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| Mojave Kingcup Cactus and Dead Tree near Peak |
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| Mt. Potosi from Main Trail |
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| Rock Outcropping on First Ridge |
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| Climbing First Ridge |
The Fearsome Foursome drove up to the Mountain Springs Trailhead for some exploring. We wanted to find alternatives for the climb and descent of Mountain Springs Peak. What we found was a departure from the Heartbreak Hill climb that we had done over and over again. Not more efficient but more interesting to our legs and eyes. Previously, Mike and I had found a cairned trail down the Second Ridge to what I'll call The Gully. We were hoping to find our way up the same trail, however, this was not to be. We did find another cairned route up the First Ridge that I believe we have been on once before. After a good climb, we connected with the main trail that leads to Mountain Springs Peak and turned to the left.
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| Mojave Kingcup Blooms |
Mojave Kingcup Cacti were beginning to bud and bloom and we noticed them along the trails throughout the morning. The one in the photo above was found in the lower elevation of First Ridge.
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| Mike inspects a Survey Marker |
After turning left on the main trail, we passed Second Ridge then came to the fork where Windy Peak turned off to the right. We took the left fork to continue toward Mountain Springs Peak.
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| Main Trail on the Escarpment Ridge |
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| Windy Peak from Main Trail |
In the photo above, the Fourth Ridge can be seen trailing off to the left and Mountain Springs Peak is rising in the background to the right. We made our way to the peak for our break and took in the view of haziness. (With all the wind, why won't the haziness go away?) Anyway, we started back down and came to where the Fourth Ridge gently pours down toward Mountain Springs, NV. We turned to the right here and followed the ridge on a vague trail down to the first outcropping. There is a nice slope to the left just before this that dropped us down to the wash below. By dropping this soon, we were able to explore the wash scramble here. There were a few rock drops in the small wash to add to the vague trail of hikers that came before us.
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| Escarpment & Calico Hills from Peak |
The distance we had to travel in the wash was offset by the fun scrambles and new territory. There were no non-navigable obstacles that we ran across.
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| Black Velvet Peak from Mountain Springs Peak |
We did, however, run across a recently deceased and eaten small deer. Mountain lion?
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| Fearsome Foursome on Mountain Springs Peak |
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| Starting down Fourth Ridge |
We enjoyed the wash while watching the ridge to the right of us. At the end of this ridge, there would be an old dirt road with which we needed to connect. As we neared paralleling the end of the ridge, we saw a trail that traversed out of the wash along the hill. This small short trail led us over to the road and we turned to the left to immediately climb a hill to the ridge above. The road followed the ridge on a steady incline until we reached the top where there was a very large cairn and numbers laid out in the dirt with rocks. Hmm. Next, the road started down a sometimes steep hill. I was glad we were going down! The road winded down to the Mountain Springs Trail terminus and the trailhead located just above the springs. We turned left onto a continuation of the trail.
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| Outcrop on Fourth Ridge at Drop to Left |
Our next route coincided with the Mountain Springs Loop hike route in reverse passing a really nice agave roasting pit and following abandoned dirt roads over to where we had crossed The Gully three hours earlier.
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| Oh, deer! |
Our partial loop was completed here. Then we turned to the right onto the trail that runs along The Gully eventually finding a good place to cross The Gully to get to the abandoned dirt road on the other side. Here, we turned to the right.
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| Some Scrambling in Wash |
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| Scrambling down in Wash |
We followed this road as it curved up to the left passing a farmhouse on the right. After the farmhouse, we found the shortcut trail to the right and took it to the very first rise of Heartbreak Hill. A right turn led us back down to the cars. From The Gully to the cars is the way we had reached The Gully from the cars in the beginning of the hike. Back at the trailhead, we saw some fellow AtBFers that had just returned from a hike to Hidden Peak. It's nice that the club is slowly getting back normal. But, no, we aren't really rushing it! Great exploration today!
Stats: 5.7 miles; 1525' gain; 3.75 hours
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| Typical Wash Below Scrambles |
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| Connecting with Old Road |
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| Old Road down to Mountain Springs, NV |
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