November 2nd, 2014
Brown Peak (4,947’)
[Pics] [Map]
Brown Peak is yet another peak on the Desert Peak Section List and one I'd originally planned to climb back in 2010 when I did Corkscrew for the first time. That didn't happen when a storm hit big enough to cause everyone to flee the park due to flooding concerns.
So when Paul said his list finish was going to be on Corkscrew it seemed like the perfect opportunity to pick up a peak that was left hanging out there on it's own and really wasn't difficult enough to warrant a trip of it's own.
Since we stayed late at Paul Garry's post Corkscrew List Finish party at Furnace Creek it was well after dark when we arrived at the trailhead for Brown.
We had the Jeep and so planned to do the route up from Deadman Pass. This isn't trivial to find especially in the dark and we'd been advised by friends to just wait until morning.
I'm stubborn and have a GPS so we made it work. Eventually. The far right route how we came out. It was easier to follow but we were sliding all over the place in deep pebbles while the eventual route to the further west was more solid.
We had some information about there being flat camp spots at Deadman's Pass and that's where we sacked out for the night. There's a large clearing there on both sides of the road showing ample evidence of past visits.
The peak is only about 6 miles round trip with 2300 ft of gain so we weren't in a hurry. We didn't wake up early and we took our time cooking breakfast.
And eating our breakfast.
Eventually we did get hiking. At 11 am.
There really isn't much to the hike. Walk across the desert floor, aim for this large canyon, pick your way up said canyon.
It's only slow if you have painful knees.
The summit was unremarkable as these things go but there were nice views of other mountains.
Of course with an 11 am start and 6 hours of hiking we didn't make it down before dark.
It was a nice sunset though.
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