Eugene Mountains HP P2K
Eugene BM P300

Continued...

Eugene Mountains HP

I was looking for a last easy summit of some significance that I could do on my way home through Nevada at the end of a month-long roadtrip. The Eugene Mtns HP southwest of Winnemucca fit the bill nicely. It is a P2K, a range highpoint, and a very easy summit that can be hiked in less than an hour. I had driven up from Interstate 80 the previous evening in the dark, up Pole Canyon following directions and a GPX track I'd grabbed from PB. The driving route goes out its way to circumvent a tungsten mine at the base of the range before it gets to Pole Canyon. The road goes by a residence along the canyon, not seen in the satellite view. I wondered what he thought of someone driving up the road in the dark, but never caught sight of him, just one of his dogs on the drive out. The last few miles are somewhat rough, high-clearance a must, but 4WD probably not needed. I spent the night sleeping comfortably at the end of a spur road where a small telecom installation is found.

I was up well before sunrise, hoping to reach the highpoint before sunup. It is an easy and pleasant cross-country hike across the broad summit ridge to reach the highpoint in about 25min. Some TRs make mention of an old road/trail, which I found on the way back, but it's hardly needed. A register had been left by MacLeod/Lilley in 1995. It's 23 pages were mostly a collection of the usual peakbagging suspects, along with a smattering of deer hunters. Sunrise came as I finished photographing the last pages. The day was just getting started when I returned to the Jeep at 6:40a.

Eugene BM

This is an easy bonus peak south of the saddle I had driven up from the east. I reparked the Jeep at the saddle to make it even easier, then went up the NE Ridge to the summit in 15min. There was the expected benchmark, as well as a register left by Mark Adrian in 2016. With only a few pages of entries, it showed this one gets far less love than the range HP, though only 55ft lower. The views across the treeless landscape shows this to be one of the drier ranges in Nevada, though the cattle found in Pole Canyon seemed to find sufficient forage to stay happy. I was back to the Jeep by 7:20a and ready to finish my drive home to San Jose...

Author:

Is this a correction?