After two enjoyable days shared with Bob Sumner I was once again on my own in the desert, having spent the night camped at the base of Hackberry Mtn in Mojave National Preserve. I had a general idea of what I wanted to accomplish today but it was somewhat open-ended since I really didn't know how much I would be able to manage today with the limited daylight.
Hackberry Mtn / Peak 4,924ft
I had been eyeing this P1K for a few years, having run out of time to visit it earlier in the year on another desert trip. It was the last P1K I had left of a dozen found in the preserve though I still have many more to do in the more general Mojave Desert. Though the summit and surrounding area are part of the Mojave Wilderness, with a sufficiently endowed vehicle (high clearance) one can drive to within a mile of the summit. I had to start from where the road to Hackberry Springs starts at a corral/campsite two miles from Ivanpah Rd, northeast of the summit. I started out around 6a following
the road for 2.5mi to its end, then up class 2 slopes towards the
summit. Though 
a cliff band
high up appears to block easy access from the east, it is broken up in the
middle section to keep things no more than class 2. The actual highpoint is
blocked by this cliff section, but once above the true summit can be seen a
quarter mile 
to the south. A 40-foot rock section at the top gives the
highpoint a splash of scrambling before it's over. A good-sized 
cairn
with the remains of a wooden stave can be found there along with a 1935
benchmark,
though I saw no sign of a register. On my return I took a variation to the
north, bypassing the road I had used on the way up. This allowed me to go up
and over bonus 
Peak 4,924ft an enjoyable 
ridgeline stroll
without any difficulties whatsoever. It was also a 
more direct path,
cutting almost half
a mile off the road route, giving me a roundtrip time of about 2.5hrs. A nice
warm up.
Mt. Manchester / Peak 3,569ft
These are the highest two summits of the Dead Mountains, a modest-sized range north of Interstate 40 and east of US95 where three states meet at the Colorado River. Separated by less than a mile, it seemed a shame not to visit the second-highest summit while I was visiting Mt. Manchester and would also allow me to take an alternate route on the return. I started from US95 where it makes a wide turn and nearly abuts the
Dead Mountains Wilderness,
WNW of the summits.
Much of the 10mi roundtrip journey travels across open desert floor which took
up the first and last hours of the 4.5hr outing. Once across the flat
approach, I followed up the 
West Ridge on a direct line for Mt.
Manchester. It was along the start of this ridge that I found what looked at
first like old piping from mining days. I nudged it out of the earth with my
foot and then stood back when it suddenly took on the look of an
unexploded ordnance.
Did I just escape my foot getting blown off? Of course even if it
was an ordnance I know the chances of it going off years later is pretty
low, but still - I had no desire to pick the thing up or even linger there much
longer than it took to take a photo. Creepy...[later research reveals it to
in fact be an ordnance left over from Ft. Ibis, one of ten desert training
sites used from 1942-43 to prepare for fighting in North Africa during
WWII.]
It was 11:45a by the time I made my way to 
the summit of
Mt. Manchester where I found 
a benchmark and
register left by a 
CMC/DPS party earlier in the year,
half of whom I'd hiked with at one time or another. Though only six miles to
the east, I couldn't make out the waters of the Colorado River though I could
tell where it coursed by the swath of green, irrigated fields through the center
of Mojave Valley.
Beyond Mojave Valley lies the Black Mtns of Arizona while to 
the north
rises Spirit Mtn in Nevada. The vast Piute Valley of California lies to
the west while Peak 3,569ft and the bulk of the Dead Mtns could be
seen 
facing south. The ridgeline connecting the two summits
looked pretty tame and made for an 
enjoyable traverse across a mile
of the range's crest. Some sheep trail helped, but for the most part it was
just easy hiking, taking about 40min from one summit to the other. The second
summit sported 
a register claiming it to be Mt. Manchester,
predating the other by some 15yrs. Despite its more senior stature, it would
appear to be wrongly placed. I descended west off the summit, taking a line
roughly parallel to the ascent route, at least until I reached the desert floor
at the base of the range. Then I simply set a mark on the GPSr for my starting
point, covering almost 3mi as my route slowly converged with my outbound path,
getting me 
back shortly after 2p.
Sacramento Mtns HP
This medium-sized range stretches across Interstate 40 at South Pass, about 20mi west of Needles. Most of the range is south of the interstate but the highpoint is found in the small portion to the north, less than half a mile from South Pass. There is no freeway offramp anywhere in the vicinity, so I simply parked
on the shoulder.
Starting just east of South Pass, I found an easy breach in the
freeway barrier below in a wash where a flashflood had knocked over the fence.
From there one simply 
climbs upslope by any of numerous possibilities.
A 
cell tower is found only a few minutes below the summit. One can
actually drive the dirt road to reach the tower, but it's a long-ass way from
its starting point at the junction of I-40 & US95. A 40mi stretch of the
interstate can be seen 
east to 
west from the summit with a
swell view overlooking the slightly lower summits of the range to
the south. No register.
Bannock BM
This is the highpoint of the Bigelow Cholla Garden Wilderness. Buried in that name is
cholla which is spanish for "crazy death cactus". Most
desert peakbaggers learn the hard way to avoid these insidious things with their
hooked needles that easily penetrate clothing, gloves, shoes and of course
skin. It was 3:45p by the time I had reparked the van on the eastbound side of
the freeway and started off. I had only about 45min of daylight left and would
normally not have taken these last 4mi so late, but I was on a roll. I made
good time, covering the 
two cross-country miles to
the summit in 45min, just managing it before sunset. The view of
Flattop and Eagle to 
the south in the fading sun made the effort
worthwhile. It was cold and breezy as I started to freeze my butt off at the
exposed summit. The register had been left 
in 1979 by Gordon &
Barbara, the pages brittle and mostly loose from the binder. Almost all the
five pages
were recognizable names from the usual collection of peakbaggers. I photographed
them as quickly as possible before jogging back down, happy to get back to the
car without needing the headlamp (or getting visited by the CHP). I drove back
to the junction with US95 and then south on a dirt road into BLM lands away
from the highway noises. I spent the last night of my roadtrip here, happy with
a good day's effort...
Continued...