Rhyolite Ridge

Tonopah Field Office BLM

(map link)

My initial plans for a western approach to the high point of Rhyolite Ridge may have been foiled (perhaps by my own timidity), but I could still find a way up on the east side to bag this 1000 foot prominence peak. The west side sure looks a lot easier. There is a track on Peakbagger indicating it didn't require any class 5.3 moves or anything, so I set out to make the attempt in spite of all the clearly visible cliffs.

Rhyolite Ridge from the east side.

Boundary Peak (and higher Montgomery next to it) through the gap. Taller, but not very prominent.

The route up is far to the north on little used roads and my little car still has only two drive wheels and 6 inches of clearance, so there would be a bit of walking before the real climbing began. From camp, the roads going my way are inconveniently placed, so I just set out across the scrub. Not a hard hike with a patch of cholla along the way. I got to a rough road and followed it to a bit better road.

The bit better road on the way to an area of prospects.

I like having different routes and I like checking on the springs in the desert, so when presented with multiple possible roads, I decided to take the low route to a further road on the way up, the high road down. The low road was mostly a wash.

Up a very shallow, but sandy, wash.

The road heads over the top and on to more hills and more prospects while a spur heads up to a spring.

Even more hills along the road past where I'll take it.

Interesting little cliffs up ahead.

I headed up and found some fun geology, but no water. Nothing more than a clump of pines seemed to indicate there could be a bit more water than anywhere else.

Excellent outcrops.

Water has certainly liked to flow here.

The roads were done and I got to climbing any which way that seemed reasonable. I went for the areas where the contours were furthest apart, but the land seemed to sometimes have different ideas.

A first peek to Clayton Valley below.

Across the upper valley to the peaks at the top of Mineral Ridge. This is the easy part of the climb.

Across the lower valley to camp, Red Mountain (left), and Silver Peak (middle).

My instinct from this angle was to go up here, a little north of the track.

Others successfully went up here, jogging left then right.

The climb got steeper. I did spot a very large spring at the far side of the valley. The effect of water pouring out and glistening under the sun might have been enhanced by water freezing and gathering, but it still looked like a gusher from far off.

The bright spot of reflection on the far side of the valley does correspond with a marked spring.

This route did go up a steep slope that was barely holding itself together, then cross over a couple steps on a washed out and steep gully that were uncomfortable, but mostly it really was just a wiggle and a walking climb.

Aiming to be between the pink and the yellow.

There was a gully to climb and a big cairn to mark where to go down on the way back. I finally made the ridge.

On the ridge with one more hill to climb.

Once that last ramp was done, it was a pretty lazy walk along almost a trail to the high point at the top of the cliffs.

A look back over the route up.

The cliffs are even bigger to the south. It's quite a view.

I found a register back away from the cliff at what is ever so slightly a higher point. Probably. Certainly with the small pile of rocks.

North along the Silver Peak Range to the far band of red and Emigrant Peak just a little further. I expect the white peak is the one with the Borax benchmark.

A lot less snow on Montgomery and Boundary Peak now. Tempting.

There have been ladybugs huddled in all of the registers.

After a while, I got moving again. At first, I retraced my steps through the upper cliff band.

What goes up must come down. So back down in the gully.

The eroded rhyolite.

Just across to the left where it isn't holdless rock to go down.

Down the steep.

Once off the steep part, I could make my way any way I liked toward the top of another road that would pass a named spring.

The lower valley from the top of the road.

Across the foothills.

Easy to find water at North Spring.

So I followed the road a little more and turned onto the high route. This would go through an area marked full of prospects on the map.

Looking over Rhyolite Ridge once more.

Danger! Unsafe mine! The fence and sign are here to help!

Nothing to warn one away from what is clearly an unsafe cabin.

On down the hill on the road.

I decided to take the long way back to camp, sticking to the roads to pass another area of prospects. This one didn't prove to have much to look at, so it just took longer to get back.

There's some waste rock mounds among the trees.

And I had to walk the good road a little. It shows some signs of being in a very shallow canyon.

The low canyon walls of the wash the road follows.

I got back to camp after it had landed in shadow. I had enough energy left to get packed up for an even bigger next day.

*photo album*




©2023,2024 Valerie Norton
Written 7 Feb 2024