Mount DuBois, Glass Mountain Ridge

17-Jul-82

By: Norm Rohn

none

The Last scheduled DPS outing of the 1981-82 season went well in great weather. Six participants climbed the first peak and five the second.

Even before time to meet on Saturday morning, we nearly lost most of our climbers. Three cars bogged down on Sandy shoulders turning around or trying to get off the road a bit to sleep. Jacking, shoveling and minor road repair eventually solved the problems. The meeting place, about 10 miles north of Dyer, Nevada, and a hundred yards north of the now abandoned highway maintenance station, is well marked with a large sign reading Middle Creek - Trail Cyn.. We proceeded northwest 7.2 miles on a fair road. There a sign at a fork directed us left up Middle Creek. The right fork, to Trail Cyn., takes one to the Boundary-Montgomery road head. We proceeded west over a deteriorating road for 4 miles, passing a fine canyon site at 3.7 miles, to a small parking area just before a loose steep pitch in the road. Low clearance cars made it but the owners suffered. We hiked west half a mile, crossed the creek and proceeded southwest up a spur ridge eventually joining the crest of a main E-W ridge at about the 11,600 contour and 1/4 mile west of the California/Nevada border (UTN 842856 Benton 15 topo). Scrambling up this ridge for another 1 1/2 miles put us on the rolling summit plateau. The high point and register are in the northern end of a group of rocky out crops about a mile south.

On the summit we were treated to a remarkably close visit from several hang glider pilots cruising the up-drafts along the west side of the crest of the White Mountains. The return to the cars was partly over long snow chutes just west of our up route. Total time for the unhurried trip was about 10 1/2 hours.

Stopping for gasoline and dinner at the small casino at Montgomery Pass we were a little late finding a reasonable campsite along the road into Glass. The Sawmill Meadow Road leaves the Benton-Lee Vining Road (Calif. 120) about 13 miles West of Benton. The route is clear on the Glass Mountain topo if one is careful to take the right fork 1/2 mile after leaving Hwy. 120 at mark 6649 on the topo. The West roadhead is up a short spur road 1/2 mile before reaching the Sawmill Meadow Campground. Parking is adequate at UTM 512821. The hike from there up the draw and across the obsidian and pumice slopes takes less than 2 hours but the views are great - Crowley and Mono Lakes, the Whites and Miles and miles of Sierra. Its' a challenge to see how many peaks one can identify.

We were on our way home before eleven, but three of the party couldn't resist taking the Wildrose Cyn tour around the east and south sides of the mountain over the Benton crossing of the Owens River and to Hot Creek for a refreshing and cleansing dip.


Detailed information for visiting one or more peaks mentioned in this article can be found in the
Desert Peak Section Road and Peak Guides

DPS Archives Index | Desert Peaks Section