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| Route 66 got hit by a flood in 2016. |
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| Washes that normally would make for pleasant hiking have been churned into an obnoxious mix of loose sand and burro poop. |
This range is overrun by burros and useless for anything but a 4wd loop right up the middle.The nearest gas would be Amboy, if they're still in business. It won't be cheap.
- From Essex, go east on Route 66 for 6 and a half miles to BLM road #050. There is a crude gate there made of barbed wire and a sign for Piute Crossing. I took that road and stayed right at forks and circled back to Essex in about 20 miles. The first 3 or 4 miles sustained the most flood damage, but 4wds will have no trouble re-establishing it. The road cuts thru the range and stays in wash bottoms. After 7 miles there is a T where I went right on road #212 to the Lazy Daisy Ranch. The road goes right thru their front yard and so they might block it someday. The high point of the range is a short hike from road #050. Park near a low saddle at N34 43915, W115 06637 el 3300, which is about 6 miles in from the highway. Walk thru and up a long valley then climb up on the left at 44309, 05218 el 3650. Walk burro trails on the ridgetop to the reg at 44747, 04763 el 4150+. That took me under 3 hours with only about 600 or 700 feet of noticeble gain. Some hikers drive closer up the valley. Not legal, but burros have trashed it anyway. Posted 2017.
- FENNER SPRING is a short hike. Drive in from Route 66 for over 2 miles then take a left fork in a soft wash reading N34 46089, W115 07593. Go a mile up that to another fork and take the right fork reading 45629, 06693. A jeep made it this far. Walk up the wash then next there is an option to use a trail on the left bank at 45488, 06488. Follow that or the wash bed to the spring at 45243, 06240. A pool had a tiny trickle flowing out, but of course burros ruined it. 1 hour with hardly any gain. Posted March, 2017.
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| Fenner Spring. Burros can't read. |
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| The trail to Fenner Spring |
