Photos from Sawmill Mountain, the highest point in Kern County, CA. This was done in conjunction with Mt. Pinos, the highest point in Ventura County.
After the gruelling Death Valley Double, I made a detour to Ventura and Kern counties to do some summit bagging. Here is the start of the trail to Mt. Pinos.
One mile into the trail. As you can see by the treadmarks, this area is pretty popular with mountain bikers.
An old observation tower near the summit of Mt. Pinos. It used to be used to watch for condors, until condors were on the brink of extinction. A number of years ago the last condor was caught and bred in a successful-but-controversial program; there are now about 100 condors.
These are some of the north-easterly views from the observation tower.
Another view from the observation tower.
That's me sitting around. I was actually much happier than I looked; it was very peaceful up here.
At the top was this info board that explains, Mt. Pinos was known as "???inmu" to the Chumash Indians, and the summit was the center of the world.
