joaquin Mountain. The final climb then follows closely to the ridge line and passes through some rock outcroppings. The soil changes from brownish-red to darker brown just below the summit. The summit is reached at ~3.6 miles and the summit register can be found among the rock piles slightly southeast of the true summit. We continued a short distance to the northwest to find a fantastic view toward the Ritter Range. From this vantage point, we could make out many lakes including Gladys, Rosalie, Shadow, Ediza, Nydiver(s), Laura, Clarice, Altha, Garnet, Ruby, and Thousand Island. Mono Lake is also easily visible to the north-northeast and Crowley to the southeast. Major peaks visible include Iron Mountain, The Minarets, Mt Ritter, Banner Peak, Mt Davis, Rodgers Peak, Mt Lyell, Mt Maclure, Donohue Peak, Blacktop Peak, Kuna Peak, and Parker Peak. In the distance to the southeast many more are visible including Mammoth Mountain, Laurel Mountain, Bloody Mountain, Red Slate Mountain, Black and White Mountain, Mt Abbott, Mt Gabb, Mt Hilgard, and Recess Peak. We really took our time on the summit and enjoyed the fantastic scenery and solitude. When the time came to leave, we retraced our steps back to the trailhead and our car.