I climbed Adams Peak as a day hike. The route is snow-free, and I reached the summit with just trail runners and trekking poles.
This peak was significantly impacted by the 2021 Beckwourth Fire Complex. Nearly all of my hike was through burned forest -- not my favorite type of place. I did enjoy the abundant bird song and signs of forest regrowth. There are numerous groves of juvenile cottonwoods already thriving along the creeks. That said, most of the pine forest here seems utterly dead, and I don't imagine this ecosystem fully recovering in my lifetime.
Previous trip reports mentioned that the summit scramble is a hellish bushwhack, and I was mentally prepared to get shredded by a thousand branches. However, the recent wildfire seems to have "solved" this problem -- I easily scrambled up the final pinnacle through an open graveyard of charcoal stags.
I parked where the pavement ends at Frenchman Lake. It was 14.5 miles round trip, +2894', and 5 hours car-to-car. In hindsight, I could have eliminated 2 miles on the approach (4 miles total), by driving up USFS 22N44 rather than approaching from Frenchman Lake.
Adams is on the SPS list, which is why I initially ventured out here. Climbing a peak just because it's on a famous list seems like an arbitrary reason, but in my case it was also an excuse to visit the Diamond Mountains, new to me. Thus far, this has been the least interesting climb of all the SPS peaks I've climbed. I'm glad I came, but I'm not inspired to return to this peak.
- Seasonal creeks and meadow regrowth along the route.
- Most of the route is hiking through dead forest along USFS roads.
- The final scramble was historically a notorious bushwhack, but the 2021 Beckwourth Complex fire solved that problem. I easily reached this summit by scrambling through an open graveyard of charcoal stages. Photo is on NW summit looking SE.
- Adams Peak summit register, and its first 5 pages.
- sturdy summit register can
- On Adams Peak looking west towards Frenchman Lake
