Saturday June 21, 15.7mi/25.3km
Mitchell Creek saddle (1014.3/8570ft) to Harrison Pass (1030.0/7250ft) (NV)
This was my little patch of dirt camp spot, which was somewhat protected from wind by the trees. But it was still the windiest night of camping I think I’ve ever had.
Of course I didn’t sleep that well, so I was thankful to have some more easy old roads to hike this morning.
It was a quick thousand-ft climb up and over a pass.
And back down the other side, where there were still little patches of snow!
So far it was a pretty easy ridge walk, and quite scenic as well.
Just cruising along the ridgetops, there wasn’t even any wind!
Looking down into the valley, at the Ruby Lakes.
Eventually the old road ended and things got a little rockier. And slower. Looking ahead to Pearl Peak, my high point for the day:
On the Summit of Pearl Peak it started to become quite windy and the clouds were moving in. I could see ahead to the next two bumps on the ridge, the last of which was named Red Cone.
As I made my way down to Red Cone, the wind really started to increase. I hurried my way across the Ridgeline and pretty soon I was standing in front of Red Cone.
The rocks seemed to be red from some type of lichen that was growing on them. I hurried up and over, as it was becoming increasingly cold and windy.
The ridgeline was pretty rocky but I was making good time, motivated by an incoming storm.
Way below me to the West, I spotted a little alpine lake! So cool.
This was one of the last photos I took as my hands were starting to get pretty cold. It shows the storm moving in, and the amazing ridgeline I was descending.
Once I finished traversing the ridge I had to descend steeply, I opted for the scree express route.
The guidebook map shows a route going straight down the center of the ridge, but that was just a series of impossible looking 20-ft cliffs. So, no thanks! Besides, scree-surfing is fun! After losing a thousand feet of elevation in 5 minutes, I noticed the storm was getting pretty close.
For the next hour I was moving at full speed, descending and moving into the relative safety of a valley.
It was certainly much less windy, but now it was snowing on me. It was a beautiful valley, though the wildflowers didn’t seem to appreciate the snow either.
I just kept moving, which was a great way to stay warm since it was now 35ºF and lightly snowing. I made it all the way to the dirt road at Harrison pass, while trying to think of a plan of what to do. There were no trees nearby to block the wind, and since it’s a pass, all the wind gets funneled through the area. It was 4:30pm, so I didn’t have a lot of time to make it much further today. I decided to try and hitch to town. It was a long shot since it’s a very remote road, and in 1 hour I only saw 2 cars. They both stopped to chat with me, the first car was going the wrong direction. The second car picked me up and took me to Elko, where the two ladies were heading to see a rodeo tonight. It was a long drive, and an hour later I was in town in a warm dry restaurant. Spicy food is the best when you’re cold!
Downtown Elko is fairly compact, so I was able to walk a couple blocks and get a cheap motel room for the night. I’ll figure out what to do for tomorrow, and how to get back to the trail.