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Iris had left us the previous evening, flying to Phoenix for work, leaving Tom and I to our own devices. We had camped off a dirt road between Jean and Goodspring in the southern part of the Spring Mtns where we would spent most of the day. We had had a pretty hard day yesterday, so this was supposed to be easier. We ended up with more mileage, but about 500ft less elevation gain - at least I did. Tom went on at the end of the day to tag two other summits that I'd done previously, so he may not have figured it an easier day.

Good BM - Joshua Peak

This was the easiest of the day's three outing. The summits are located in the Bird Spring Mtns, a subrange of the Spring Mtns. Our starting point was about a mile and a quarter from where we'd spent the night. Good BM is a PB-only summit which I would normally avoid, but it seemed sort of on the way to Joshua Peak, a summit found in Purcell's Rambles & Scrambles. We drove a spur road north to as close as we could get to Good BM on the west side and went up from there. The ascent was pretty steep and had some scrambling which could have been avoided if we'd started from the toe of the ridge as others had done. It took only 15min with a bit of class 3 to make it to the "summit", which has little prominence. We found the benchmark and a register left by a Kevin Humes party from the LVMC in 2019. Joshua Peak is another 3/4mi to the north, and the highpoint of the ridgeline. There is a small drop along the way, of little consequence, and we were at the higher point 35min later. Kevin had left another register here. After a short break, we dropped southwest off the summit, all class 2, eventually reaching the spur road that we followed back to the Jeep by 8:30a, about and hour and a half for the loop.

Peak 5,187ft - Peak 5,482ft

We next drove north towards Goodspring, turning left at Sandy Valley Rd and going over the west side of the pass. We were after this pair of unnamed summits on the north side of the road. We took a spur road to the Kirby Mine just northeast of Peak 5,187ft. The end of the road is signed for No Trespassing, evidently the mine is still in private hands, even if no longer active. We drove in and parked at a turnaround, figuring it was unlikely the owner would be visiting today. The GPSr said we were only 1/4mi from the first summit, but it would be a climb of some 900ft. The limestone was fairly solid, making for a good, albeit steep climb. It would take us 50min to work our way to the summit, arriving shortly before 10a. The second summit was 3/4mi to the north and 300ft higher, with a 300ft+ drop to a saddle between them. The terrain was fairly tame and we ran into no real difficulties, taking about an hour between summits. Another summit, Peak 5,387ft, lay to the west, but the terrain to reach it looked hard and we knew that Harlan Stockman had only made it partway across before turning around (judging by his GPX track). We would use the southwest side approach that others had used some other time. There were no registers on either of these summits. We headed east and then southeast off an alternate ridgeline dropping to the Kirby Mine, passing by several smaller mineshafts along the way. From above, Tom spotted a party of three down below at the Kirby Mine. Having trekking poles, we figured they were probably tourists like ourselves out exploring. Such was not the case. Upon catching up with them on the old road descending from the mine, we met an elderly gentleman and two younger companions. He was the owner of the mine, and couldn't help but be a little annoyed at our trespassing. He said he was the friendliest miner we'd ever meet and he probably wasn't wrong. We appologied for disturbing his party and property and exchanged a few minutes of pleasantries before continuing down, now ahead of them. We decided it would be best to be gone before they got back to their truck, so we wasted no time in returning to Sandy Valley Rd.

Peak 4,402ft - Peak 4,242ft

This pair is located closer to the border with California, on the east side of Mesquite Valley. A BLM road forks south from Sandy Valley Rd, used to access a shooting range on the NE side of Bonanza Hill, and less often by peakbaggers to access Little Devil, the highest summit in the southern part of the Spring Mtns. I had been to the area for the latter back in 2015, and a second time a year ago for a quick summit at the end of the day. This third visit would allow me to collect two minor summits that had been orphanned, with Tom joining me for these and then two additional ones I'd already visited. We parked in the wash on the east side of the first two peaks, making the outing a rough triangle, going up one side wash and down another. We hiked the continuing road for a short distance before turning southwest and south. The ascent gully was mildly brushy, growing less so and steeper as we climbed higher. Some easy class 3 is found among the rubbly limestone slope as we butted up against cliffs near the summit. We reached Peak 4,402ft in about 45min, with views to Little Devil to the south, Mesquite Valley to the west, and our second summit, Peak 4,242ft to the northwest. We left a register before heading off on the connecting ridgeline. With some rough terrain and a few intermediate points to go over or around, it was no walk in the park and would take us a full hour to cover the mile distance between them. We left a second register atop Peak 4,242ft.

After a short stay, we parted ways, Tom heading north to Bonanza Hill and Peak 3,694ft while I headed east, back to the saddle with the first summit, then dropping northeast into the descent drainage. Most of a third hour would be spent on the return, all class 2. Back at the Jeep not long after 3p, I moved it about a mile to the base of the Singer Mine on the east side of Peak 3,694ft. It would be about 45min before Tom came back from his extended adventure, giving me time to write about half of this trip report while I waited. We then drove back to retrieve his truck and move camp to the southeast side of Jean, NV, where we planned to hike the next day. I picked up a 10-pack of White Castle sliders in Jean, having been curious for decades about this Chicago classic. I was sadly disappointed. I was only able to eat seven of them before my stomach protested loudly. I gave the remaining three to Tom, who polished them off with his own meal without much regard - he wasn't much impressed either. My stomach would continue to protest the rest of the night, not one of my better sleeps on this roadtrip...

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