Meeks Mountain

Overview

Meeks Mountain lies on the north side of the eastern end of the Little San Bernardino mountains. The name comes from S.H. Meek, a local bandit who lived near the peak in the late nineteenth century. An ascent of Meeks is often part of an outing including nearby peaks such as Bighorn Mountain, and Black's Peak, both on the Sierra Club's Hundred Peaks list, and described in Andy Zdon's Desert Summits.

The summit is reached via a short (but steep and sandy) walk from the north. The views are picturesque, especially the small valley to the south.

Note that Meeks is on private land. According to the HPS web page, the owners do not object to hikers coming in from the public lands to the north, but request that no other routes be used to access the peak.

Getting There

Getting to Meeks Mountain takes a sturdy, high clearance vehicle. There is about 10 miles of sandy, occasionally rocky, unmaintained dirt road between the trailhead and the nearest pavement. If you're not confident in your vehicle's ability to get traction in deep sand, don't go, or get a different vehicle.

From the south: Head toward Joshua Tree National Park. When you reach the town of Yucca Valley from either east or west, take highway 247 north (stoplight). About 11-12 miles north of town you will turn left (west) on New Dixie Mine Road. New Dixie starts out as a nice, graded dirt road, but after about a half mile you pass the last residence, and the road goes to pot. The main obstacle is sand, but there are a few rocky spots that require careful navigation. There are many roads branching off New Dixie. In general, continue heading west on what looks like the most well-traveled way. About 9.2 miles from the pavement take a veering (or sharp, if you miss the "veer") left turn (Zdon calls this a "triple junction", but it ain't so obvious when you get there) and continue another 0.9 miles to the site of a burned out cabin (look for a pile of junk, 34.26227 N, 116.60529 W). There are a few spur roads that dead end, try to aim for the base of the hills before they get steep.

From the north: From Victorville on I-15, take highway 247 east for many miles until you reach New Dixie Mine road just before the turn-off to the town of Landers. From here follow the directions above.

There a quite a bit more roads in the area than are shown on USGS maps, though the ones you want are represented. A good map and a GPS can help resolve questions as to where you are, and which way to go.

From the cabin follow a poor road southwest about a half mile. Leave the road and hike directly towards the summit, negotiating brush and boulder piles as needed. 2 miles round trip, with almost 1,000 feet of gain; sandy class 2.

Red Tape

No permits or fees are required. The trailhead is BLM land, but is not designated wilderness.

Camping

The approach road and trailhead are BLM land. Camp where you please, but respect the fragile desert environment and stay on established roads and campsites (there are plenty).

Additions and CorrectionsPost an Addition or Correction

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gimpilator - Nov 3, 2015 1:36 pm - Hasn't voted

Coordinates

The coordinates are way off and place this peak on Freeway 40. Try these (34.257933, -116.617461). Let me know when you make the correction and I'll remove my "needs update" vote.

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