This blog will detail 1,000 video hikes in Southern California. By Southern California, I am drawing a line from San Luis Obispo to the Nevada Border. Anything south of that line will be declared "Southern California". In a way, it is a personal challenge to do so many hikes. Mainly, however, it is my way of showcasing how many hiking opportunities there really are right in our own geographic back yard. As a blog, it serves as a companion piece to my Youtube channel "Mike On The Trail". It is also a work in progress, as I don't actually have 1,000 edited videos completed. This will take effort for quite some time before it is declared done. Even then, there will still be more out there. Here's to hiking and all the positive effects it has had on my life...and possibly yours!
Thorn Benchmark is an example of a peak that I was in the proximity of once before, but didn't apply the extra effort to go visit. In the past, I had hiked Barley Flats Road to reach the summit of Barley Flats. The road passes the noticeable peak of Thorn Benchmark. At the time, I didn't know that it was a named peak with access, so I let it go by unvisited. However, with better information now, I made sure to visit it this time around.
Looking down slope at poodle dog bush.
Much like last time, I began the hike from a locked vehicle gate on Barley Flats Road. The hike is unshaded, so even on a cool spring day, the unrelenting sun always seems to heat things up more than desired. Along the way, there is a use trail that accesses the ridge toward Thorn Benchmark. It looked overgrown and too much unnecessary work, especially since it paralleled the road. Because of that, I just stuck to the road as long as possible. The road eventually bends around the side of the peak and offers an alternative use trail leading to the peak. This was the right time to leave the road, also since it goes away from the peak at that point. The use trail is lightly used, but it leads right to the top. The summit is wide and flat, since it appeared to have been cleared with a bulldozer at some point in time. It had a marker, but I found no register.
Approaching the summit.
I could have continued on to Barley Flats from there, but I had alternative plans to visit Barley Flats on a different hike plan in the future. Because of that, this was an out and back hike. I didn't want to go down the alternative overgrown use trail, but instead opted to return along Barley Flats Road, which had no unpleasant surprises waiting for me along the way. A hike here is a good plan, but probably best to combine with another moderate hike nearby to help round out a complete hiking day., I did that by combining this with the hike to Peak 4459.
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