Another week, another trip to Red Rocks, Las Vegas. It's become something of an
obsession for me, much like I had with the Trinity Alps last year. I left San
Jose the night before and got as far as the Basin Rd offramp on Interstate 15
between Barstow and Baker by 2a. I promptly found a place to pull over on the
south side of the freeway, brushed my teeth and jumped in the sleeping bag
for some rest. I was up less than 5hrs later when the sun greeted me with a new
day. Today's efforts were short, easy outings I had sifted from Purcell's
Rambles & Scrambles. I've concluded that his standards are even
lower than my own - and that's hard to beat.
Hanks Mtn
This was actually some unfinished business from two years earlier. I had gotten
Evan to climb several peaks in the nearby Cowhole Mtns and even Squat Hill on
the drive out at the end of the day. But when I suggested the companion Hank
Mtn, he balked. The hike is little over a mile one way from paved Kelbaker Rd,
even shorter if you have a vehicle that can manage the moderately sandy
that can get you to the base of the mountain. I ate breakfast while
driving from Basin Rd to Kelbaker, starting off from the latter shortly after
7a. I went more or less directly up the ,
taking less than 30min.
The mountain is made of limestone which provided some fun, easy scrambling.
had been left in a small film cannister by Andy Smatko and
pals in 1996. Pete Yamagata visited only . Barbara Lilley
had come by to leave a better register, on a rare visit without
Gordon in tow.
There were about ten other entries since then, but the only names I
recognized were (Courtney Purcell) and .
Unnamed Benchmark / Negro Head
These two summits are located on the north side of the highway off the Halloran
Summit exit. Again, a better vehicle could make short work of both of these,
but I ended doing a six mile loop
hike starting from near the off-ramp (I failed to
get more than a few hundred yards down the utility road). I went to
first, weaving through desert scrub up hilly
terrain to reach in about 40min. I found the remains of a
wooden survey tower, but no
register and not even the unmarked benchmark I was expecting. Bummer.
Negro Head proved more interesting after spending almost an hour between the
two over standard class 2 desert terrain. Just northeast of the summit is what
looks like an old line or . Lots of poles were erected
around it, almost for pole-climbing practice from the looks of it. Between the
shack and the Negro Head's summit I passed by a left lying
on the ground. Not sure what that was about. offers a fine
view overlooking the engineering marvel that is Interstate 15. Yay. The name
derives from the dark volcanic rock that somewhat resembles an afro. Terry Flood
had left here less than a month earlier. I dropped off the
steep to get myself to the paralleling
the interstate, then two more miles .
Mohawk Hill
Found north of the interstate at Mountain Pass, it is overshadowed by its much
more impressive neighbor, .
Access to Clark Mtn from this exit seems
to have become much more restrictive since I was here to climb Clark Mtn with
Evan in 2007. I followed signs indicating a public access route through the
quarry, but a gate at the back of the quarry was closed (with a big sign
indicating "Pulic Access Route"). So I parked above the highest
and from there, getting only a short
distance before I was recalled by
a honking truck horn. A worker in a white truck told me I was on private
property and I had to leave so he could close the gate. I was surprised because
I hadn't recalled any gate that I drove through, but I apologized and started
back down. Seems he called a security truck to come ,
just to be sure. The
african-american woman driving it was nice enough, but she had no answers to
my inquires about the public easement and seemed clueless what I was talking
about. She escorted me all the way back to the freeway exit before waving to
me. I was nice, but I wasn't capitulating just yet. I asked her if the paved
portion of the road was public. "Yes..." I then went on to explain I planned to
park at the end of the pavement and hike west before climbing my mountain so
as to avoid their property altogether. "Oh, I don't want to get another call..."she offered. She said it not like she would be inconvenienced, but rather just
didn't want to get in trouble. I gave her more reassurance of my plan before
turning around to execute on it, not really getting here onboard with the idea.
The hike was going to be about 1.6mi one way rather than about half that, but
it mattered little. It was a nice little climb up the SE Ridge of Mohawk,
passing over two small bumps that held various .
I noticed the original white truck driving back up to the
while I was climbing
up, I guessed the original gentleman was looking for me violating their space
on foot. Needless to say, he had little luck finding me. Just above the second
tower site, I came across a in the rocks. I lifted
it up with a stick for a ,
but the cold wind that blew over the ridge had
left it with little energy. It could barely move or flick out its tongue, poor
thing. I set it down gently and went on my way, reaching
around 1:15p, taking just
under an hour. On my way down I noticed the truck waiting at a crossroads where
he would be sure to see me if I had been coming down on one of the tower service
roads that go through the quarry property. Thinking he might be a little
obvious, I watched him move the truck behind some stuff in an open storage yard
where he could more cladestinely watch for me. I don't know if he saw me up on
the hill, but his movements were pretty plain to me. I moved around to the
west side of the ridge on my way down to keep out of view,
to the
van by 2:15p, unmolested. He might still be up there waiting for me to come
down...
Continued...