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Trip up to Wade this past weekend. Seems like not a whole lot of visitors to this peak - this is likely the case because the descriptions of the route do not sound very enticing.
I've got good news though! The trail through Horsethief Canyon all the way to the saddle separating it from Fredricksberg canyon is:
Recently brushed,
Well-signed,
and easy to follow
This appears to be very different from even a few years ago where the trail is described with such terms as "wretched" and "brush-slog".
After reaching the saddle where there is a sign stating the "end of the maintained trail", we followed Pete Y.'s directions ascending the slope to the SE and staying climbers left of the ridge. This off-trail section moves through easily navigable and open forest (really very pretty and peaceful).
Finally, about 500ft before the summit is a section filled with the dreaded Cercocarpus. Travel is slow and bruising for this last section before a rock-scramble escape to the summit can be located.
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Recently brushed,
Well-signed,
and easy to follow Was that sarcasm? I was looking at heading up horsethief canyon on Sunday also but opted for Freel instead. I think I just found something to do this weekend, thanks for the report!
That is great to hear that there is some actual trail there now!! A friend and I did this peak two summers ago, in 2014, and as you say it was a horrendous, wretched brush-slog. We enjoyed the rarely-visited peak, but getting there and back was not much fun. I have a trip report of the fun on my site.
The final push to the top is the only place we encountered any serious brush!