Avawatz Road Washed Out - We found the Avawatz road, as advertised, 0.1 mile north of the 19-mile milepost on the Baker-Shoshone road. The road is hard to find because the road crews run the grader across the entrance, so that there is no path across the berm. But they leave little gaps for drainage, and we plunged blindly into one of these a few feet to the north and found the road. This road has also been washed out, and is presently suitable only for high-clearance vehicles. We bumped our way up to Mormon Springs, and walked up, swigging beer, to look at the 'crux move a mile above. The crux is a place where the road runs through a narrow cleft between two rock faces, so that the water scours the road down to bedrock. This place too is in bad shape, with many of the rough underlying rocks exposed. We brought the car up over a bad road, washed out in places, and camped just below the crux, and the next day climbed Avawatz following the Peak Guide. The road above the crux is mostly OK, but we walked. It was very warm all night, but a front came through in the morning, so that we had a nice cool day for a healthy walk (12 miles, maybe 4000 vertical feet counting bumps). Conclusion: those who say we need a better route up this peak are right. Too much messing about in cars. Smith Mtn - Leaving the Avawatz area, we drove north through Shoshone to Smith. It was dark by the time we got to the camping area. The night was cold and windy. In the morning we drove to the optimum takeoff point and then followed the gully to the peak with only a short side trip up one of those promising gullies that wasn't. Smith is a neat peak; easy, great views, but with 23.5 miles of dirt road each way. Brown Peak - This was the second time up Route A for Owen. This route is really dumb, and should be removed from the Guide. The gain is not 1700 feet but more nearly 2500 including ups and downs. Just to follow inappropriate urban instincts and park in the parking lot at Deadinan Pass, one climbs the wrong mountain and then sidehills a few miles of scree slopes to get to the real peak. Dumb! To avoid repeating this mistake, we came down the canyon shown as Route B in the Guide (very fast and direct, down the central ridge to the wash), and then traversed 2.5 miles across the desert (easy walking) at constant altitude to the car, crossing a number of gullies, of course, but none very large. It is better (faster, shorter, less gain and loss) to park at Deadman Pass and walk across the desert to do Route B than to do Route A! Doing Route B itself is better yet, but the road north of Deadman Pass has some fairly deep gravel on it, so one might want to leave 2WD cars at the pass. A More Direct Route - The trouble with both Routes A and B is that even after gaining the first saddle one must drop into a canyon, hike a mile up a wash, and then climb over a ridge to get to the peak itself. This adds 600 feet of gain. There appears to be a much more direct western route, which can be seen from the top of the cliff west of the peak. I have not done this route. Park at 3000 feet or a little lower as if doing route B, but then go to the canyon west of the peak instead of the one farther south. This is the canyon north of point 3882 on the 7.5-minute Deadman Pass quad. Go up the left side of the canyon to reach the bench NW of the peak, then go up the peak on either the north or south side (there is a ramp leading around the west side from north to south). This route has about 600 feet less gain than Route B. Less miles, too.

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