Hayford Peak, Mount Stirling

5-May-84

By: Maris Valkass

We met at 7 am at the Corn Creek Nat'l Wildlife Range about 23 miles north of Las Vegas and 3.7 mi east of Hwy 95. We drove north on the road in Alamo Valley to the turnoff for Hidden Forest. The sign at the Wildlife Station says that the turnoff is 16 ml, but the mileage is about 1.5 mi off. The turnoff was marked by a sign indicating Deadman Canyon. Drive up this road to a locked gate (3mi), park, and walk up the canyon to the cabin at Hidden Forest. The sign at the locked gate identifies this as the correct roadhead. It also says that the cabin is 4 mi away.

From the cabin we walked up the ridge to the left and proceeded to the summit which we reached 4 hours after leaving the cars. We returned via the main canyon to the cabin and were out at the cars by 5 pin. It was a pleasant hike through a pretty canyon and a nice pinon forest. The view was good and weather was just right. The road from the Station to locked gate is passable by all cars using the usual dirt road caution. All 24 participants made the peak. This also was the first DPS peak for Carl Meyncke and DPS trip for Paul Shubert; we enjoyed having them with us and hope that they will continue hiking with us.

From Hayford we caravaned 11.3 mi past the water tower in Indian Springs and turned left on the only dirt road in the area. There is a highway crossing, and a cattle gate. One car had a minor mechanical problem which delayed us in finding a suitable campground and starting the happy hour. Although it was dark when we stopped to camp in a less desirable location, the spirits were not dampened and the campfire lasted till 11 pm.

There was some uncertainty about finding the roadhead because we did not know where the "11.3" mile road enters the Stirling topo. After some detective work Sunday morning, it was pretty clear that the road enters the topo from the north near 11655' in Section 4. It is also noted that the peak can not be seen from that point. Follow the road to Section 5, 8,7,18, touch 13, and finally end on 19. In Section 19 a road a side road comes in from the west. This is a good place to park and to camp. We continued to the end of the road, however the road gets steeper and narrower. We almost lost a VW buss that got hung up on a tight curve.

From the end of the road we ascended SW to the saddle and from there followed a broad ridge to the summit. (lhr 15min) On the top you will find many petroglyphs that are in pretty good condition. They don't seem to be written up anywhere. The view was superb, we could see about 10 listed peaks. 23 people went for the peak, 23 made it.

Some of us decided to drive through Tecopa where we stopped to enjoy the hot springs. Later many of us met in Barstow in Martha's Amigos Cafe for a nice Mexican dinner.

The participants were: Ron Jones, Adrienne Knute, George Toby, Paul Shubert, Bill and Gisela Kluwin, Karen and John Leonard, Susan Hanna, Jay Holshuh, Bill Bradley, Sue Wyman, Herb Dotzauer, Igor Mamedalin, Donn Cook, Jim Farkas, Barbara Reber, Ed Lubin, Jeff Wilson, Vic Henney, Jeff Koepke, Kathy Bowman, Carl Meyncke, and Maris Valkass.

Many thanks to Ron Jones for assisting, and Dick Akawie for providing trip writeups.