dematson's video: Mt Givens Day Hike 2022

My son Ben and I set out from Fresno at 6am, which got us to the trailhead at 8am. Our hike took about 4.5 hours round trip with about 2,000’ of gain and a distance of about 5.6 miles total. We began the hike as usual on the 33-mile Dusy Ershim OHV trail. This trail travels to Courtright reservoir and is only for the most rugged vehicles. In more recent years I have discovered a cut-off trail which is more shaded and direct. Yesterday was hot, even above 10,000’.Ben recognized a work colleague who was traveling the trail below us and was waiting for another Jeeper to get unstuck. As you can see by the GPS overlay on the topo map, our final ascent off trail was too direct and made for steep travel. When we were inbound, we took a more forgiving route downhill. I left my trekking poles leaning against a tree before scrambling up the last boulder field toward the radio antenna at the top. It is a 360-degree view that begins in Yosemite and runs south below Mt. Whitney. I used the “Peak Finder app on my iPhone and it labels some of the mountains fairly accurately. I have included some of the Peak Finder shots. The air was fairly clear.