Garfield Hills High Point

Stillwater Field Office BLM

(map link)

I headed down the good road from camp to another decaying road to hike the high point of the Garfield Hills. I thought I might go up that road far enough to clear the bit of private property around Garfield Flat, but decided against due to the rocks down the middle and just pulled over to park instead. Was that sand? I got out to verify that yep, I'd done an excellent job of parking, completely clearing the road, and sticking myself into somewhat deep sand. Since getting out of the sand would just mean having to find a new place to park, I decided to leave that task for later. No need for extra steps. I did a pretty good job of not fretting about it during the day as I took off up the road. This day would be road travel past the Bataan Mine, then a bit of the ridge between Mable Mountain and the high point to the day's goal. Then I'd take a slightly shorter route back with more cross country and less mine and road.

Some orientation: to the east, the good road to Mina with Pilot Peak visible over a low spot.

More good road to the west, but Mount Grant is lost in the clouds of this moody day.

The Excelsior Mountains south of Garfield Flat. Yes, the sand was quite visible.

The high point of Garfield Hills up ahead. It's actually in the back and not visible from here.

The clouds provided a bit of interest as I crossed the flat. There's almost two miles of it from where I parked.

A little energy in the clouds seen over the east.

The road finally climbs into some hills.

As the road split for going up to Bataan Mine or around it, I almost missed the junction. That's when I settled that I would go through the mine. Though faint, the road across the wash would have been pretty useable.

Leaving the valley behind.

Some gates in the wash mark where the road crosses it for the mine.

The high point is almost visible up in the stuff on the left.

The part of the Bataan Mine with structures remaining, although the steps have fallen a bit.

Distinctly green rocks are seen in the mining pits.

A little of the view up here.

Just short of rejoining the other road, I got to the ridge line and found an extra road compared to what USGS had mapped. Since I was about to start following that ridge, I headed up it. It appears to have been the dump.

Just a little of the trash from the mine.

Mable Mountain just popping up over the nearby hills on the left.

The road I left supposedly continues on to connect with more on the far side of the hills.

Garfield Flat reflecting with water in its "dry lake bed".

A little up and Mable Mountain has become very obvious. Mount Grant is still lost in clouds.

At last, the high point! It's the one in the middle.

I stuck a bit to the south of the ridge as I climbed. There was some sort of somewhat used animal trail there.

A collection of birds passes by.

Off the side, the odd solar farm in Soda Spring Valley and the further Gabbs Valley Range looking colorful.

At the top of the highest Garfield Hill.

I arrived at the top, and on such a beautiful day! Well, there did seem to be a bit of dust in the air mucking up the distance viewing. Is 100 miles of visibility really too much to ask? And it wasn't quite as warm as yesterday, but it was still quite tolerable.

Looking back toward the mine, but it is behind the hill in the middle. I came up the ridge on the right and the lower peak along it is where the good view of Mable Mountain was taken.

Mable Mountain from the Garfield Hills high point.

Mina, Nevada, seen just over the edge of Black Dyke Mountain.

A little bit of larger Luning, Nevada, over the other side of Black Dyke Mountain with its paved road to dinosaurs.

The whole way around. (viewer?)

I suppose anything very far was shrouded in clouds anyway. Mount Grant still hadn't come out and I there might be the bottom of Arc Dome, but the range had collected clouds around its top. Admittedly, the clouds were looking very artistic at times. I turned to start down my cross country route. It was quite a bit rougher than the way up with some very steep sections. Oddly, I was finding vague trails again. It's probably the horses.

My return: heading toward that just visible puddle of water. There's a bit of a dip early on.

A tortured juniper tree on the way.

Seriously, there's a trail right here winding down to the saddle below and up again on the other side.

The rocks changed as I went. I headed up among metamorphic things with interesting patterns and found myself heading down among rounded off granite.

Walking decomposed granite past rounded boulders and having a look back to the false peak that was on the way up.

Still following trail and wondering if Arc Dome will come out to play. Or Toiyabe Dome.

Almost time to lose sight of the high point (right) as I go around the side of the false peak south of it.

Looking back where I was last week. Faint bumps of Lone Mountain on the left and Silver Peak on the right. I guess the air isn't too murky.

After that first up and down, there's a lot of down. I lost what the horses think is reasonable travel, but the brush isn't dense enough to worry about a lack of trail. I did find a couple cairns on the way, but they were probably the corners of mining claims.

It's steep down the side toward Black Dyke Mountain.

Hey, a surveyed point! Spot elevation 7041 on the USGS map.

Down the ridge toward the lake.

Mount Grant finally came out.

I thought about connecting with a road that services a few prospects, but I didn't quite see it from above and took the ridge a little further instead. It was probably better that way. I dropped off it for the road in the wash soon enough anyway. That was easy to see.

The last of the way down.

The road follows the wash.

At least until the wash has no tall edges.

I passed a pair of graders tucked away in another gully surrounded by some deeply red rocks. Below that, the road was beautiful. It wasn't two lanes plus wide like the main road, but it was smooth and free of growth down the middle. At the junction, the good road headed off east along the shortest way to Mina. I went right on decaying road again.

Finishing up all that flat back to the car. The ridge to the right has been deeply red the whole time.

Time to start fretting about the sand again. I grabbed a couple rocks off the road as I finished and dropped them behind the drive tires. It was less than two minutes to get out. It took longer for the engine to warm up than to get out of the trap. My other fret was that there might not be enough unique about this peak after Mable Mountain to warrant the climb, but it did not disappoint. Anyway, that little "hills" high point is a 2000 foot prominence peak!

*photo album*




©2023,2024 Valerie Norton
Written 17 Feb 2024