Story

Continued...

It was the last of a six-day roadtrip in West Central Nevada, tagging a collection of P900s in the area. I had spent the night camped at the end of Rhodes St at the base of C Hill, my first stop of the day. I planned to do some easy hikes until around noon when I would head home to San Jose. The weather had been unusually cold the first four days but had warmed up to more usual June temps today under a cloudless sky.

C Hill - Peak 6,340ft

C Hill is named for the large "C" for Carson City that can be seen on its eastern aspect. My route from the southeast bypassed views of the "C", not much of a loss, truth be told. I combined this with a higher, unnamed peak to the south for a 6mi+ loop. The area is open to OHVs, though I saw none during my hike today. I followed a series of roads, trails and some cross-country, heading first up to C Hill's summit overlooking Carson City looking north and east, then on to the higher summit, a mile and half further. There were a few hikers and joggers that I passed by in the vicinity of C Hill, but no one in the upper reaches around Peak 6,340ft. I spent about two and a half hours on the outing, the nicest of the three I did today.

Prison Hill

Prison Hill is the highpoint of the recreational area that goes by the same name on the east side of Carson City. The area gets extensive OHV use, particularly motorcycles, though again there were none on this Wednesday morning. I saw only one other car at the TH I used off Snyder Ave, but had the whole mountain to myself, it would seem. As the name suggests, there is a prison located at the base of the hill, just behind the TH. The 3mi outing took just over an hour, not particularly interesting, up sandy, overused trails, though the views were decent. One can take in the snow-capped Sierra from the Freel Peak area in the south stretching north to Mt. Rose. Other peaks around Ebbetts Pass can be seen further south, including Highland and Silver Peaks. There is also a benchmark at the flat, open summit.

Hot Springs Mountain

This last summit lies 4mi south of Prison Hill. It, too, is used for OHV recreation, though not to the extent of Prison Hill. I used some route information garnered from Marcus Sierra on PB who started from Lindsay Ln on the south side of the mountain. There is a dirt OHV access road here where I parked and started up one of several trails rising up from the south side. The trail is terribly sandy and steep in places, not much fun to climb on foot. It looks to be much harder with a motorcycle. Once at the crest I turned left and headed cross-country for the highpoint to the northwest almost a mile away. PB has the northernmost point identified as the highpoint whereas LoJ and my own observations put it at the southern point which is partially obscured by trees and much more poorly defined. I visited both before descending an alternate route that required no cross-country. More sandy trails led in a loop back to where I had parked just off the pavement. It was 12:40p when I returned and time to head home. I showered before starting the five hour drive home to San Jose, back across the Sierra on SR89/SR88. Good times...

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