Sanhedrin Mountain (Signal)
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How to get there:
This mountain is most easily climbed from the lake Pillsbury area.
From the Bay Area, head north on Hwy. 101 to the city of Ukiah.
Continue north on Hwy. 101 to Calpella and exit onto Hwy. 20 going east
(exit 555). After approximately 5 miles, leave Hwy. 20 and go more north
following signs for Potter Valley (Hwy. 249). This road will take you across
a crest and to the neigborhood of Cafe Horn Dam, make a right here and
enter forest road M8 that soon becomes a good dirt road. There should be signs
for Lake Pillsbury. Just before the road descends to the lake, there is a road fork
where the left fork is clearly signed with Sanhedrin Mountain. Measure from here.
This road is forest road 20N04, the turnoff is about 2 miles before the airfield on the north
side of lake Pillsbury.
At mile 3.4, keep right, then stay left at mile 4.8. At mile 8.8, you cross the main
crest and the road continues on the other side. There are many private side roads, all gated.
One may drive all the way to this summit, however, the road gets rough as it climbs the last couple
of miles. I parked at mile 12.1, this is at location N39:31.630, W123:05.774, elevation about 1667 meter.
Route description:
Follow the road to the summit if you park your car below.
Comments:
I came across from Hull Mountain and decided to park at
1545. I arrived at the summit around 1605 and returned to my car by 1620.
My next objective was driving back to Berkeley where my conference started the next morning.
This turned out to be less than trivial as my spare tire (already on my left front wheel)
got a flat just a few miles before the paved road to Potter Valley.
Fortunately, a very helpful young man came by in his truck and offered assistance.
We took the wheel to a gas station in Potter valley and tried to do an emergency
fix. Driving back to my car, the tire kept its air for about 5 miles before going
flat again. We repeated the procedure twice more before arriving (slowly on a flat
tire again) at a gas station in Ukiah. The man there offerd to change the tire provided
that we could find a new one. After some work at the Walmart store, I was able to buy a new
tire and my helpful young man drove me back to the gas station where I finally again
had a car that could be driven. Two flat tires in a span of two days has never happened
to me in more than 40 years of driving. I thanked the young man and gave him 100 dollars
as a small token of appreciation. His job was to repair bicycles, he did not want any
money, but accepted when I told him that I fully appreciated that he had spent many hours
with me just to help. He hoped somebody would help him if/when he someday needed help.
I finally arrived in Berkeley around midnight. The trip had been very nice, it was perhaps
luck that the second flat tire did not happen up at Sanhedrin Mountain. It would have taken
a very long time to get assistance up there.
Here is a map with an overview of all my travel in Mendocino on this trip.