1.5 miles to a fork and turn RIGHT. Then go 2.2 miles and park. (good camping spots in this area). If you go on to the old corral you will have gone too far to be in the right place to begin the hike. You cannot see the peak from the starting point. The navigational trick is to get into a big wash and follow it to a saddle just E of point 6425'. From there you can see the peak and the rest is easy. However we managed to get into a big "look alike" wash complete with (false) ducks that took us to another saddle about + mile W of point 6425. But from there we could see the peak and ran the ridge to the true saddle and on to the summit. Very pleasent on top, 7026'. No snow. So we decided we could do Potosi at 8514 the next day. Harry led us back by the correct route which suddenly appeared very obvious. We wondered how we got off route going in. For excitement George managed to get his Dodge Dakota 2WD stuck in the sand. Five strong guys pushed to no avail. Then Evelyn Chadwell joined the pushers and with one mighty shove the Dakota just popped out of the sand. Take this gal along on every desert trip. You will never need Triple A.

We then drove back to Nipton and on to I-15 and followed the guide directions to Potosi Mtn. We pulled in just about dark to the spacious and pleasant Potosi Springs campsite. It is rather dirty but has a great little bubbling spring. We could see lots of snow on Potosi Mtn. We enjoyed a great happy hour and campfire. Then much to our surprise, and theirs, Vic Henney and Sue Wyman showed up. They joined us for campfire and on the Potosi climb on Sunday.

Sun morn we set out to do Potosi by the "A" Variation route which is more or less getting up on the ridge and following it with it's many bumps to the summit. A good route and nice climb. We picked up snow at about the 7000' level. (The peak is 8514) Then all snow climbing the last 1000' to the top. The contrast of the many dark pines and juniper trees with the brilliant white snow made it a very pleasant climb. There were two places with some steep rocks, probably 3rd class with the snow on them. It was very cold and windy on top. Telescope and Charleston were easily visible with their coverings of snow. There was an old rusty can and no book. We left a new book in a zip lock bag, but a new container is much needed. Harry led a fast descent down to the cars by about 3:00. Some went on to Tecopa Hot Springs while others headed for home. Ruth and I stopped at the Nevada Landing Casino along I-15 for their special all you can eat buffet dinner for only $3.79 plus tax, including coffee. Good food, a bargain. We exercised our will power and passed by all the slots. My thanks to Harry for a great assist and all the DPS people that made this such a fun trip.

Georgeno Grapevine or Palmer, Corkscrew consolation, Dale V & Steve S.,
3-22-92

18 signed in at the dirt road exit from U.s. 95 N of Beatty & we drove in to encounter two-foot snow drifts a mile short of the 2WD roadhead! 16 of us started up in very uncertain weather conditions & the leader aborted after a half hour.
Some of us thawed out in the Bailey Hot Springs & had lunch in Beatty, looked at Rhyolite (disappointing) & the huge new heap-leach cyanide process gold mine, whose lights look like a garish mini-Las Vegas at night, then camped a mile or so down the Monument boundary road in Nevada. Some bagged a nameless bump to the west. The ten of us remaining had a nice campfire Sat night.
Sunday the ten (Jana Kneblova, Sara Gilles, Mark Adrian, Dennis Richards, Stuart Rigney, Karen Leonard, Barbara Cohen, Tom Moumblow, Judy Ware, & Dale Van D., hiked Corkscrew, taking the ridge at earliest opportunity. 4.5 hrs r.t., incl 20 min on top.
Someday I'll learn not to schedule peaks like Hayford, Grapevine, et al, 8,000-10,000, in March! -Dale
 
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