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Trip Report    

Alpine Scramble - Hawkins Mountain

Successful summit via standard route (Camp Creek Road to SW ridge). Mixed rock and snow scramble in warm spring conditions.

Philippe Nguyen Philippe Nguyen
May 03, 2026
  • Road rough but passable

  • Trail is in good condition and easy to stay up to the ridgeline. Consistent snow cover started on the ridge around 5500 feet, but the first half mile of it was avoidable just by walking 10-20 feet climber's right of the ridgeline. Snow travel was unavoidable on the steeper portion, so axes were useful. The snow was soft due to a few days of 40-degree nights and 60-degree days, allowing deep kick steps without any need for traction. The steepest part was mostly melted out, allowing for mixed rock scrambling.

After a lot of cancellations there just three of us on this trip. We met up at Tibbetts Valley Park around 6:30 and took a sedan up to the TH. This was a good move for saving gas but the 0.85-mile-long Camp Creek Road proved to be quite rough on the car due to a lot of big rocks sticking out of the road. We unfortunately parked on a road fork that was even rougher than the main path (see starting point on the Caltopo map), which required a lot of complicated maneuvering and road-leveling to get out of after the hike. Oops! So high clearance is advisable, or very careful driving decisions...

We started just before 9 AM, walked 10 minutes up the rest of the road and another 10 minutes along the Boulder-De Roux Trail to get to the unmarked Hawkins Mountain Trail. It's easy to find and has very few obstructions on the way up, but it's quite steep and on a warm (60-70 degree) morning we were sweating buckets getting up this stretch. At 9:40 we crested a neat little rock outcrop and from there on the grade shallowed. An hour later we were walking on intermittent stretches of snow and thankfully getting some cloud cover to keep ourselves and the snowpack cool. The snow was soft but not enough for post-holing.

We got our axes and helmets out at the bench at 6570 ft. We were kicking good enough steps that traction was not at all necessary. There were large cornices on the leeward (east) side of the ridge that we were able to stay far away from. As we got near the crest and false summit, there was enough exposed rock to scramble instead of continuing on snow. The traverse to the true summit was a tame walk, mostly on rock. We summited at 12:30 and enjoyed a half-hour lunch break before re-tracing our steps down the ridge. We were back at the car by 3:30.

GPX track: https://caltopo.com/m/A9S75CE