Continued...
Our third and last day in the Whipples was a bit of a mixed bag. I was the only
one in our group that had been up Copper Mtn, which happened to be my first
ascent in the area on a visit back in 2015. The others were interested
in this summit and the adjacent Peak 1,982ft to the west, one I had done back
in February and given high marks. I encouraged the group to do both of these
while I would go off and do a couple of lesser summits that were expected to
be low on the excitement meter. So for the second day in a row, we took three
Jeeps up Bowman Wash, stopping on the east side of the old dam where the bulk
of our party would begin their day. After dropping off my occupants, I
continued east for another 2.5-3mi into Copper Basin until due south of Peak
2,140ft.
Peak 2,140ft - Peak 2,115ft
These two summits lie north of Copper Basin Reservoir on the eastern edge
of Copper Basin. Peak 2,140ft lies within the Whipple Mtns Wilderness while
Peak 2,115ft is outside. The two are less than a mile apart, separated by a
high ridgeline, close enough to do them both together in a 3mi loop. Starting
shortly before 8a, I across the basin towards Peak
2,140ft, out of view behind in the foreground. My route
wasn't the most efficient but it worked, getting me to in
about 50min. Nothing harder than easy class 3 was encountered, and really it
was just a class 2 scramble. Lots of in one section, but
otherwise pretty straightforward. After leaving , I headed
along the ridgeline, through another ,
to a saddle, and then up . The latter looks intimidating
from a distance, but turns out to have breaks through the cliffs upon
, class 2-3. It took another 50min between the
summits. Peak 2,115ft had still partially
intact, not bad for what was probably erected 80-90yrs ago. I left a second
here before descending back
to , also class 2. I was
before 10:30a, taking about 2.5hrs for the loop.
Peak 1,460ft
Back earlier than expected, I decided to pay a visit to Peak 1,460ft on the
western edge of the reservoir. The immediate vicinity around the reservoir is
, courtesy the MWD. Still, a rougher OHV road can be
followed around the west side of to reach a wash on the
north side of the peak. I found no fences or signs to discourage me from
climbing it from this direction, making my way past a few
to reach in about 15min's time. There is a small telecom
installation at , but it looks old and decrepid and possibly
no longer in use. The summit has a nice view of and
what appears to be at the
water's edge, below to the east. I saw no sign of recent human activity
anywhere about the reservoir. To rises Copper Mtn with a good
view of Monument Peak on its southeastern flank. I returned to
and , then drove back to where the other
Jeeps were parked. I waited for them
to return from their outing about 30min later, which they declared a
fine success. Chris went off on his own to climb the first two peaks I'd done
earlier. He was heading home today and was trying to pack as much Whippleness
as he could into the day. The rest of us drove back to our camp at the start
of Bowman Wash, TomB then starting his own drive for home. The others would
hang around a few days longer.
Peak 1,140ft
TomG and I stopped along Parker Dam Rd to tackle this minor summit close to
the Colorado River. It lies on BLM lands and has steep cliff faces on
facing the road. We approached from the south by first
following leading inland along the southwest side of the peak. It was an with a small, seeping spring, not enough
water to get any sort of flow, but it was quite jungle-like
and even supported a few palms. We scrambled up class 2-3
volcanic slopes , some slabs but mostly a lot of rock,
not the most enjoyable stuff. We found there were two summits separated by
5-600ft. We sighted against a backdrop near the Gene
Wash Reservoir to determine the southern one we stood upon was higher. This was
in contrast to LoJ which had the northern one as the highpoint - I would have
this corrected later. Interestingly, the actual highpoint was just far enough
east to make this the easternmost summit in California now, bumping nearby
Power BM from the title.
Wedge Hill
Back at the vehicles, Tom and Iris went to hike the Castle Rock Trail in AZ
while I went there for an easier outing closer to the river. The name Wedge
Hill is found on the River Island Park map, but not in the BGN database. This
is
primarily an RV park with hookups and a boat ramp with river access, along with
a $10 entrance fee. There is a small network of trails that can be accessed by
parking along US95. I did just this, finding and then
hiking to the highpoint where there is a nice overlooking
the river and . All of about 15min for the roundtrip effort.
Afterwards, I drove to Lake Havasu City, stopping for a jug shower along the
way. Eric had done a good job of finding us a Thai restaurant in town. After
Tom and Iris had finished with Castle Rock, we all met up at Chao Praya in the
downtown area. We all thought the food was excellent, btw, highly recommended.
Afterwards we drove to BLM lands north of town to find a quiet place to camp
for the night. We would spent the next day hiking and scrambling around the
nearby Mohave Mountains.
Continued...