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5682 Hits
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73.06% Score
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3 Votes
Page Type:
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Route |
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Lat/Lon:
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42.10000°N / 118.6486°W |
Route Type:
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Hike/Easy Scramble |
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Time Required:
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Most of a day |
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Difficulty:
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Class 2 |
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Approach
See the main page for driving directions to the trailhead road. Good description there of where the road goes and how far you can travel on it. Sullivan's hiking book and the Oregon Desert Guide describe routes beginning at the very start of this road off the highway but their routes call for you to follow the road for many miles around the northernmost peak to the west side and up easy slopes on the north side of the main mass of the mountain.You can avoid all that dirt road travel (either by foot or by car-and mind you the road appears to be near washing out in some areas) and take a more fun and shorter route (still I would estimate it at about 10 to 12 miles round trip) by the following route description.
Note: the turnoff for this dirt road is about .9 miles south of the Whitehorse Rand turnoff road on the west side of the road.
Route Description
From the start of the dirt road, you can either park there and drive .8 miles or drive this road .8 miles to a cleared campsite on the left side of the road. (Note-This is the 2nd clearing for camping you will see on this part of the road.) Good spot to camp the night before.As you look southwest to the mountain from this campsite, you are actually looking at the first false summit.
From the campsite, travel about 300 yards west along the road until you are even with a small mound to your left about 30 feet high and maybe 75 yards south of the road. Bushwhack down through a draw south to it. Follow sandy slopes up to the right of the next nearest hill. You want to aim about halfway up the hill on the right side. This hill can be seen in this picture on the lower right hand part of the photo.
Once over this hill you will see a small pasture clearing (filled with cow patties). This photo show the view you will have. The right side of this photo is the northernmost peak that is actually a different ridge. If you want the easy route to the summit, aim to go over the slopes seen in the lower right of the photo into the valley between it and the rockier subpeak seen. The valley has a small stream but is overgrown so you want to aim to go above that earlier. A couple hundred feet higher and you will come to this view and you can just follow the valley to the north slopes.
If you want the more fun route (IMO), head to the stream and pass it a few dozen yards until you are on the ridge. Head up just left of the rocky spine in this photo until you come to a break in the rock wall. Then head through it to the west. Contour southwest across the eastern slopes of another hill aiming for the summit (or what appears to be the summit at this point). You will the come to this view. From here I went up through the snow fields in the right of the photo but you can pick and chose your own line from here up through the rocks and open slopes.
Once you reach the first false summit, just follow the ridge southwest towards what appears to be the next summit until you reach the true one (there are 3 false summits).
Total elevation gain is between 4000 and 4100 feet. I would estimate this is about 10 to 12 miles long round trip.