Mount Dubois DPS From The East

  • Updated: April 18, 2015
  • Post By: Matthew Hengst

April 18th, 2015
[Pics] [Map]

This was our second time trying this peak.

We originally tried this plan a few weeks before only to have the whole weekend go slightly askew.  The Hot Well where we bivy'd was heavily occupied and disappointing, we had issues finding the right road into Dubois (hint, if there's a house/shack that appears to be reinforced with hay bales that's both not the right way to go and the shirtless tattoo'd owner really doesn't appreciate you being back there), and then we slashed a tire so bad we ended up stuck two miles below the actual trailhead.  We went for it anyway despite being slightly less than confident we could make it back to the pavement without popping another admittedly bald looking tire.  And then when we'd reached 10k we realized between the three of us we'd managed not to bring near enough food for the hike ahead.

*sigh*

So we turned around, had a nice camp fire that night, and limped back to OC the next morning to plot our revenge.
Ok, that's better
Now a few weeks later armed with a shiny new set of Toyo AT2's (complete with two bonus inches of clearance!) we were headed back.

The drive out was again brutal since you have to drive out to Big Pine, then cross the mountain range, and then head north to Dyer NV.

Again we decided to stay at Fish Lake Valley Hot Well despite the experience last time on the off chance it was less populated.

It wasn't though this time the person camped right by the pool was just in a small car camper so we actually got to look around a little better and soak our feet on the way out in the morning.


Of course we were experts on getting to the trailhead and this time we made it all the way to the cabin at the end of the road without incident.

(For the record the road once you reach the forest boundary is a jeep road.  There's at least one fairly trivial stream crossing and a lot of rough rocks.  I wouldn't have gotten the old Rav4 up there.)


We left the car at 9:41 am.  We wouldn't be back until 12:30 am.

The first part is an old road which becomes an indistinct trail that occasionally gets lost in cow tracks.  At around 9200 ft you cross a gully and climb a ridge and from there it's just making your way up cross country.

Looking up the ridge
It's straightforward but steep until you get to 12,000 ft where things flatten out a bit.


We reached the plateau at 3:20 pm.  From here it's a long walk around to gain another 1500 ft and get the summit on the right.

Some deer watching us from the distance


This is the slightly less than spectacular summit.  It was rather cold and we both had pounding headaches from the altitude so we didn't spend long there before heading down.


The peak in the background is White Mountain, one of the California 14'ers.


We came down off the plateau around 8:30 pm wearing pretty much everything we had with us.  Both of us were wishing for balaclavas.  On the plus side the sunset was quite nice looking across at the Sierra.


The hike down the ridge was long and we really had to watch our route in the dark.  Without any moon we were having to rely heavily on the GPS the entire way.  Down near the bottom of the ridge in particular was a challenge due to vegetation.

We made it back to the car and were shocked to realize it was 12:30 am.  Our plans for a nice warm campfire, dinner, and rum drinks quickly became a hurried dinner and passing out.  It was a good plan.


Which was actually a bummer since the campspot we stayed at partway down the road was quit nice and even had a running stream next to it.

From there it was on to Glass Mountain.

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