Magruder Mtn
(9046'), 22 February
The mountain was always seen there at
Lida Pass on the way to Vegas. A few miles from the Cottontail Ranch brothel,
and it needed the proper moment to be climbed. No real snow had come; there was
none at 9000 feet anywhere by late February, except for Kratka Ridge, and it
looked like we were into a fifth drought year. Delores Holladay showed up
and we drove to Magruder in warm sunshine. The Magruder Mtn NV-CA 15' topo is
the one usually looked at when climbing Last Chance Mtn., located a dozen or so
miles to the southwest. We took a dirt road into the pinyon forest just before
the pass and parked at a place where we could see a good route to the
ridge. It was windy when we cleared the trees. We followed the ridge for
about a mile to the summit, which had a register. The hike one way was about
2.2 miles with 1700 feet of gain. On our way down it was starting to get a
little cold. The Palmetto Mountains, in which Magruder lies, were apparently
named by gold seekers after the Joshua trees seen in the lower elevations,
which were thought to be a kind of palm.
Shadow Mtn
(5071'), 6 April
We had some pretty good storms in March.
The drought was still on, but now there was durable snow on most of the
mountains of the area. Conditions called for skiing of course, and then bagging
some lower elevation peeks near Death Valley. Shadow Mtn is an attraction
because it stands at the north end of the otherwise almost overlooked Resting
Spring Range not far from Mt Stewart, bordering also the Ash Meadows area of
former brothel fame and with Devils Hole, home of a rare desert pupfish. We
drove on Stateline Road east from Death Valley Junction, passed by the north
end of the range, and then took the dirt Pahrump |
road south to a point abreast the
mountain on its east (Nevada) side. The peak was about four miles away and
there were lower foreground hills of uncertain affiliation. The Ash Mdws CA-NV
15 sheet applies only to the final mile or so of the distance. We approached
within a system of shallow gullies leading slightly to the right (north) of the
objective summit and climbed to a low point on the fronting line of hills. Our
view was blocked by intervening bumps but it appeared that if the peak had a
meandering northeast ridge, we were now on it. It was getting windy and the
clouds were flattening into lenticulars. Our ridge did indeed join with
the summit, which we reached after hiking for four hours in what became a very
strong wind. The register bad been placed there in 1978 by a small party of DPS
climbers. The wind pinned us down behind a rock during lunch and we watched
billowing clouds of dust rising from the desert near the Amargosa Opera
House.
Mount Perry (5739'), 6 April
Mount Perry is the north high point of the Black Mountains which border
southern Death Valley. Ski and I appeared at Dantes View at 9:30. We simply
followed the ridge from the parking lot north for about four miles until the
summit was reached. The ridge has five surveyed bumps along with several
nondescript others, with accumulated gain of perhaps 2000 feet. We hadn't
expected a trail. A use trail was followed most of the way and the final mile
was marked by pink surveyor's tape. A thin can register had been placed on the
summit only the month before. It was moved to there from a nearby but
definitely lower summit on which someone had built at considerable effort a
large rock cairn. Almost on cue the pm brought a cold wind which regraded our
return ridge-walk to Assez Defictle. |