[Gimpilator]

The following is an assortment of day trips between February and May. There’s no real reason to group all these together, except to spare the forum from clutter. 2-10 Maid of Rubble - 2709' Love the hilarious name of this peak. No beta and only one registered ascent by, you guessed it, Tracy Foutz. Matt and I went to explore the choss. It’s guarded by cliffs, so we ascended a northern slot canyon.

Railroad

Techatticup Peak – 3225' The most reasonable looking route is the north ridge, but old access roads are blocked by a newer fence. We were able to find an access road further east and drove around to the south side of the peak, ascending directly from a wash.

2-12 Nelson Benchmark – 3822' Returning to the Eldorado mountains, I wanted to see how many peaks I could string together with a late start and managed 6 out of 8 on the table. I ascended a nice canyon on the west side and then ended with class 3 on the summit block. If I had to guess, when Kevin visited recently, he probably left a register on the much lower but more interesting rock pinnacle to the east. I did not bother.

Pigs in Zen Peak – 3832' The rhyolite slabs and ledges make this a fun peak at the top.

Stocker

Wilderness HP

Nelson BM

Eldorado Wilderness High Point – 3858' The last time I was in the area, I had to hike past this one because of commitments, so I was glad to return. South Ridge.

Stocker

Withdrawn Peak - 2720' Drove some rough road to 3 miles west of this peak. Hiked down a long wash with the most plentiful and dense silver cholla I have ever seen. Feels like wild country, not often visited. Scrambled the southwest face through a basalt cap.

the peak down there

came up here

the long wash

Forlorn Hope Peak – 3535' Accessing the next two peaks from the south side was not my first choice, but I realized that I was running out of daylight, so better make it happen. After a route finding error, I followed the west ridge system.

Withdrawn

Peeper Benchmark – 3513' Backtracking the same ridge system west, I traversed to Peeper, steep volcanic choss.

2-13 Endless Peak – 3414' When we first visited Anniversary Narrows, Matt and I missed the turnoff for this peak, so now we came back via a different approach, and with Alexis. West side access is short. We went up the south face and our route was class 2 with almost no exception. This peak has one of the best views in the Northshore area, equal to Hamblin and almost as good as Murphys.

Capuchin Peak – 2831' Small peaklet to the south.

2-15 Echo Hills High Point – 3008' Another windy day in the forecast but usable in the morning hours. We set out with Stav for 3 peaklets. Each one had minor scrambling.

Glyph Point – 2559' Saw some sheep near the summit.

After-Work Peak – 2359' Nice north ridge.

4-7 Fletcher Peak - 10,286' Went to do a snow hike with Mike and Robbin, visiting again from WA. We had snow from the parking area all the way to the summit. Many locals say this is the most snow in about 10 years. We went over several high points with ancient bristle-cone pines. Fletcher has two high points. We visited both.

Griffith

Charleston

4-8 Wilson Ridge – 8467' An exceptionally hot day was forecast, so Robbin and I needed to aim high. I knew it would be brushy, but it was a lot worse than expected. On the southwest ridge, an old burn has been filled in with dense brush for an extensive area. I would definitely encourage the exploration of alternate routes.

Willow Benchmark – 8335' We followed the ridge system eastward to Willow. This was an enjoyable reprieve from the brush.

5-5 Grand Wash Cliffs – 6769' Dean Gaudet, a rising star in the prominence universe, was gracious to pick up Frances and I and drive us to the trailhead at Rays Place. My Subaru might have been able to make it, but it would have taken some manual labor on the road. We were all amazed by how green this area is, so very different. The north route is brushy, but Dennis Poulin nailed it and his beta was helpful to us.

[Gimpilator]

5-6 Hamblin Mountain – 3310' Frances and I went for one of my favorite local peaks. On the summit we decided to traverse to the west peak.

West Hamblin Mountain – 3294' After the fun ridge scramble, we descended the north canyon between the peaks. At one point Frances asked “Did you see this? You walked right over it.”. A tiny baby tortoise! I have heard it’s best not to startle this species. We were very careful to speak softly and sat down to watch it. But when it walked right up against her leg for shade, we realized it wasn’t disturbed by us whatsoever. This is my first and only sighting, after a number of years hiking in the desert.

5-8 Sheep Peak – 9750' Frances and I got together with Stav for one of the higher peaks visible from Vegas. We did the west approach. Wagon Canyon is pleasant with several scramble steps. Overall much steeper than the approach for Hayford.

Gass

Sheep North Peak – 9678' We followed the main crest north from Sheep, back to the saddle and then up the north peak. This one has unique views and is worth the extra effort.

5-11 Mount Bangs – 8012' To drive up Elbow Canyon from the town of Scenic, you will need a jeep. A truck won’t do it. Tracy drove his jeep. The forecast had decreased from 20 percent to zero. We hiked the pleasant trail to the final ridge crest which had some fine scrambling. I spotted a few nearby peaks worth our effort, but I also noticed a thickening cloud cover, especially right above us.

It began to hail right as we reached the summit. We crawled under large boulders for partial shelter. After 30 minutes I was soaked, and the storm seemed to be hanging right over the summit, so we scrambled down the wet rocks gingerly. We had to get out before the road turned to muck. We drove the easier roads toward St. George and nearly got stuck in one bad patch of mud.

Mollies Nipple – 4645' There were still scattered storm systems around, but we kept our eye on it. Tracy had heard this peak was a nice hike, and so it was. North ridge and a lot of flowers on the route.

Zion

Shinob Kibe – 3306' Tracy was nice enough to wait for me to do one he had done before. Some joker in the neighborhood has attempted to block access to public land by building an illegal make-shift fence. I climbed over it to reach the trail. 3 other people on the trail confirmed that it’s bogus.

5-17 Mercury Ridge High Point – 5282' No record of ascents since the original survey. I heard rumor that this whole area might soon be incorporated into the airforce base. It motivated me to do a big loop, counter-clockwise, starting by crossing Timpi Canyon. I ascended the west ridge of the peak.

Sagen Benchmark

Mercury Ridge Peak 4695' No evidence of any previous ascent and certainly far enough away from anything. Who knows. I built a cairn.

North Ridge – 5961' By studying the map the night before, I found a weakness on the north side. It was even easier than anticipated.

Mercury HP

North Ridge

Peak 5809' Continued east and built another cairn. South Ridge – 6078' Probably the first time this peak has been ascended from the northeast. Long washes with some strange debris, and no difficulty. Spotted about 20 sheep near the summit. I was astounded to have a clear view all the way to Pyramid, Telescope, and even Whitney. I spent time looking at Bald Mountain, 40 miles to the north, probably the most inaccessible prominent peak in the entire country.

Stirling

Bald Mountain, Area 51

Camp Benchmark – 5104' I descended the standard ridge route westward, passing over numerous high points. The most rugged area was descending from Camp Benchmark to the southeast. This whole loop is roughly 19 miles and 6k gain.

[neek]

Of all these adventures, I think that baby tortoise is going to steal the show! But I also like the cigar-smoking rock pile, and the mini Half Dome.

[RichP]

Nice bag o' peaks. Tracy F has done some obscure summits in my area. Looks like he gets around.

[Mike Collins]

Lucky you to see both a Gila Monster and a Desert Tortoise.

[raising3hikers]

Glad you didn't step on the baby tortoise, what a cool surprise sighting! Thanks for the recent desert trip reports