[Gimpilator]

Michael and I set out to do some peaks around Black Canyon. Our first objective of the morning was an 8 mile hike to the top of Malpaise Flattop Mesa. We hiked one of the east side canyons and then worked our way along the boulder strewn top. The register was in an arbitrary weird location, so I moved it to the actual summit. Great views down into Black Canyon and Windy Canyon. We could see Mojave Lake to the south. Made it back to the car before 11am.

We drove north to the Willow Beach peaks. Spur of the moment, I chose a southeast gully on Sarada Devi. This gully took us near the summit of Sarada without any difficulty. After Sarada we traversed to "Kenny Peak" and then continued to the highest in the group, Willow Beach Peak. Lovely views again of the Colorado River and Black Canyon.

Michael maxed out on his sun exposure, so I went for Rough Benchmark solo. I scrambled up a series of northeast ridges. This turned out to be my favorite route of the day. First ascent in 3 years. None of the peaks on our itinerary get much action.

For the final peak, I wanted to explore an alternate closer starting point for Sugarloaf Mountain. We crossed the Hoover Dam and drove up to the last parking lot. I started from there and hiked under the freeway bridge and then up to the peak. This one had the best views of all. No other ascents in the last 5 years and my 6th Black Canyon peaklet of the day.

Wilson

[Jake Robinson]

Mike's summit register doodles are always great!

[Gimpilator]

He's a real artist. For those that didn't get the Balloon Shop reference, see this video.