January 19th to 21st, 2020

[Pics] [Caltopo] [Map]

An overnight paddle trip within driving distance of LA / Orange County with access to multiple hot springs? Sounds awesome doesn't it?

Black Canyon is an area just south of Hoover Dam that is known for the hot springs that flow out of the various side canyons.


It's the northern part of a 30 mile designated National Water Trail stretching from Hoover Dam (mile 64) to Eldorado Canyon (mile 39).

Paddling up river from Willow Beach to the hot springs has been a trip I've been wanting to do for years. There's been at least three times I was all set to go only to have to cancel the trip at the last minute due to weather extremes or other issues.

With big changes on the horizon that may limit our access to our kayaks Jen and I decided we really wanted to make doing this trip a priority. And when weekend plans cancelled in mid January we jumped at the chance and headed off for two nights and three days paddling up from Willow Beach.

This weekend was supposed to be a triumphant (-ish) return to diving in Southern California after the New Years trips. The plan was to join Sea Stallion on the Cee Ray dive boat to Catalina Saturday and then do shore dives around town on Sunday. And then conditions went to crap.

The Cee Ray was canceled due to swell and surf conditions ruled out anything on the shore. Going out to Catalina and diving Casino Point also looked like it wasn't an option.

And so we started to look further afield. Kristen had run into really bad weather during her Thailand trip and only been able to do a single dive so not wanting that trend to continue I said I'd drive wherever we needed to if we could find diving options.

And that's how we ended up talking to Bruce Hall at Sin City Scuba...

January 12th, 2019

[Pics] [Map]

November 18th, 2017

Muddy Peak (5,387')
9.2 miles, 3,200'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

As much as I really enjoy the volunteer classes I teach through Sierra Club they do wear on me a bit since they keep me in town during periods I'd rather by running amok in the wilderness (otherwise known as each and every damn weekend)  So it was with great relief I wrapped up my commitments last week and set about making some last minute desert plans.

Muddy and Moapa are two peaks on the Sierra Club Desert Peak Section list.  They are located north of Vegas along the 15 in the general vicinity of Valley of Fire.  They're both 3rd class (with Moapa in particular being known for an extended summit ridge with a bit of exposure) and are really quality examples of what the list has to offer.

We planned to drive out Friday night, climb Muddy Saturday and then camp along the road out, and then do Moapa Sunday before driving home.

I've been close to finishing the Sierra Club Desert Peak Section list for the last few years but only recently got serious about finishing it off.

I have all the hard ones (most done twice over) and most of the ones that require a really long drive.  However there were two that I've been staring at on Peakbagger for a while now due to the distances involved.


One is Wheeler Peak In Nevada.  It's the second highest peak in the state and really should be the state highpoint considering that Boundary (the actual highpoint) puts you just down a ridge from a higher peak right over the border in CA.

The other is the Arizona state highpoint Humphreys Peak just north of Flagstaff.  Easy hike, long drive.

Since the peaks are in the 12,500-13,000 ft range they are a bit easier to do in the summer.  They are also a long haul from Orange County but it seemed logical to try and knock them off together.


It was going to be a long weekend...

Wheeler Peak (13,063')

[Pics] [Map]

Updated:  We went back a second time when retrying Dubois and I've since updated this

Fish Lake Valley Hot Well is a easily accessible hot spring located near the eastern trailhead for the DPS Peak Mount Dubois.

[Pictures] [Map]

While I spend a good portion of my time running up and down peaks I have a fascination with caves and mines that I don't get to exercise very often.

So when I happened across this trip report mentioning a rather neat cave requiring a 30 ft rappel / rope ascent sitting on the side of a 3rd/4th class peak in Nevada it was something I was eager to make happen.

As of 2015 this is now a part of the newly created Basin & Range National Monument.

December 14th, 2013

Leviathan Cave, Basin and Range National Monument

[PicsMatt] [PicsRon] [Map]

What:
  Jumbo Peak (5,761')
  Mica Peak (5,758')
When: October 27nd, 2013
Where: Near Lake Mead, NV
Who: Matthew Hengst, Jeff Atijera
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Map]

After the previous days successful climb of Mormon Peak ended a bit early when we couldn't find a way to traverse to a nearby bonus peak set off further east along the 15.  A quick refueling stop in Mesquite later we started down the long bumpy road to Whitney Pockets and beyond.

What:
  Arc Dome (11,773')
  Mount Jefferson (11,941')
When: June 8th & 9th, 2013
Where: Central Nevada
Who: Matthew Hengst, Jen Blackie, Amin Faraday, Mark Butski, Jeff Atijera, Gracia Delavida, Wasim Khan
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Arc] [Jefferson]

If you look at the geographic locations of peaks on the Sierra Club Desert Peaks Section list you'll see two peaks located in central Nevada far from pretty much everything.  That would be Mount Jefferson and Arc Dome.

I'd been staring at those for some time and after having knocked off the even further north Ruby Dome (700 or so miles from Los Angeles) last year after two tries.  At 11,000 ft they seemed perfect for a late season desert trip.  (Granted if I'd known how nicely things would be shaping up in the Sierra this year I might have chosen otherwise...)

What:

   Rainbow Wall (6,924')
   Gunsight Notch Peak (6,160')
   Juniper Peak (6,109')
When: March 30th, 2013
Where: Red Rocks Nevada
Who: Matthew Hengst, Jeff Atijera, Harlan Stockman

Two peaks, one sausage-themed happy hour, 3.5 popped tires, a minor freeze, and a whole hell of a lot of wild donkeys later we declared victory and got the hell out.

Last year while trying to come up with a way to liven up a two-day desert climb of the somewhat unremarkable Manly & Needle a few of us hit on the idea of making it a theme trip. And hence the First Annual Mustache Mosey (then referred to a the Manly Mustache Mosey) was born!

What:  
  Hayford Peak (9,912')
When:  November 26th, 2012
GPS Track:  Track

Day 4 of the 2012 Thanksgiving Turktacular and we had one more peak in our sights before retreating back to life in Southern California.  This time it was Hayford Peak which had a bit of gain along the way.

What:  
  Virgin Peak (8,071')
When:  November 25th, 2012
GPS Track:  Track

We'd left Valley of Fire State Park (and it's depressingly nice hot showers) behind us the night before and driven several hours further east to the access to Virgin Peak past Whitney Pockets.

Virgin is a Desert Peak Section peak located near enough to Moapa Peak that it's usually logically grouped with that somewhat more interesting climb.  Of course Jack and I had paired Moapa with the also slightly more interesting 3rd class Muddy Peak when we led it back in December of 2011 so Anne and I were planning to grab it along with the peak usually paired with Muddy called Hayford Peak.  (Follow all of that?)

Two days into the 4 day Thanksgiving weekend we'd done 3 peaks and had too more to do.  And we didn't smell half bad.  Not too shabby!

What: 
  Valley of Fire Peak (2,972')
When:  November 24rd, 2012
GPS Track:  Track

Yesterday Anne and I had kicked off the long Thanksgiving weekend with a somewhat relaxed day and scrambled up the relatively short White Dome & Gibraltar.  After looking at what the park had to offer I figured we could easily amuse ourselves for another day and then we'd probably head on and grab the relatively nearby Desert Peak Section list peaks Virgin and Hayford.


The remaining named bumps on the official park map (which wasn't the best, I'd strongly recommend bringing your own) weren't overly interesting looking so we decided to head for the high point we'd been able to see from White Dome the day before.  It had the advantage of being the most interesting looking thing around.

What: 
  White Dome (2,234')
  Gibraltar Rock (2,172')
When:  November 23rd, 2012
GPS Track:  Track


Along I15 north of Las Vegas there's a sign I'd passed numerous times for Valley of Fire.  Generally it was late at night coming or going from some climb or another so I'd never taken the time to explore it.

After longer Thanksgiving trip plans fell through I ended up doing Thanksgiving dinner in town and then loaded into the car and headed for Vegas.  Not surprisingly traffic was fairly light.  One quick 11 pm stop at a Vegas Walmart for supplies and we were back on the road and pulled in to Valley of Fire sometime after midnight.

What: 
  Cathedral Peak (5,775')
   J. J. Freakel Peak (5,681')
When:  November 18th, 2012

What: 
  South Pahroc HP / Hyko BM (7,950')
  East Pahranagat (~6,280')
When:  November 17th, 2012

What:  Ruby Dome (11,387')
When: October 12th & 13th, 2012
Where: Near Elko, NV
Who: Matthew Hengst, Anne Kircher
Pictures: Flickr

GPS Track: Track

Ruby Dome is the most distant peak on the Desert Peak Section list located about 780 miles from Los Angeles.  However it's only about 260 miles from Boise so it was pretty high on my list of things to get done before the eventual end of the Boise project.

September 25th, 2010
Boundary Peak (13,140')
Montgomery Peak (12,447')
[Pics] [Map]

Boundary and Montgomery are both on the Sierra Club Desert Peaks Section list.  Climbing them also has the added bonus of snagging you the Nevada State high point which ironically is the lower of the two due to the fact the California Nevada border runs between them.

Christine and I drove up to the east side for two days of dayhike.  After we were done here we drove down to the Chimney Creek area and did Spanish Needle (after failing on it during the Memorial Day trip) and Lamont.