How many times have you stood in the Esmeralda Basin Trailhead parking lot and gazed upwards at the east end of Esmeralda Peak... thinking to yourself that nobody goes up there. Well... that thought will no longer clutter our minds.
Starting from the Boulder DeRoux Trailhead (3800') at the north end of the DeRoux Campground, we stayed on the trail until it crossed the N. Fork Teanaway River... then left the maintained trail and headed cross-country in a northerly direction... where we eventually found (4100') an abandoned trail that we followed west to ~5000 feet... then left the abandoned trail and headed north again... at times being able to take advantage of game trails... as we worked our way up to a saddle (6400') between Points 6477 and 6480+.
After a short break at the saddle we scrambled along the ridge and up to Point 6477... then back to the saddle and over toward Point 6480+... staying 50 feet below the ridge until the final scramble up to the summit.
On the return trip, we more or less followed our GPS track back to the bridge crossing of the N. Fork Teanaway River... where we picked up the Boulder DeRoux Trail and followed it back to the car.
5.5 miles roundtrip, gaining ~3000 feet of elevation.
Photos, trailhead directions and downloadable GPS track of our trip to the eastern summits of Esmeralda Peak.
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"Teanaway 70" Peaks List... a guide to hiking and scrambling in the Teanaway Area.
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"Teanaway 70" Peaks List... a guide to hiking and scrambling in the Teanaway Area.
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A mere 5.5 miles roundtrip and 3000" elevation gain, but it didn't exactly feel like a walk in the park.
Still, a fun, offtrail route scouting and scrambling adventure.
How many times have you stood in the Esmeralda Basin Trailhead parking lot and gazed upwards at the east end of Esmeralda Peak
Many times
ragman and rodman wrote:
thinking to yourself that nobody goes up there
Nope, I was thinking "Darn, I forgot I wanted to do that trip"
Maybe next time I'll remember before planning a Teanaway trip! Thanks for the report. That false summit looks awesome.
What an excellent trip and reporting. Some fantastic photography on your website report Ragman. You all have been so many places, but surely this trip looks spectacular. Great skies and weather (other than the possible lightning strikes ).
I really appreciate the labeling of the photos for clarity in identifying the surrounding terrain. I have been on a number of those peaks myself, but Esmeralda looks rather foreboding from the parking lot. Well done. ~z
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I really appreciate the labeling of the photos for clarity in identifying the surrounding terrain. I have been on a number of those peaks myself, but Esmeralda looks rather foreboding from the parking lot. Well done. ~