Little Canyons and Tops by Emigrant Pass

Tonopah Field Office BLM

(map link)

Stopping in the Tonopah Field Office, I found it a lot less tourist directed than Bristlecone (Ely) or Caliente had been. The woman directing the office traffic said she wishes Battle Mountain (their district) had a nice recreation guide like that one from Ely. There isn't. You can find a brochure about a few people buried in the cemetery next to the Clown Hotel, though. She did find someone who could tell me a little about the roads. As long as there hadn't been any big rains recently (no... I think?) the road over Emigrant Pass might be good enough. The road past Coyote Springs would be excellent. There are no developed trails in the area. I started with iffy hoping for a big circle. Emigrant Pass is just one of the many so named because it happened to have an emigrant trail over it. This one happens to be in the Silver Peak Range. If I don't mind the several areas of gravel rubbing the underside of my car, it's good east of the pass. I tried some offset driving, risking the tires more. As the sun was setting and I was just short of the pass, I found a place to camp by a pink hill.

The hilltop view with Lone Mountain on the right, the Monte Cristo Range on the left, and the Big Smoky Valley and the pretty good road I drove in on down the middle.

I had a plan for bagging Emigrant Peak, but not yet. First, a little getting to know the place hike heading south. To start, going low and explore the canyons, then high for the return.

Canyons through the alluvium below the hills.

There's a scattered cholla (this one on the pink hill) with lovely bright yellow spikes.

Across a mining claim marker and another pink hill.

I headed south on a bit of vanishing 4x4 road that reaches up into the hills almost to another saddle. (It's the one that allowed my little car access off the sometimes maintained road over Emigrant Pass.) I was aiming to go as far as a creek bed.

The rest of the road as it climbs toward a saddle.

Looking back toward the Monte Cristo Range and more foothills of the Silver Peak Range.

I actually went a little past the creek for a view from a small rise.

Climbed a little and looking back to camp, beside the pink hill and south of some rather red ridging.

The creek bed is a mild dip with igneous looking points along one side here.

I followed the creek down. I needed to take care and not go down anything I couldn't go back up since it heads toward a mining area. (This might be called Blanco Mine.) If it was active, I wouldn't be able to continue through. At first, the creek bed is just more gentle desert turning into a gravely wash for easy walking, but it changes quickly and frequently.

Little downclimbs as the wash narrows down.

There's a lot of different colors in these rocks as it winds and climbs down.

Overlooking the mining area.

Downstream from this edge of the mining area.

The mine area, "open pit mine" on my map, was not particularly great pits or active, so I could walk through. It's very soft, fine clay that appears to erode quickly. People and animal prints made distinct trails across it. Little bright reflections came at me from everywhere from pieces of mica or some other highly reflective mineral.

Someone has already been walking here.

Looking back to the interface.

The hills below.

I got to the road servicing the mine. It's in good repair and seen some visitors. I wasn't going to be one for long, though. I continued south to another wash where I could climb again. It climbs and splits into a couple different options. I was entertaining the idea of taking the one toward the Borax benchmark above, but it would really take a more determined hike to get there from my starting point.

The end of the road to the mining area.

Good bye to the open pit mine.

There are more clay hills above.

Almost a path to follow to the wash to the south.

I decided to take the wash that USGS marked as more likely to have water. There certainly wasn't any on the surface, but the dreaded tamarisk popping up here and there suggest there's something semi-reliable underneath. This would get me to the top of the range just north of where it suddenly goes higher.

Climbing up the wide wash, just past that first tamarisk.

Colorful hills on the way up.

Time for the choice. Left toward the benchmark or right for the easy hike. Either side of the knob of rock will get to the same wash.

There's not any nice canyon area along this path the way there was on the way down to the mining area.

The higher areas of the range just to the south.

A sagebrush sparrow stares me down before taking off.

I couldn't help but notice the minor sun out on the ground just north of US-6/US-95. It could only be a molten salt solar collector. It is, in fact, the first commercial solar project of that kind, the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project. They're now in operation for nighttime solar. They're having trouble competing against photovoltaic solar projects during the day, but when the molten salt tank is filled, they can generate for up to 10 hours in the dark and there aren't enough batteries yet to compete. Birds beware!

Nearly to the top with a grand view of Big Smoky Valley including a bright land bound sun left of Lone Mountain.

At the top, I found a wide plateau. Travel would be easy, just have to choose which bit of land to wander across.

The barely avoided higher section of Silver Peak Range just south of this hike.

Getting lost in the clouds on the west side, the White Mountains.

Almost "desert paving" in a colorful gravel.

The 14252 foot White Mountain itself, #3 in elevation in California, might be the one inside those swirling clouds. I'm at just over 6300 feet.

Closer at hand, there's more colorful hills on the west side.

I wandered upward and north, not quite hitting the nearby high points, then continued to roll my way toward camp.

A gentle upward climb to the high point of the hike.

The northerly view from the high point of the hike. Camp is next to the lowest pink hill in the middle.

Boundary Peak, Nevada's highest, is also hiding in some swirling clouds to the west.

Above the canyons and mining area.

Looking back south to the higher peaks of the Silver Peak Range.

Not tall, but plenty of texture seen to the north.

My way down in the late afternoon sun.

Some old flowers hanging on on a Nevada smokebush.

Some Brewer's sparrows choosing to sit upon a cholla.

I chose to go for one last, extra, up and down before getting into camp. This would put me above an area marked all over with prospects on the USGS map. Lumps of odd rocks and long lines like a giant had tilled the land mark the area.

Above the prospects and almost back to camp.

Prospected area.

Interesting evening clouds.

Rows "tilled" by a bulldozer hoping valuable rocks grew here.

So I arrived back with plenty of time to cook before it got too terribly cold in the evening and ready for a similar plan in the morning when the sun would be once more warming camp directly.

*photo album*




©2023,2024 Valerie Norton
Written 2 Feb 2024