With a few free days at the end of the month I decided to head over Tioga Pass
and pay a visit to the Mono Peaks area, found just east of the Sierra Nevada
between Mono Lake to the north and US6/US395 to the south. I had been to the
area on several previous occasions, notably to climb Glass Mtn as part of the
DPS list. Andy Zdon has included additional summits in his
Desert Summits
guide and it was to these that I was heading. None of these summits were
difficult, the longest being a 3.5mi hike to Cowtrack Mtn and only because I
didn't have the vehicle capable of making this a near drive-up.
South Crater
This is the second highest summit in the Mono Craters, a geologically young
range (a plaque alongside the roadway declares it the youngest range in North
America) located east of US395 just south of Mono Lake. I had been to the higher
point previously (also in Zdon's book) but came back just for this one. I found
a good dirt/sand road on the east side of the range that would allow me to drive
within a mile and quarter of the summit. Some modestly sandy parts of the road
made me happy to at least have front-wheel drive for added traction. I parked
off the road and made a beeline for the summit to the west, starting just before
8a. The initial climb up is easy enough but the more
found were quite tedious and steep,
but thankfully short. It took me 45min to reach the summit. There are some fine
views of the Sierra looking and a partial view of Mono
Lake to , blocked by the higher summit found in that direction.
To lies Glass Mtn and the White Mtns, but this view was washed
out in the early morning light. A register left had eight pages
filled, the most recent entry by Chris Henry who I've met
on the Sierra Challenge the past few years. The descent went far quicker,
returning me to before 9:30a.
Bald Mtn
Located 8mi SE of Mono Craters, Bald Mtn features and can
be driven
to by any vehicle, though the last quarter mile of road is rather rocky and a
bit steep. I plied the USFS roads south of SR120 between the two
locations, but found a large tree .
This necessitated a drive
back out to SR120 before taking an alternate route to Bald Mtn to get around
the roadblock. The summit lookout is in good shape, maintained at least if not
occupied part-time. The most striking views are of the Sierra to the
and .
Sagehen Peak / Crooked BM
These two summits are located about 5mi NE of Bald Mtn and about 3.5mi south of
SR120 on signed Sagehen Meadow Road. The road leads to, and past a
found in Sagehen Meadow. The good road is navigable
by any vehicle and goes over a saddle that divides the closely-spaced summits.
is limited at the saddle, but manageable for one vehicle. If
you start off directly for Sagehen from this spot you will have some
to contend with. A starting
just down from the saddle on the south side is the better bet and can be used
to drive within about 100ft of the summit with a high clearance vehicle. There
are two summits to Sagehen, the one to the west and just above the end of the
road is the highest. The lower is a more interesting
rock scramble according to Zdon. I took his word for it and simply visited the
highpoint.
To is Crooked BM, higher than Sagehen and more
interesting, imho. It does not have the trivial access of Sagehen and requires
some intricate route-finding and/or significant bushwhacking. The east side of
the mountain is covered in a mesh of that make travel
difficult. There are a few in this tangled forest that can be
pieced together to make the way easier up the east side, but there will be some
struggle. An alternate would be to circle around the base of the south side and
ascend to the summit from that less brushy side. I spent about 20min ascending
this one, finding open to views (as is Sagehen, btw) in all
directions, with a nice view of Mono Lake to .
Cowtrack Mountain
Cowtrack is seen as a long, flat ridgeline extending north of SR120, southeast
of Mono Lake. An unsigned dirt road runs from SR120 nearly to the summit. The
quality is so-so and deteriorates the further one drives. I was treated to the
sweet incense of burning sage as I drove my low-clearance van almost 3mi down
this road. I stopped where it goes steeply downhill to a
(marked on the topo map as "WT") before angling
back up to the ridgeline. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back up the soft,
dirt & sand road and decided I'd already pushed the poor van beyond reason. I'd
gotten nearly halfway there and could the rest of the way.
It wasn't a particularly exciting hike, void of much elevation change and
dramatic views. Granite Mtn to looked the most
interesting and to its right in the background could be seen the unusually
snowy summit of . The weather was the most interesting aspect
of this hike, threatening rain and already having dusted Glass Mtn with snow. A
small herd of were grazing around the water tank when I
passed by, moving off in distrust soon after I took their picture. I reached
of Cowtrack around 2p, finding it decidedly desert-like
with little vegetation. I found a among the summit
rocks but could not located the benchmark or any sort of register. The summit
does have a particularly fine of , the best
of the summits on this side of it. were dumping
precipitation over Glass Mtn as I was returning, some of them beginning to move
north in my direction. Any sort of rain held off for the time being, allowing
me to return dry to not long after 3:15p.
Granite Mtn
The last summit I visited was the most interesting on the day. At nearly
9,000ft, it is the highest summit between Mono Lake and SR120, a P1K and the
highpoint of the Granite Mtn Wilderness. A BLM dirt/sand leads
from SR120 north about a mile before encountering the
. From here it's less than a mile and a half to the
summit. The summit and surrounding hills feature some good rock scrambling and
probably have some quality rock climbing if anyone bothered to develop it.
There are remnants of an , now trail, leading from the parking
area towards the south side of the mountain up a . The
canyon narrows and steepens as it climbs towards a saddle SW of the summit.
Class 2-3 rock scrambling leads to the summit from this saddle. Easier class 2
terrain can be found by climbing to an alternate saddle SE of the summit and
then around the east side to approach the summit from the NE. I spent just
under an hour to reach the . In addition to the
, I found a register left by a year
earlier. Dennis Poulin's was the only I recognized from the
handful of additional visitors. As I was leaving the summit to return via the
, raindrops began to fall from a thunderstorm now
and soon turned into a soaking. I got out my
and pack cover to keep things from getting saturated and
enjoyed my
first rainy outing in some time. The rain didn't last long, enough to soak my
pants and boots but not my spirits, and by 5:30p I was
at the van and done for the day.
I showered and changed into fresh clothes before returning to SR120, eventually
finding my way to Sawmill Meadow above 9,000ft on the eastern slopes of Glass
Mtn where I planned to hike the next day. I made dinner and spent an enjoyable
night here, happy for cold temperatures that make sleeping so much easier...
Continued...