I was on my first day of a short, compact two-day swing through Southern California, nabbing some easy prominence peaks and enjoying some scenery while at it. Already today I was successful on Frazier Mountain to the south. From there I drove into Bakersfield’s east side, and after a lunch and getting some supplies, planned for the second half of my day: a drive up, and a short hike, to the summit of Breckenridge Mountain.

Breckenridge Mountain is a giant hulk of a mountain, one of the many peaks of this shape in the transitions between the transverse ranges of Southern California and the mightier Sierra Nevada ranges to the north. Breckenridge is visible from Bakersfield, impressively high when you consider Bakersfield is maybe at 500 feet above sea level, and Breck’s summit is over 7,000 feet higher. The mountain is basically one giant mass, with no real significant sub-summits of note, everything pretty much leading uniformly up to the top. Breckenridge is within the Sequoia National Forest, and a good road traverses the range from Bakersfield on the west to the little burgs of Havilah and Bodfish (near Lake Isabella) to the east. A spur road leads to the summit(s). The television stations for Bakersfield use Breckenridge to house its big towers, while the forest has an active lookout up top, hence the good (in relative terms) roads. Everything looked logistically easy, if only those darn dark clouds would disperse…

To get into the range, I followed Breckenridge Road, passing through some suburbia for a few miles and through some oil fields a short bit, until it intersected Comanche Road. I mention Comanche Road only because it’s a good reference point as well as a good way to get to and from the main highways – CA-58 and CA-178 – out this way. At Comanche I zeroed my odometer and went all in, as they say, on Breckenridge Road. From here to the top I would be treated to the real grandeur of the journey: the spectacular scenery along the way.

At first Breckenridge Road meanders through some rolling hills and ranch properties, going in and out of the many folds in the earth, up and down hill and dale, all the while the big mass of Breckenridge still way far off in the distance. As the road ascends, the hills become more numerous and the road steeper and curvier, the hillsides now covered in golden colored grasses and oak trees. I went slow – often no more than 15 mph – and enjoyed every new view around each bend. It was gorgeous! For some of the drive the route passes through some private ranch properties with the usual signs about keeping off. About 15 miles in I had an interesting encounter with some local kids who had parked dead center in the road, one with a .22 in his hand. I asked what was going on and they told me they were “putting a rattlesnake out of its misery” after having run it over. Yeah, whatever. One kid, the leader, approximate age 20, did most of the talking. He came to my driver’s side window and we had a chat. He was hard of hearing or generally dense, probably both. Of interest to me was the road. I asked them how far up the road was paved. He said “to the caves”. I said “caves?”, and he replied “there are caves?”. I think he heard me say caves. Okay, that was a no-go. I re-iterated that I was surprised the road was still paved this far in, that I was expecting dirt by now. His reply was that it doesn’t cost anything to drive it. I think he heard me say “pay”. The kid was apparently a real dope. I didn’t really get any good information from them, but they seemed harmless (except to snakes) and soon enough they got moving and so did I.

So me, I went up and up and up, passing through some hillier landscape where there were more trees than not, passing by some cattle, and slowly inching my way up to the upper reaches of Breckenridge Mountain. About 20 miles in from Comanche I passed the Forest boundary, then some little private in-holdings (another few little ranches), some junctions, and finally, 26 miles in all, to the turn off to the lookout road, still five miles off to the south, said the sign. I drove in and went in about three miles, parking at a bend at about 7,000 feet, leaving me with about a mile and a half of walking to the top and 500 feet of gain. The weather was unsettled, but holding steady here and even a bit sunny. I figured an hour round trip, and kind of hustled to hedge my bet. The hike up went quickly up easy road and easy slopes. In time I came to a Y and went left. The summit is a ridge of three areas of near equal elevation, although the farthest east point is the summit, complete (as I would discover) with a rather challenging rock outcrop guarding the highpoint. However, the weather had really started to get nasty. A giant thunderstorm had enveloped big Piute Mountain (tomorrow’s objective) across the way, with loud rumbles of thunder coming in more frequent outbursts. The sun was now blocked and the storm seemed to be developing above Breckenridge, too.

I hustled as fast as I could, coming up to the lookout and snapping a blurry photo of it (presumably, holding the camera steady not my immediate concern). The summit outcrop is quite daunting from the road so I hoped there was an easier way to the top up the back way. I walked around back, by a truck and camper for the lookout guy, and did find two or three clefts that went up to the top, which is a pillar of rock about 4 feet high above the rest of the rock mass, which itself was about 12 feet above me. The rock was solid granite but the holds were kind of awkward, or sloping outward, and I made a couple of attempts in the various clefts – all the while hearing rumbles of close-by thunder – until I finally quit lollygagging and just willed myself up the one move that was stumping me down low. Once above that, there was one more slightly awkward move to get close to the pinnacle, which I stood next to and tagged, it being about shoulder high to me at this point. The familiar red canister was tucked into a cleft nearby, but I didn’t stick around to sign in. I downclimbed these bits and got myself back onto the ground quickly. Descending this summit region I checked out the next one west – a possible contender. I walked around the fence there, tagged any high rocks, but didn’t dally. I ignored the western-most contender since it didn’t seem to hold anything that seemed as high as where I’d been, by observation.

The hike down went as fast as I could move, as by now the storm above me was in full gear, letting off bolts of lightning and stupendous thunder about every five seconds, then dumping rain and hail as I ran like a son-of-a-bitch back to my truck and took refuge in the cab. The hike was a success and had taken me about an hour, but boy that storm developed fast! I drove the road back to the paved Breckenridge Road, and debated my next move. It was only about 3 p.m. by now. I wanted to be in the Lake Isabella area tonight, and while this road went down into the Havilah/Bodfish area, I didn’t know if it would remain paved or not, and given the rain we were having, I didn’t want to chance driving slick muddy and potentially steep roads in these conditions … so I backtracked out the way I came in. Yes, I knew this would add a lot of distance to my trip, but I consoled myself that at least I’d get to enjoy the scenery again, which I did (and got slightly better photos as well). Another upside was I drove the CA-178 route through the Kern River Gorge for the first time ever. That was spectacular! And, wouldn't you know, I ran over a snake on the way.

There’s an amusing side story: on the drive down I passed a red truck going up. The driver had a mustache. Okay, I finally get back down to Comanche Road, then north to Highway 178, then up that through the beautiful Kern River Gorge toward Lake Isabella, then I spent some time futzing around, looking for a place to camp. I drive south through Bodfish up a steep paved grade and who do I see? The same truck and guy – I could tell by his 'stache and his expression he was surprised to see me! He had evidently come down the road I had chickened out on! He probably knew the road was paved, or maybe it’s not and he’s just braver. In any case, I was amused. I spent that night camped at the Sandy Flat Campground off of the Kern River. The next day: Piute Mountain.