Boundary Peak, Nevada
tldr; the video trip report is on YouTube here.
The way my vacation meanderings worked out, Boundary Peak would be my last hike/climb of the somewhat epic, seven-state, 2018 End-of-Summer road trip; aka, Ted's Excellent Adventure. I was disappointed that I never got good enough weather to try Borah Peak in Idaho or Kings Peak in Utah, but all things considered, everything worked out pretty well and I got to see and do a lot of things that I wanted to see and do.
I left Bishop, California, very early in the morning, trying not to wake up others in the little motel I was staying in. I grabbed some coffee from the Starbucks in town and avoided the temptation to get a donut from the donut shop next door, and I ate a protein bar instead as I headed north on Highway 6 towards the Dirt Road From Hell™ that would take me to Boundary Peak trailhead.
Two miles into Nevada I turned south onto the unmarked dirt/gravel trailhead approach road, just as I had done 9 days earlier when a sharp rock and a flat tire thwarted my plans to climb the mountain. This time I drove very slowly and carefully, but it's not like you can avoid hazards on this road. It took me over 30 minutes to make my way 6 miles up the road towards the trailhead. This is the worst road I have ever attempted to drive on. I've read a lot of Boundary Peak trip reports that briefly mention the poor state of this road, but let me make it clear. Your rental Prius/Corolla/Charger/Mustang/minivan/whatever isn't going to make it up this road. You need pretty much a real Jeep or a dirt bike if you expect to make it all the way to the trailhead.
I have a Nissan Murano that has relatively good ground clearance for the small-SUV type of vehicle it is, but I was tense all the way on this road. It is full of sharp rocks, ruts, washouts and high spots that are just trying to rip up a tire or take off your oil pan. This road is no joke. Dash cam video doesn't do it justice at all, but here's some from my dash cam.
I got to a point right at Queen Mine where I could see the final bit of road leading up to the trailhead, and that was as close as I felt I could get without risk of damage to my car. This would have to do as my starting point, so I parked and got my gear ready, threw my pack on and started up the road to the trailhead on foot.
Even though it is a sought-after state high point, Boundary Peak is a little obscure and out-of-the-way, so I know it's not a high-traffic mountain. I truly expected to be the only climber on the mountain on a Wednesday in mid-September, so I was surprised first when I saw an empty Volkswagen SUV parked a little higher up along the road, and then again when I saw a white Jeep slowly crawling its way up the road far below me as I hiked up towards the trailhead. I guess I would have company today.
The white Jeep caught up to me when I was about a half-mile up from my car. They stopped and the two guys inside offered me a ride. It looked like it would be inconvenient for them to rearrange the back to make room for me and my pack, so I politely declined and just let them go on. Unfortunately for me, my inconvenient parking spot added a mile each way on my hike, plus over 800 vertical feet just to get up to the trailhead. It was making an already difficult day much harder.
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| Some extra work just to get to the trailhead |
We all started up the mountain right at about 8 AM, and they all soon outpaced me, so I was well behind them and hiking alone within an hour. I also stopped fairly often to take pictures and shoot video, and try a new thing where I sort of narrate what's going on with the climb. I'll see if I can string those video segments together for some sort of useful video trip report to post on YouTube.
After a moderate 1,000 foot ascent, the trail more-of-less levels out for nearly 2 miles as you approach Trail Canyon Saddle at the base of the imposing-looking Hosebag Peak. You have to climb Hosebag to get to Boundary Peak's north ridge, which leads up to the summit.
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| Looking south from the ridge trail towards Trail Canyon Saddle, Hosebag Peak and Boundary Peak |
The hike to Trail Canyon Saddle was uneventful, and Hosebag Peak loomed large. It looked very difficult. The trail up Hosebag gains over 1,100 feet in a bit over a half-mile, so it's quite steep and a very physically demanding section of trail. There was also a very strong, cold wind blowing consistently in this area, and I was concerned for awhile about being mildly hypothermic. It was very tiring. Partway up Hosebag I met the Volkswagen SUV owners on their way down. They were early starters and fast movers for sure. We chatted for a bit--they were nice folks.
The trail ceases to be a trail about a third of the way up Hosebag Peak. As with most climbers' trails, tracks just spider web all over the place and you just have to try to pick the line of least resistance for yourself as you ascend or descend. And it's 90% boulder hopping anyway, trying to find good rocks that don't move under your feet. These mountains are really just big piles of rocks held together with a little bit of dirt.
After getting past Hosebag and part way up Boundary's north ridge, I became aware of a very deep and ominous-sounding rumble from some distance away. I stopped to look around, puzzled as to what was happening. My first thought was that I was hearing an earthquake because it sounded like a very loud and not-too-distant earthquake. This worried me because if this mountain started shaking, big boulders were going to start falling, probably including the ones I was standing on, and it could get ugly fast, for me and the other 10 people on the mountain. But as I heard more rumbling and didn't feel any movement, I figured it had to be something else. I now could see a very large plume of dirt or smoke or ash in the distance to the west, probably 30 to 40 miles away. As I took some video of that, I now (wrongly) surmised that Mammoth Mountain, a very seismically-active volcano, had had a volcanic 'burp'. That's what the plume looked like; a small volcanic ash cloud. Thankful that the mountain I was on wasn't doing anything, I watched the plume until all the rumbling noises stopped before continuing up the mountain.
I now think that this was probably some very large-scale blasting for some sort of highway or mining project. I can't think of anything else it could have been.
Anyway, now above 12,200 feet, the climb was just a matter of stubbornness; a climber's most valuable commodity. Climb 20 or 30 steps, stop, rest, pant for air, repeat. Eventually you make it to the top, which I did at around 1:30 PM.
I took some pictures and video, ate a small snack and signed the summit register found in a large ammo can. It was a clear and cloudless day with zero wind on top, and the views were spectacular in every direction. I didn't think a desert mountain would be much to look at, but Boundary Peak is a very good-looking mountain.
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| On the summit |
Just over a half-mile to the southwest was Montgomery Peak, sticking up a couple hundred feet higher than Boundary Peak. Montgomery is over the state line in California, though, so Boundary is king in Nevada. In planning this hike I thought I'd also like to also get over to Montgomery while on this climb, but the connecting saddle is seven tenths of a mile of very rugged terrain with an additional climb of several hundred feet, and that would add an hour or more to the trip, so I decided that I would not make the attempt.
At around 2 PM I closed up my pack and the summit register box (an ammo can) and started down. All others were well below me now and I was for all intents and purposes alone on the mountain for the rest of the day. I don't mind this. Solitude on a big mountain is a special thing which I covet as a rare treat.
The trip down the north ridge and Hosebag's steeply-descending boulder field was slow and arduous, as expected. Then when I reached the more-or-less flat 2-mile section, it seemed to go on forever. Every time I thought I was near the end, another section of trail appeared over the crest and it just went on and on.
I finally got to the last 1,000-foot descent to the trailhead where I signed out of the log and sat on a rock to rest for a few minutes. Then I started down the last mile on the rocky road to my car at Queen Mine. It was a very quiet and lonely mountain with everyone long gone by now. Approaching early evening, the shadows grew long and I kept my head on a swivel for cougars (not the good kind). There's been too much news of cougar attacks lately which makes your mind go to dark places when you're alone in the wilderness.
I had myself a nice wet-wipe bath at the car and put on some clean clothes as it would be hours before I reached any place with a motel, and then it took me a good 30 minutes to get my car down the mountain safely before I jumped on Highway 6 westbound and headed for Highway 395 in California. I had a new granddaughter, my first grand-baby, to go visit tomorrow.
Boundary Peak is a great climb and a fantastic mountain. It's a very challenging hike and the mountain is probably more scenic than what you'd expect in the Nevada desert, and the summit views are incredible. Highly recommended (but only if you have a very good, high clearance 4WD vehicle to get there!).
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| The elevation profile from my GPS watch (not the most accurate thing in the world) |
Click here for an interactive topo map on caltopo.com with my GPS track overlay.
There are not a lot of photos in this post as I mostly took video during this one. If you'd like to see that edited video trip report, it's here on YouTube.
Thanks for reading!
Ted
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