Continued...
I was working my way through the southeastern portion of Mojave NP, collecting
obscure summits I had neglected on previous visits. None were particularly
difficult, and only the first outing had any signficant mileage. Still, I was
kept busy for most of the day and was pretty tired by the end. A weak
weather system was due to pass through the area. No rain fell until the
evening, but it was overcast for much of the day. Temperatures were quite nice
for hiking.
Peak 4,826ft - Peak 4,603ft
These are the easternmost summits in the Woods Mountains. They are most easily
accessed from the northeast, starting at the at
Watson Wash. I followed , now part of the Wilderness, for
about a mile to the south before turning southwest and west to head
cross-country for . I used one of the convenient
through the desert flats before climbing
and onto . There is a modest
cliff band that took some , but no real exposure. I
spent about an hour and a quarter to reach the first summit, picking up
of several ticks on the day, just below the top. Sprawling
Hackberry Mtn can be seen to , the Providence Mtns far to
across Wild Horse Mesa. I left here
before to , a mile away. I
followed going over intermediate point 1,372m
along the way, taking an hour between summits. I left a second
at . For the return, I dropped into
that I followed back out to the broad
, eventually picking up that I could
follow north back to . About 6.5mi and four hours
for the effort.
peak_5,003ft
This summit is part of the volcanic Hackberry Mtn complex, found less than a
mile NNW of Hackberry's highpoint. is crowned by a cliffband
that slopes to the north, the only direction where one doesn't have to pass
through the cliffs. I followed the sloping terrain from
of the Wilderness, taking just over an hour to reach
. There is much varnished volcanic rock littering the ground,
but not enough to be tedious. More interesting were the tiny
in bloom by the thousands, enough to brighten up the
slope in . There is a near view of the Higher Hackberry
highpoint to , less than a mile away. After
to the Jeep, confusion ensued. I somehow thought I had
another summit to reach in the northern part of Hackberry Mtn, and spent about
45min driving up the very rough road towards the highpoint, only to find that I
was following an alternative route I had mapped to the very same summit I had
just climbed. Oh well, it was a fun bit of Jeeping through the Wilderness cherry
stem - back out I went after discovering my mistake.
Vontrigger Hills HP
This small collection of hills lies east of Hackberry Mtn, separating Fenner
Valley to the south from Lanfair Valley to the north. The unassuming highpoint
lies at the east end of the range. There is no Wilderness to be found in the
area, but the roads are somewhat limited. I found one that leads to
about a mile west of the highpoint. The cabin is
marginally maintained
by someone, and there is an ample supply of 2x4 firewood outside. I wasn't
much interested in checking out the inside, given the poor condition
outside. I spent about 45min hiking cross-country, along a portion of
, up , and then to
the summit. There was an old lying on the ground
with a weathered and splintered wood handle. I left it there for the next
adventurer to discover. Knowing that MacLeod & Lilley had visited in 2011 (it
was one of Gordon's last summits), I expected there to be a register at the
summit where the VON benchmark is located. I found neither register nor
benchmark, though the latter was probably under the small ,
repurposed as a rodent nest. There is another summit a quarter mile to
the southwest I thought could be higher (it wasn't), so I visited it in turn,
but there was no register to be found there, either. A little disappointed, I
returned following much the same route.
Peak 3,566ft
This last summit is found about 3mi southeast of the Vontrigger HP, but there
was almost an hour of driving to reach of it. I drove a very
sandy wash to get within a quarter mile of the summit on the west side side.
With rain threatening to start up, I made haste up and down the steep,
in less than half an hour, depositing
at the summit before making my hasty departure.
Not much to this summit, mostly a pile of varnished desert rock.
It was after 5:15p when I to the Jeep. I showered in the wash
where I parked before spending the next hour driving a myriad of roads in
various conditions to the east end of Lanfair Valley and the base of the Piute
Range near the Nevada border where I planned to hike the next day. Rain would
start up shortly after I'd finished dinner and gone to bed, lasting for 2-3hrs.
I was parked in one of the few desert places where there was more dirt than
sand, making me worried that I might be stuck in a mud bog come morning. Luckily
the rain wasn't too intense and the wind would begin drying things out almost
as soon as the rain had ceased...
Continued...