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Gimpilator infinity/21M
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
12-15
Lava Butte
I wanted to get more acquainted with some of the smaller ranges visible from my new home neighborhood. The first area I went to explore is a group of small peaks east of Frenchman Mountain. I started with Lava Butte, a striking one from nearly anywhere in the southern half of Las Vegas valley.
Most people do the east ridges, but I can’t understand that, because powerline roads can put you much much closer to the mountain, on the north side. I hiked up the northeast ridge for a round trip distance of 2.8 miles. There were even some sections of trail on this route. The exposed geologic layers east of Frenchman are pretty amazing to view from above.
Muddy Mountains Railroad Range River Range and Lake Las Vegas Wilson Range and Lake Mead geology and stuff
downtown Vegas with Red Rock Canyon peaks behind
Frenchman
White Eagle Peak
Hiked up the east face from Rainbow Gardens road. Interesting limestone along the way and some fossils too.
Lava Butte seen from White Eagle Lava Butte Frenchman
Walt’s Ridge
For the final peak of the day I chose Walt’s Ridge. The road indicated on google maps, which would get you close to the peak, is no longer accessible. A new fence blocks all motorized access. I crossed the desert on foot and ascended the south ridge of the northeast peak. There was no register, so I left one. Next I visited the southwest peak where someone else had also recently left a new register. Finally I descended the gully to the south.
Walt's Ridge across the way south ridge fossils Lava Butte River Mountains Frenchman geologic the southwest summit descending small dryfall
12-16
River Mountain, River Mountain Peak, Black Mountain
Another small range nearby home is the River Mountains, west of Lake Mead. Research I had done in prior years talked about a long trail coming from the south, but I was aware of a system of roads in the basin west of the main peaks. After studying satellite maps, I went to investigate that option.
view from where I parked
As it turned out, I was able to get into the basin by first driving some rough powerline roads and then going up through a pass (36.024858, -114.911610). At the far east side of the basing I entered a narrow canyon with loose gravel and drove up to the pass between the two highest peaks. From there, bagging both peaks was a trifle. I stopped to talk to a large group of hikers who were stunned that my car would make it up there. I continue as far as Black Mountain to the south.
River Mountain Peak seen from River Mountain downtown and Charleston northshore area Lake Mead River Mountain Peak summit Black Mountain looking back at River Mountain Black Wilson Range 2nd time up River Mountain Peak
12-17
Kraft Mountain
I met David and his friends in Calico Basin to hike up to the beautiful layered sandstone of Kraft Mountain. It was not their intent to go to the summit, so after awhile I bid them farewell and headed up solo. This peak has just enough route finding challenge to keep it fun and interesting. There is usually a direct class 3 option through obstacles, or a less direct class 2 alternative.
Calico Basin Kraft rock Turtlehead New Peak Wilson, Rainbow, Bridge Bridge Wilson overlooking Gateway Canyon looking back at Kraft
New Peak
After Kraft I crossed the saddle to scramble up the east ridge of New Peak, which some locals call “Hell Hill”. I did some exposed moves on less than solid limestone and then decided enough was enough. I bypassed the worst of it along the north side and then scrambled a steep gully directly up, slightly east of the summit. Descending the west ridge was much more pleasant.
New Peak east ridge Turtlehead register west ridge ahead came down this
Turtlehead Mountain
This peak has a nice trail to the top on the far side, but that wouldn’t help me at all in my attempt to link up 4 peaks. I descended to the three way junction of canyons and then headed up the north canyon toward the east ridge of Turtlehead. I thought that this might be an unusual route, but found out later that Dustin had just done the same thing recently.
Turtlehead above looking toward Greycap Greycap
The east ridge was blocked by some cliffs, so I scrambled up some junky limestone slabs along the upper wash. Once I reached the north slope it was much better. There were several groups of people on top and the register was ruined.
Turtlehead summit view Greycap
Greycap
For the final summit I went east to Greycap. This was a much nicer route than the previous, mostly on sandstone formations. I descended Gateway Canyon just for fun, even though it was a longer way back.
looking back at Turtlehead La Madre Turtlehead from Greycap summit Gateway Canyon narrows
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Gimpilator infinity/21M
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
12-18
Gass Peak
Another mountain highly visible from Vegas is Gass Peak, located at the southern end of the Sheep Range. Gass has a trail to the summit. There are some towers up there, so I didn’t stay long.
Fossil Ridge
This little peaklet sees very few ascents and had no route information anywhere online, until now. I chose the gully southwest of the summit, which appears to be blocked by a significant dryfall. As it turned out, the dryfall yields at class 2 with ledges. At the top of the gully I followed the crest of the ridge east to the summit. I cursed myself for forgetting to bring up a blank summit register.
ledges through the dryfall upper gully Fossil Ridge westward Gass
Castle Rock
There was time for one more peak, so after moving the car I crossed several miles of open desert southward to get Castle Rock. There was some steep bands of limestone with natural caves and two summits worth visiting. The east one is higher and has a register.
12-19
Mount Tipton
I was in the mood for a bigger peak so I drove into Arizona for Mount Tipton. Hiked up the old road to a small pass and then went cross country through dense brush and cactus. Several deer kept their distance from me.
Tipton
I entered a boulder choked wash and followed that a long way up to a pass. Near the pass I heard a large animal. I had assumed all the droppings were from a mule, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a wild horse nearby. What a beautiful creature!
Above the pass, there was a bit more unpleasant terrain until I reached the final summit ridge. Open forest at the end was a nice reprieve. From the summit I looked southeast and made mental notes to add several new objectives to my to-do list.
Hualapai
Mount Perkins
After Tipton there was still time left for one more peak, so I drove across the valley to Perkins. The road was pretty messed up about a mile below the top of the ridge, so I hiked from there. Several groups of cows were present on the route. I got to the summit just before sunset for a stunning view of Lake Mojave. The register had a mailbox, much like Mailbox Peak in WA.
Tipton Lake Mojave
12-22
Sheep Mountain
Most of this day was assigned to Ladder of Doom Canyon, but after we were finished with that I went to nearby Sheep Mountain solo. The standard north route didn’t interest me. I wanted to see what a more direct west approach might be like. I went up the west ridge, southwest from the summit. There was some class 3 to get up through minor cliffs and more again near the summit. It was a fun route with mostly good rock.
Sheep summit Charleston, Griffith, Harris Potosi
12-23
The King, The Queen, White Gold #7, The Jack
I had a few free hours in the morning, so I went to check out some more peaklets visible from town. This little sub-range is located between the Black Mountains and the Railroad Range. I started with The Queen which was steep and loose and then ran ridges in between, ending with the Jack. It’s a fun area with varying colors of volcanic rock on the various peaks.
The King from The Queen
Queen summit Railroad Range
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Gimpilator infinity/21M
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
12-24
Opal Mountain
I drove through Searchlight and then east to access some very rarely visited peaks. I started with the furthest out, Opal. It’s down near the river. I ascended the south ridge to the broad mesa like top which is scattered with basalt boulders. Fantastic views of Lake Mojave and Mount Perkins where I had just been.
Opal south ridge Mojave Lake and Mount Perkins craggy Copper Mountain Spirit visible to the south
Dupont Mountain
This peak might be the least visited in the group. It looks intimidating from any angle. I made an ascending traverse along the east face to reach the south ridge. I was hoping to climb the south ridge, but it proved to be too craggy, so I followed an old mining trail to a mine and then scrambled class 3 and 4 on the southwest face. I made some committing moves on the way up, but then found a less direct and easier way to descend.
Dupont, not listed in the guidebook Copper Dupont, with a side of cholla south ridge, still too craggy class 4, just what I was looking for ore Indigo and Copper Ireteba Matt Burton
Salt and Pepper Mountain
This peak appears to have a pleasant approach from the northwest, however to link it with Talus Mound, I decided to ascend toward the saddle between the two peaks, starting from the southwest. This worked alright, despite not being the most pleasant of options. There were some narrow exposed sections getting over a preliminary high point along the ridge. Also, the summit area looked to be blocked by cliffs coming from this direction, but upon closer inspection I found a very nice slanting ramp, class 2.
Salt and Pepper Copper volcanic choss near the summit nice ledge Talus Mound and Indigo Copper
Talus Mound
After retracing back to the saddle I went up and tagged peak 4 of the day.
looking back at Salt and Pepper Salt and Pepper from Talus Mound summit
Indigo Peak
Made use of the northern gully. Plenty of rock hopping.
Salt and Pepper and Talus Salt and Pepper and Talus from Indigo summit
Copper Mountain
The guidebook author Courtney Purcell suggests scrambling the entire south ridge of this peak including knife-edge sections and class 4 notches. I couldn’t see the logic of that, considering there’s a nice sandy road to the mouth of the south facing canyon between the west peak and main peak. This shorter route is half the distance of the full south ridge and has merely a smidgen of class 3 at the end. I took a ball of cholla in the back of the leg while passing through a thick patch of it. Trekking poles work as chopsticks to remove these.
Copper, upper south ridge the west peak across the way Indigo below thick cholla Copper summit Ireteba Dupont looking down what I came up cholla back to the saddle
Copper Mountain West Peak
Having done the shorter route on Copper I still had time to explore one more peak, so I traversed through the saddle to Copper West Peak, my 7th of the day. Evening light was illuminating the Ireteba Peaks in yellow.
looking back at the main peak false summit Black visible below last light on the main peak.
video link
Daylight hours were almost completely used up. Despite rushing down, I did not have enough time for my final objective, Black Mountain. I considering doing it in the dark, but decided that was a foolish idea. Sometimes the shorter winter hours are frustrating.
12-27
Mescal Range Highpoint
I ascended the northeast ridge which is accessed from roads southeast of the peak. I didn’t try to drive to the end of the road.
Clark
Climax Peak
I followed the ridge more or less directly from the range highpoint. Great views of Clark Mountain.
looking back at Mescal old meth lab on descent
Kokoweef Peak
I scrambled up the north ridge and startled a group of large birds. I have never seen these birds before, but they reminded me of the “kongma” Himalayan snow pheasant I saw in Nepal. Good views down into the Kokoweef Mining town. I have since learned that the bird in question is the Chukar partridge, an introduced game species not native to the area.
Mescal and climax seen from Kokoweef Chukar partridge Striped Slingshot New York Mountains
Striped Mountain
I ascended the east ridge which goes directly to the south summit. There are two summits and the northern one is higher, despite the benchmark indicated on the south one.
ascended this ridge Mescal seen from the summit
Slingshot Mountain
I ascended the cactus choked gulley northwest from the summit. I had a hunch that this peak doesn’t see a lot of action, but I was in for a real shocker when I finally got the register jar opened. The last signature was from 1988. I was the 4th party overall, maybe even the 4th ascent ever. Wow!
first ascent in 29 years New York Striped, Mescal, Clark
Kessler Peak
This one took me longer than I expected, probably because it had a bit more elevation gain than I expected. My fault for never paying attention to the actual numbers until after the fact. The route up the northwest ridge was very pleasant, the best one of the day. By the time I got to the car, there was only about an hour left until sunset.
New York Providence Mountains Clark and Mescal
Tuetonia Peak
I didn’t really have enough daylight left to do the 4 miles, plus route finding and scrambling for this last objective, but I decided to do it anyway. I ran across the desert to the base of the mountain. I scrambled up to the base of the cliffs and found the correct notch between the south peak and main peak after first making a blunder and going to the wrong notch.
The sun was starting to set. My beta indicated that the next part would range from 4th class to low 5th. I took off my ripped-up deteriorating trail runners and put on climbing shoes. I could see the exposed slab climb, which didn’t look very fun to me. However, to the right of that I spotted a nice looking 20 foot chimney. I climbed this narrow chimney with zero exposure. At the top I expected some more difficulty, but there was none.
the tight chimney looking down the chimney last peak of 2017!
The views of the surrounding desert in the fading light were superb. It was my final peak of 2017 and 7th for the day, a good way to wrap up another year of peakbagging.
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DadFly Member
Joined: 02 Jul 2012 Posts: 402 | TRs | Pics Location: Redmond |
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DadFly
Member
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Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:04 pm
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Those monzanite domes in the last few pics look interesting.
Where are those?
"May you live in interesting times"
"May you live in interesting times"
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Gimpilator infinity/21M
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
If you google "Cima Dome, CA", Tuetonia is only 1.3 miles northeast of there.
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Chief Joseph Member
Joined: 10 Nov 2007 Posts: 7676 | TRs | Pics Location: Verlot-Priest Lake |
How can you deal with all that ugly brown stuff after living in Wa?
I lived in Ca and Texas for a while and one thing it did was to make me appreciate this area much more when I returned.
Nice photos though.
Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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Gimpilator infinity/21M
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
Good question. I love the desert just as much as I love the forest in WA. Just as much as I love the ice fields in Canada. I appreciate cactus like I appreciate trees. I like it all. In the desert there's more exposed rock which makes for good clean scrambling and frequent geologic observations or fossil discoveries. There's also usually a good view all the way from the bottom to the top with no obstructions. On forest peaks, you might only get a long distance view from the very summit, or even not at all.
The color of the desert and the gradation in the rock often doesn't show well in photos. I recently had a visitor here that commented on how colorful it was, but that she couldn't capture it in the camera. Each valley has a different mix of flora, or you might see mostly the same plants, but they are a bit different. As for Texas, I don't know because I haven't spent much time there.
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Bloated Chipmunk Cock Rock Searcher
Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 2993 | TRs | Pics Location: Margaritaville |
Home is where the hiking is.
"Peaks that have come and gone four times should halt a man in his steps." -- William O. Douglas
A balanced diet is a margarita in each hand.
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Just_Some_Hiker Member
Joined: 02 Jan 2013 Posts: 691 | TRs | Pics Location: Snoqualmie, WA |
I guess there's not a Southwest Hikers forum or Facebook group?
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Bloated Chipmunk Cock Rock Searcher
Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 2993 | TRs | Pics Location: Margaritaville |
Nope, nothin' quite comparable here unfortunately. Could be something on TwitFace, but I don't do that BS, lol.
We are all on our own here in the wild SW.
Home is where the hiking is.
"Peaks that have come and gone four times should halt a man in his steps." -- William O. Douglas
A balanced diet is a margarita in each hand.
Home is where the hiking is.
"Peaks that have come and gone four times should halt a man in his steps." -- William O. Douglas
A balanced diet is a margarita in each hand.
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wildernessed viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
Exhausting, but you have to love the diversity of the West ! A childhood friend of mine ended up in Kayenta, Arizona for quite a few years and we use to base camp out of his place while it lasted.
Living in the Anthropocene
Living in the Anthropocene
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