Monument Peak & Weaver Bally In Trinity Alps
- Updated: July 01, 2017
- Post By: Matthew Hengst
July 1st, 2017
Weaver Bally Lookout (6,988')
Weaver Bally (7,493')
Monument Peak (7,762')
This was the second day of a longer 4th of July trip which visited Trinity Alps, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and the furthest north of the Sierra Peak Section list. Writeups of the other days can be found here.
Today the main goal was Monument Peak in a nearby area of Trinity Alps. And since it was an easier day we finally had a chance to catch up after two very long days with very little sleep.
After breakfast we headed back down the road to Weaverville where we refueled and took advantage of cell coverage to check in and download some more maps.
The beta we had was slightly confusing and our first attempt at getting to the peak via E Weaver Creek Road ended up being a mistake. If you look at the CalTopo map the point I marked as Oops is pretty much the end of the road. So we backtracked and figured out the right way.
Weaver Bally Rd on the west end of town was clearly the right way once we started up it. It's graded and leads to a manned fire lookout. It was passable in Jen's little Toyota Scion TC but only barely and we had a number of locations where we were spinning tires or had to clear rocks out of our way.
After the slightly hair raising drive we parked at the saddle which is basically the only option up there. It was warm and after running through a lot of water the day before we both decided to carry 4 liters even though this was a much shorter day.
We decided to visit the fire lookout first and then top off our water one last time before heading the opposite direction towards Monument.
The fire lookout was pretty impressive. It was staffed by a paid employee (which always surprises me as the local fire lookouts around LA switched to volunteer staffing years ago) and it's quite cozy.
There's a porta potty and even a portable shower underneath.
We chatted with the lady working there about the surrounding area and ate a quick lunch in the shade below before setting off for the main goal.
Monument Peak is in the background in the center of the picture above.
There's a trail that leads to East Weaver Lake which was what all the other people parked around us were there for. We could have taken that trail and then cut up to the saddle below Monument but sticking to the ridge was more direct and took us over the interesting looking Weaver Bally Peak.
It was easy going until we reached the peak where it became easy 3rd class unless you want to traverse around on loose scree to the far side. We just went up.
It was steep but solid and up top we found a combined register and geocache.
After that we dropped down to the saddle and crossed a pack trail north of East Weaver Lake.
From there Monument was easy other than a bit of vegetation that can mostly be avoided by
heading further to the right and then walking the ridge.
The last bit was a bit brushy so we had to hop from rock to rock.
Views from the top were spectacular and we could see down to the Rush Creek Lakes to the east of the peak. Those looked like they'd make for a beautiful backpack sometime.
We descended roughly the way we came up hopping boulder to boulder.
Looking at what we'd come down from Weaver Bally neither of us were in a huge hurry to climb back over. So we decided to take the slightly longer trail. You know, for the trip report!
The trail started out strong below the saddle but soon faded our and we ended up bushwhacking again but this time to greater success than yesterday.
We dropped down into the marsh and when the trail petered out we just made a beeline for where the map said the East Weaver Lake Trail would be. This was the best part of the hike since we'd been running through most of our 4 liters of water and it was damn warm. Then we found a gloriously cold stream which we drank our fill of.
East Weaver Lake seemed...ok...ish? For how excited everyone at the trailhead was we expected something a bit nicer but maybe we'd just been spoiled by the Canyon Creek Trail the day before. I'd take that or Rush Creek Lakes anyday.
The trail from this point did make for easy going and we were back at the cars before sunset.
Our general plan was to get out to Lassen the next day. We'd originally contemplated driving at least part of the way that night but the thought of driving down the road in Jen's car in the dark combined with the fact there's a single glorious campsite complete with a fire pit right there on top of the ridge convinced us to stay.
Other than a slight mosquito problem it was one of the nicer camps I've stayed at.
The beta we had was slightly confusing and our first attempt at getting to the peak via E Weaver Creek Road ended up being a mistake. If you look at the CalTopo map the point I marked as Oops is pretty much the end of the road. So we backtracked and figured out the right way.
Weaver Bally Rd on the west end of town was clearly the right way once we started up it. It's graded and leads to a manned fire lookout. It was passable in Jen's little Toyota Scion TC but only barely and we had a number of locations where we were spinning tires or had to clear rocks out of our way.
 |
| Jen checking if everything on the bottom of her car was still there |
After the slightly hair raising drive we parked at the saddle which is basically the only option up there. It was warm and after running through a lot of water the day before we both decided to carry 4 liters even though this was a much shorter day.
We decided to visit the fire lookout first and then top off our water one last time before heading the opposite direction towards Monument.
The fire lookout was pretty impressive. It was staffed by a paid employee (which always surprises me as the local fire lookouts around LA switched to volunteer staffing years ago) and it's quite cozy.
There's a porta potty and even a portable shower underneath.
We chatted with the lady working there about the surrounding area and ate a quick lunch in the shade below before setting off for the main goal.
Monument Peak is in the background in the center of the picture above.
There's a trail that leads to East Weaver Lake which was what all the other people parked around us were there for. We could have taken that trail and then cut up to the saddle below Monument but sticking to the ridge was more direct and took us over the interesting looking Weaver Bally Peak.
It was easy going until we reached the peak where it became easy 3rd class unless you want to traverse around on loose scree to the far side. We just went up.
It was steep but solid and up top we found a combined register and geocache.
After that we dropped down to the saddle and crossed a pack trail north of East Weaver Lake.
 |
| East Weaver Lake below Waver Bally |
From there Monument was easy other than a bit of vegetation that can mostly be avoided by
heading further to the right and then walking the ridge.
The last bit was a bit brushy so we had to hop from rock to rock.
Views from the top were spectacular and we could see down to the Rush Creek Lakes to the east of the peak. Those looked like they'd make for a beautiful backpack sometime.
We descended roughly the way we came up hopping boulder to boulder.
Looking at what we'd come down from Weaver Bally neither of us were in a huge hurry to climb back over. So we decided to take the slightly longer trail. You know, for the trip report!
The trail started out strong below the saddle but soon faded our and we ended up bushwhacking again but this time to greater success than yesterday.
We dropped down into the marsh and when the trail petered out we just made a beeline for where the map said the East Weaver Lake Trail would be. This was the best part of the hike since we'd been running through most of our 4 liters of water and it was damn warm. Then we found a gloriously cold stream which we drank our fill of.
East Weaver Lake seemed...ok...ish? For how excited everyone at the trailhead was we expected something a bit nicer but maybe we'd just been spoiled by the Canyon Creek Trail the day before. I'd take that or Rush Creek Lakes anyday.
The trail from this point did make for easy going and we were back at the cars before sunset.
Our general plan was to get out to Lassen the next day. We'd originally contemplated driving at least part of the way that night but the thought of driving down the road in Jen's car in the dark combined with the fact there's a single glorious campsite complete with a fire pit right there on top of the ridge convinced us to stay.
Other than a slight mosquito problem it was one of the nicer camps I've stayed at.
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