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Today's primary outing was on the west side of Old Woman Mtns, a collection of three unnamed summits that would occupy me for the morning. I spent the afternoon in the Kilbeck Hills on the west side of Cadiz Rd, doing a second trio of summits, two of which were short hikes.

Old Woman Mountains

I had spent the night on the north side of the Ship Mtns, up before sunrise to drive about 12mi of decent BLM roads into Scanlon Gulch on the west side of the range. This convenient cherry stem into the Wilderness allows good access to this side of the range. I parked due south of Peak 3,418ft and made a loop of the three summits from here, starting around 7:15a. The road continues only a short distance further before ending. Peak 3,418ft is less than half a mile from the road, but it goes steeply up some 800ft. The South Slope has decent footing on a mix of rock types, and very little vegetation. I took a direct line up, making the summit in less than 30min. Higher summits can be seen to the north and east. The other two summits I would visit were to the southeast and south across Scanlon Gulch. I left a register atop Peak 3,418ft before descending all the way back down, this time using a gully just east of the ascent route.

I next hiked about 2/3mi up the wash before ascending the highest summit of the day, Peak 4,045ft, from the north. This was another steep ascent, class 2 for most of it, but some class 3 as the rock became blockier and steeper near the top. This might be the hardest way to climb the peak, in retrospect. Peak 4,045ft has more than 800ft of prominence, overlooking both Scanlon Gulch and and unnamed one to the south. The two washes wrap around to join at a very low saddle on the east side of the summit. Old Woman Statue can be seen quite prominently on the main crest of the range due east. I left my second register here.

The third summit, Peak 3,743ft, is about 0.8mi to the WSW along a connecting ridgeline with a high saddle. It made for the most enjoyable part of the day, an easy class 2 ridge taking a little less than an hour. The descent down a gully on the northwest side of the peak was also enjoyable for the bottom 2/3, where solid granite rocks formed the dry creekbed and offered some mild scrambling opportunity. There were only short, easy dryfalls, but quite a bit of cat claw to avoid. I was back by 11:30a, a little over 4hrs for the outing.

Peak 1,459ft

This summit is located 1/3mi off Cadiz Rd, probably why it was the only one of the three summits that had recorded other visitors. The Kilbeck Hills are an interesting mix of dark volcanic rock, poor granite, and much sand. The sand helps hold the rocks together even on steep slopes, making it safer than it would first appear. Going directly up the East Face, I made the summit in 15min. Searching around, I found a some what hidden register left by Barbara Lilley in 2011. Hers was the only entry, though Richard Carey had visited in 2016. It was easy to see how he could easily have missed it.

Peak 1,400ft

This summit is found on the west side of the range. A BLM road goes around the north side of the range, then a spur road takes one within 1/3mi of the summit on the north side. There is much sand on the lower slopes. I spent just over 15min to reach its summit. No register on this one (or the last one, either).

Peak 1,525ft

Peak 1,525ft lies only a mile and a quarter southeast of the previous summit, but I had to drive back to Cadiz Rd and up another spur road on the east side that goes to the Desert Butte Mine found about a mile northeast of the peak. I had hoped to use another spur that gets even closer, but this road shown on the topo map is no longer open to vehicles. My route on foot went over lower hills around the mine where I parked, then down to an intervening wash before climbing up to the peak from the northeast. On the return, I decided to go around the intervening hills, descending due east and then north and northwest to return to where I'd parked. I thought this was an easier effort than the ascent route. It was nearly 4p by the time I finished up, a good time to call it a day. I showered where I'd parked, then headed south to SR62 and east to Parker, AZ.

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