Sacramento County High Point Trip Report

Carpenter Hill

Date: February 14, 2004
Author: Robert Greene

With time to spare, since I was out in Vacaville anyway, I proceeded up I-80 to Sacramento, and then took 50 towards Tahoe. Some distance east of Sacramento (just after signs for Folsom), I found the "East Bidwell" exit. I took this north, looking for Cavitt as described by Dan Baxter. Cavitt does not cross Bidwell directly, you actually need to take "Iron Point" which then crosses Cavitt. After quite a bit of meandering around (including a 10 minute scenic tour of the CostCo parking lot), I ended up almost all the way up at the summit in a small cul-de-sac. It was an easy walk up over a small ridge (with a culvert going down to a housing project below) and to the transmitter area. I walked around it, and found the marker in a pile of stones. It was just barely dark, so I count this as yet another nighttime highpoint!

On the way out, I took the optimized (direct) route through the subdivision. I'd recommend this for your approach now. The roads seem more developed -- this route is actually the route that Dan suggests not following in his trip report. I'd guess soon we'll have a subdivision all the way to the high point. The roads I used were empty, but had land obviously marked for lots. The cul-de-sac was actually quite pretty, with a nice iron fence that you could look off over the "valley" below.

Here's the directions I recommend:

50 east to E. Bidwell exit
Left (north) on East Bidwell
Right (east) on Broadstone (2nd light)
Right on Serpa
Left on Caversham
Follow Caversham past Iris to end

There are still dirt roads that lead all the way to the summit, which are marked off as "closed". I didn't try following those, and didn't need them for the walk up from the end of Caversham.

Trip statistics: distance about 1,000 feet; duration 20 minutes; elevation gain 48 ft.