Continued...
Tecopa Hills
I awoke from my cozy campsite in Tecopa Hot Springs only a quarter mile
from my first objective, the highpoint of Tecopa Hills. Located between
Tecopa and , the rather small range has little in the
way of interesting climbing objectives. The hills are small, rounded,
and mostly devoid of vegetation, the soil exceedingly dry and
unaccomodating. A has been built going over the summit
north to south, probably by the hot springs folks to provide additional
recreating opportunities for the visitors to this sad little resort. I
parked off the pavement to the west and hiked up the moderate slope to
in about 10min - not much to this one.
Resting Springs Range
East of Shoshone, SR178 cuts through the southern end of the Resting Springs
Range before dropping into on its way to Pahrump, NV.
This primarily limestone range has been a favorite of mine over the years and it
was only six weeks earlier that I had done a short hike south of SR178 with
Iris and Karl. Today I was after Peak 3,723ft with more than 750ft of
prominence. In a 5mi+ loop I added the lowest peak in the range, Peak 2,575ft,
found just off the highway, and Shoshone BM, a PB-only summit found between the
two. I parked near the lowest summit, then headed off to
across Chicago Valley towards the highest, 2mi away. The peak
cannot be seen from my starting vantage and I had to fight the urge to climb
up onto one of the ascending ridgelines in front of me which would lead to a
lower point blocking the higher one from view. Chicago Valley can be
surprisingly green at times, though today it was looking much like any other
Mojave valley given the absence of rain this year. The skies were partially
overcast with a 20% chance of rain that never materialized, but the winds were
picking up strongly today. After about a mile and a half I rounded a corner and
started up towards the west, eventually settling on a slope that might vaguely
be called the East Ridge. Finding your basic class 2 desert climb, it took
about an hour and a quarter to reach the first summit, . I
to follow of the ridge in that direction
for an hour,
covering about a mile and half. The ridge has a small amount of scrambling, the
rest easier, over broken limestone rock with nice views off either side. I found
the Shoshone with little trouble, along with a register left
by the Sierra Club's San Diego Trio of Adrian/Carey/Hanna . With
five pages of
entries, it was more popular than I'd have guessed, but still that only amounts
to about one visitor every two years. I continued south along the crest a
short distance before dropping back down , aiming for the
saddle with Peak 2,575ft. It took only about 10min to climb the last peak from
its saddle and then another 15min to return along SR178.
Funeral Mountains
I drove back to Shoshone where I was to meet up with Iris at 11a. I had enough
time to get a snack and soda at the market there before she arrived only
minutes from 11a - pretty precise driving from Orange County! The afternoon
outing I had planned was a 7-8mi romp around the Funeral Mtns (another favorite
of mine), tagging a trio of minor summits that can't be found on anybody's
interest list, save mine, I suppose. We drove north to Death Valley Junction,
then west on SR190,
at a semi-random spot along the highway with our
summits a few miles to the north. The route would cross the desert flats (really
a gradual incline) from the highway before starting up a steep limestone
towards the first peak. From a distance I thought the ridge
was going to be crappy and told Iris so. It looked like loose talus crud, but
in fact it turned out to be mostly solid and . We spent about
40min climbing before the slope relented just above the
4,000-foot level. Here we topped a rise to get a view of the higher Peak
4,740ft, second on our list, another mile . We turned left
to climb the of Peak 4,298ft, arriving at
by 1:15p, an hour and a half from the start. The winds were
driving fiercely across the summit and ridgetops, probably about 40mph with
gusts even higher. I got knocked off-balance several times during the outing,
scratching myself up pretty good, drawing blood, and amusing Iris. She seemed to
be getting blown about even more, but somehow kept her balance much better (yoga
& youth, I reckon) and stayed upright.
After a few minutes' time, we dropped off the summit to the east, following the
to the second peak, the highest of the day. The
distance was only a mile, but it would take us a full hour, battling the strong
winds while
making our way up. The first part to the saddle was easy enough, but then the
route goes steep rather quickly. Instead of taking a direct line up what might
have been a good class 3-4 scramble, I opted to move left and seek out
that was less exposed to the winds and no more than class 3.
provides good views to Pyramid Peak to
, the Funeral Mtns Wilderness HP to the north, and Bat Mtn
to . We stayed about 10min, snacking and leaving
here (none were found on any of the summits, to no
surprise), before heading back down via . At the bottom
of the gully we turned southeast to follow to the last
summit, Peak 4,140ft, another mile away from the base of the higher summit. Some
sheep trails appeared
to help us along this traverse, all the while we were getting battered by the
winds. The temperature was probably in the low 60s, so we weren't really
suffering from cold. Iris found the strong winds amusing and would laugh out
loud as she was getting
by them. We reached of Peak
4,140ft soon after 3:30p, the highpoint not obvious even after visiting two or
three likely locations. I was interested in descending the peak's
which looks pretty good from the edge near the summit. When I suggested it to
Iris she replied, "Yeah, if we wanna die!" The wind was blowing forcefully from
the westerly direction and it did seem like a fool's errand to descend that way
in such conditions. We ended up we'd been
circling all afternoon, finding some good scrambling in the
and less wind . It would be 5:15p
before we to our vehicles
along SR190, finishing a 5.5hr effort, and a good one, too. The shower this
evening would be cold and merciless - pouring tepid water over your head in
strong winds is not one of the more pleasurable desert experiences. Such are
the dangers for those exploring these realms...
Continued...