Hike Mount Gould Inyo National Forest, CA

Jun 09, 2021 — Aside from Mount Gould's sketchy Class 3 summit block, it's a relatively easily-accessible 13er. I parked at the popular Kearsarge Pass Trailhead and was immediately aware of how many PCT thru-hikers I'd be accompanying on the way up to Kearsarge Pass. The trail is easy to follow and passes a bunch of very pretty alpine lakes. Lots of siwtchbacks keep the grade pretty mellow. Once at Kearsarge Pass, I headed north toward Mount Gould, leaving the trail. A social trail leads up the majority of the south ridge of the peak, with the occasional section of Class 2 boulder-hopping. The last few hundre feet before the summit introduce some rock outcroppings, which I kept to the left around where hints of a social trail assured me I was on-route. I reached the false summit of Mount Gould, a mellow Class 2 cluster of boulders, and noticed the scary high point just to the north. I headed to it, picking my way around big boulders and wrapping left around to the north side of the summit block where I located the most reasonable-looking scramble option. All the holds were solid, but it's a set of fun, thinky Class 3 moves to a massive summit boulder. A crack on the left side of the summit boulder allowed for a couple of fun moves to the final exposed move to the narrow summit block. I was content to tap the top with my hand and call it rather than crawl onto the horrifying block in the howling wind. Many people seem to like completing Mount Gould after traversing over from Dragon Peak, but the fact that Dragon Peak is debatably an unranked 12er, and the scrambling is apparently sketchier to reach that summit than Mount Gould was enough to convince me to call it a day.