[ragman and rodman]

Esmeralda is a large mountain with a lot of sub-summits. We were able to visit five of these sub-summits... starting with the eastern terminus (6480+) and ending with the western terminus (6780+)... and also touching points 6477, 6407 and 6765 in between the east and west ends of the mountain. If we were birds, the flight from the eastern high point to the western high point would have only been one mile... but for us mere mortals, it was slightly more than two miles... and for Izzy it was probably closer to 2.5 miles as she worked to keep the herd together. Before Snowdog and I started our hike we dropped off iraman, dicey, b00 and Cal at the road closure near the Iron Peak Trailhead… where they planned to walk the road up to the Esmeralda Basin Trailhead, cross the river and find a very sporty Class 3/4 route up to Esmeralda’s east summit. Snowdog and I started our hike from the north end of DeRoux Campground… where we began hiking on DeRoux-Boulder Trail #1392... made the bridge crossing of the N. Fork Teanaway River… continued another 50 feet on the trail and then left the trail and followed a faint path that disappeared and reappeared several times as we worked our way up to ~5000 feet (just NE of Point 5265)... where we left the path and headed north on steeper terrain… hit a cliffy area at ~5400 feet and skirted it on the right and worked our way up to the east summit (6480+). We enjoyed an extended summit visit as we relaxed and waited for iraman, dicey, b00 and Cal to reach the summit via their Class 3/4 route on the north side of the peak… and I’m sure that b00 will file a trip report on that adventure!! Our group of six left the east summit… gave back a little elevation and worked our way over to the saddle between the east summit and Point 6477… where we found an easy Class 2 route up to 6477… then gave back 400 feet of elevation as we worked our way around a cliffy area where we found a Class 2 route up to Point 6407 (aka Esmeralda Middle Peak). There is a nice looking saddle (~6120’) between Point 6407 and the two west summits… however, we couldn’t find a good way down to it… so we had to give back 600 feet of elevation before we found a good route over to the south ridge (~5880’) of Point 6765… then we followed the ridge (some Class 2) on up to where we found a short Class 2 route to the top of Point 6765 which is considered the true summit of Esmeralda Peaks… and while 6765 is considered the summit, we opted to also visit the higher Point 6780+… a walk-up summit located an eighth-of-a-mile west of 6765. Now it was time to give back 1500 feet of elevation and find the Boulder DeRoux Trail… which we used for the 2.5 mile hike back to our car. 8.2 miles roundtrip, gaining 4425 feet of elevation… a long day… 11 hours car-to-car. Photos, trailhead directions and downloadable GPS track of our trip to five summits of Esmeralda Peaks. ..

[Sadie's Driver]

One does have to ask, "WHY?""

[puzzlr]

You've seemingly covered every bump on that ridge. Every facet of the jewel that is Esmeralda!

[ragman and rodman]

[Randito]

Looks like a great day in the mountains!

[AlpineRose]

[Sadie's Driver]

[MultiUser]