Continued...
The night sky had been full of stars, almost mocking the forecasted weather
front that was said to be coming to the area.
By morning the western sky was overcast
and it was clear that something was afoot with a chill in the air and a strong
wind. We would have to bundle up at times, get some light drizzle and a
dusting of snow before we were done, but nothing terribly threatening. Odd
weather for June in the Nevada desert, though, a welcome change from the more
usual heat.
Peak 6,650ft - Cleaver Peak
Three of us were here to climb Cleaver Peak, a P2K and the highpoint of the
Desert Mountains, a medium-sized range separating the Carson and Walker River
drainages. We'd camped at the base of the range on the south side off Julian
Lane. Our route would closely follow that of Dennis Poulin's posted on PB, only
in reverse. We drove in Sean's Jeep up to the end of the rough road at 5,300ft,
then started hiking up heading northeast. Near
where it flattens out we climbed onto to
the left and headed up to the bonus Peak 6,650ft, about 2/3mi northwest of
Cleaver Peak. As one climbs onto the broad summit ridgeline leading to the
bonus peak, an is
encountered and can be followed for about half a mile towards the summit. This
road is accessible from US95A to the west and may be drivable in a
high-clearance vehicle. We knew about its existence beforehand but had no beta
on the road conditions, leading us to choose the more conservative option. It
took us just over an hour to reach the unassuming where we
paused only briefly. With better conditions, there are good views of the Carson
River and Churchill Valley to By now it was fully overcast
and hazy, muting the views.
We had to drop about 400ft to between the two peaks before
climbing to of Cleaver Peak, an effort that would take about
45min. The
footing was decent but there was quite a bit of volcanic rock strewn about the
slopes, making for slower progress than otherwise. Asaka in particular was
having a tougher time with it, her back hurting her still from a slip she had
taken the prior day during our decent from Mt. Como. We found a register
notepad left by Gordon and Barbara with a few earlier entries
on business cards from . The peak is fairly popular given its
P2K status, with 17 pages of entries in 20yrs. With the uncertainty of the
weather (and me without any raingear in my daypack) we didn't stay long.
bypassed the bonus peak at the expense of some not-so-bad
sidehilling that we followed to the southwest once we had descended to the
saddle between the two peaks. We passed by a on the
way back that used a corrugated roof to collect water
and store it in a plastic tank underneath. Oddly, there seemed no way for the
wildlife to actually access the water. Other setups I've seen have a
float-actuated valve to supply water to a smaller drinking trough connected to
the storage tank. Perhaps they never finished installing this one?
We were
around 11:15a, the 5mi outing taking us nearly 4hrs to complete.
Asaka's back wasn't getting any better so the two of them decided to end the
day with this outing and start back for the Bay Area. After driving back to
where the van was parked we bid goodbye, they heading north to I-80 while I
headed south, back towards Yerington. I had some other summits in the
Singatse Range I was interested and wasted little time in getting to them.
Peak 6,180ft - Peak 5,900ft
The Singatse Range separates Smith Valley to the west from Mason Valley to the
east, the West Walker River flowing through both. The hills here aren't very
high and present a dull brown most of the year. There are three summits with
more than 900ft of prominence and I was after two of those this afternoon.
The first of these is in the north part of the range. Though
fairly far from the highway, partially paved Campbell Lane runs west from US95A
through the range to the Minnesota Mine. Another road, not as good but still
serviceable to low clearance vehicles, runs northwest from a junction just
before the mine. I drove until I met another junction with a powerline road
where I parked. A high-clearance vehicle can drive another mile towards the
peak heading east, but it didn't make much of a difference since I was less
than two miles from the summit at this point. I hiked the
past the more interesting , a
bonus I would tag on the return, making my way over even
after leaving the road. It took just under an hour to find my way to the top of
the summit where I found a rather but no register. From
the summit, I on the ridgeline connecting the two peaks,
another half hour's distance. Peak 5,900ft is a bit castellated on three sides
but I ascended is tame, though steep. After taking a few
, I the south side of the summit
rocks a short ways (the only real scrambling today, even if short), at the end
of which I turned southwest and made a beeline for
about a mile away. The outing took a little less than two hours.
Peak 5,540ft
On my way back out to Mason Valley on Campbell Lane, I stopped near Gallagher
Pass to pay a quick visit to this bonus peak only a quarter mile
. Although steep, it took only eleven minutes to climb to
and something less than that for the return. Yay.
Mt. Wilson
Back on US95A, I drove south for a dozen miles to the southern end of the range
where Mt. Wilson rises as the range highpoint with more than 1,500ft of
prominence.
Like most of the summits in the range, it can be climbed from just about any
direction. I chose to climb it via the East Ridge, about 2mi one way. Parking
off the highway is not so easy here, but I found a small turnout just north of
the ridge that would do. A fenceline runs the length of the highway to keep
large wildlife from wandering onto the roadway and it was necessary to surmount
this before starting . The weather started to improve some
as I headed up around 4p, adding some blue color to the otherwise dull skyline.
Combined with the late afternoon lighting and the green farms in
, it made for a picturesque scene for this
. The highpoint is found about 1/3mi southwest of the
crest once a false summit is reached. Wooden survey stakes have been refashioned
into a rough cross in a medium-sized summit cairn adorning ,
overlooking Smith Valley. A MacLeod/Lilley register
had 19 pages of entries, easily the most popular peak I'd visited on this trip.
Had it been earlier in the day, I would have made a larger loop by continuing
to Black Mtn about 2.5mi to the north. It was 5:15p by this time and I would
probably have enough daylight but I was feeling well short on energy. Time to
head down.
I the same way, getting back around 6:15p. I drove north to
Yerington to get dinner and make a plan for the following day. Later that
evening I drove around to the west side of the range on Delphi Rd to position
myself for Shamrock Hill which I planned to visit in the morning. This was a
very quiet place east of Artesia Lake in Smith Valley, miles from the nearest
pavement. It had taken quite a while to get here and it would be well after 11p
before I bedded down. Sleep would come fairly quickly at this hour...
Continued...