Peak Guide Guide No. 2.9

PORTER PEAK 9101 Ft. Class 2

MAP: USGS 15'; Telescope Peak
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FROM THE WEST:

MILEAGE: 195 miles paved from Los Angeles, 8 miles 4-WD road.

DRIVE WEST ROUTE: Trona, Cal. drive north 20.4 miles to Good dirt road. Turn right, east, 3.6 miles to Ballarat (almost ghost town). Continue driving northeast on poor dirt road 1/2 mile then the path curves southeast into Pleasant Canyon at about 2 miles the canyon narrows and comes to a spring which is now a wet 4-WD ONLY road. Continue east up the canyon S more miles to Stone Corral, at the second left go northeast to Cooper Mine.

HIKE: From Cooper Mine follow faint trail 1 1/2 mile to the saddle 1/2 mile north of peak. Turn right, south, walk to summit.

4-WD GAIN: 2300 ft. ROUND TRIP: 4 miles, 4 hours

2-WD GAIN: 6700 ft. ROUND TRIP: 14 miles, 14 hours.

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FROM THE EAST:

MILEAGE: 273 miles paved from Los Angeles,

DRIVE EAST ROUTE: Shoshone, Cal. drive north 2 miles, then left, on SR-178 west 30 miles (2.9 miles north of Ashford mill ruins) to the Excellent dirt 'West Side Road'. Turn left, west, shortly after crossing the Amargosa River the road curves northwest at about 17 miles turn left, west, on poor dirt road into Johnson Canyon. Drive up the canyon 6.5 miles, the last 2 miles are almost 4-WD. The road ends at a spring.

HIKE EAST ROUTE: Follow hard to find use trail up Johnson Canyon creek about 2 miles to:
The Ruins of Hungry Bill's Ranch. (5000 ft.) Here in the 1870's Swiss adventurers raised vegetables and fruit here to sell in Panamint City ten wagon road miles to the west. Fresh produce brought very high prices during those gold fever days. Fig trees and thickly overgrown grape vines now grow wild among the old stone walls. After the Swiss left, Hungry Bill - a Shoshone Indian over six feet tall and named for his huge appetite - filed homestead papers for the ranch and settled here.
Walk about 200 to 300 yards southeast of the Ranch to find a faint, sometimes impossible to follow, trail heading southwest 3 miles up to the saddle 1/2 mile north of the peak. From the saddle walk south to rounded summit.

GAIN: 5100 ft. ROUND TRIP: 12 miles, 14 hours. Easy 2 day backpack

ALTERNATE ROUTE TO SENTINEL PEAK: From Hungry Bill's hike up Johnson Canyon to Panamint Pass then southwest to Sentinel Peak.
Randy Bernard
 
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