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| Tortoise on the NE ridge of Tortoise Peak. He was coming down as I was going up. Show off.. |
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| The Bowl |
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| Peak 5146 |
Glendale has gas. Overton and Mesquite have supermarkets.
- ARROW CANYON RANGE HIGH POINT el 5226 - US 93 runs right next to the range. Just park near the ascent canyon which is at N36 39086, W114 53996. I went to mp CL 77.2 to get on the power line road. That saved a half mile each way but took longer. Go up the canyon to the main saddle el 4300. It's easy to go up the ridge from there until some dark crags get in the way at el 4700. Angle up around the right side and soon a route appears to get on top then stay on center to the reg at 39800, 53239. 4 and a half hours, 2500 gain from the power lines. Posted 2015.
- HIDDEN BENCHMARK el 5026, PEAK 5146 - these are the last two 5000+ peaks going north. A sheep route goes up the east ridge. Take highway 168 to mp CL 16.8 and turn at the sign for Warm Springs. Go 1.6 miles and turn left on a dirt road. It's the last turn before the refuge. The road soon enters Battleship Wash then goes up on the left bank, but don't get on the left bank until N36 42383, W114 43181. Follow the road to the end at a saddle el 2600 marking the wilderness boundary as shown on the topo. It's 5 miles in from pavement. A deep rut is in the road a third mile before the end, but 4wds can get around. A rough trail (needs pruning)goes into the canyon from the saddle to get you down to Side Canyon Wash. Then go upstream and climb out on the right bank at 42535, 48783 el 2350. Go all the way to the top of the bench el 2500 and walk that to the base of the mountain then go south across a wash to get on the east ridge. I went up to 41416, 51292 el 3400 to get on the ridge. Then just go up to the BM and reg at 41300, 52559. The south face of Peak 5146 is in view and an easy gully can be seen on the right side of the summit block, but a cliff band is in the way. Walk to the west side of the cliff band and go up a chute at 41934, 52722 then walk along the south base of the summit block for 200 feet to get at the easy gully and the rest is obvious. That peak is at 42004, 52720. Then come back to el 4800 and cut over to the east ridge for the descent. The hike to Hidden BM and back took me nearly 8 hours with 3000 gain and 1000 of that was hardly noticeable. The side trip to Peak 5146 took 90 minutes with 800 gain. Land owners might block access. Posted 2017.
- CLIFF BM el 3598 is at the north end of the range. Take SR 168 to mp CL 5.2 and go south for 2 miles on easy 4wd to a T. Walk to N36 45970, W114 52245 and go up the ridge to the BM at 45507, 53050. 2 and a half hours, 1500 gain. Posted 2015.
- TABLE MOUNTAIN is a tiny one just south of highway 168. A 4wd road goes to it as the topo shows. It's the only named mountain in the range. I went up the south canyon then walked the rim and dropped off on the west side. Short and easy.
- TORTOISE PEAK el 4819 is what I call the rugged peak on the south side of Side Canyon. Take I-15 to Ute exit 80. A sign right there says no trespassing on the reservation but says nothing about using the road, which is heavily traveled and not by the tribe. I took a chance and rode on in. At RR tracks the road jogs left half a mile to get over then resumes going NW. At about 7 miles in is where maintenance ends on BLM land as the topo shows. Then it's easy 4wd for another 5 miles to the end at a mine. I stopped just short of the mine at a wash reading N36 37609, W114 51320 el 3050. The NE ridge is the easy way up, I made a loop coming back on the south ridge. I walked down the wash a quarter mile then cut left thru a gap and soon hit an unused road. I followed that along the base until it petered out then kept going to a wash at 38560, 50325 el 2900. I followed a trail up that into a low saddle el 3200 at the head. I could have gone up from there, but couldn't see the NE ridge route from there. I went thru the saddle then veered left into Side Canyon and on to a viewpoint at the base of the NE ridge reading 39917, 50875 el 3200. I could see the route so I went on up the ridge to the 3900 level where cliffs got in the way. I angled up to the right to a flat spot covered with sheep beds at the cliff base reading 39299, 51193 el 4250. It was obvious how to zigzag on up to the summit reading 39073, 51483. The south ridge for the descent is too craggy, but sheep have a route on the west side of it. I went off the west side of the summit and got on a trail at 38950, 51611 el 4500 and went along at that level for .13 mile then moved left into a notch el 4550 to get on top of the south ridge. I walked that down to the next crag and used a trail on the west side of that to get around then the terrain got easy. I walked over to the rim of a deep canyon at 38372, 52118 el 4250 then followed that south down to the mine. Near the bottom I used a bedrock drainage at 37928, 52118 el 3700. It was like stairs. I only had a half mile walk on the road from the mine back to the start. That took nearly 6 hours for 8 miles and the only significant gain is the 1600 feet up the NE ridge and most of that isn't steep. I saw a pint size tortoise at el 3800 on the NE ridge and countless sheep beds on the entire mountain. Driving across the Indian land is an unknown, but it's likely public access. Check with the BLM or go on Christmas. I saw one truck at the mine and could tell that a lot of OHVs come in from I-15. Posted 2017.
- ARROW CANYON can be done one way with one rappel about 30 feet. We drove to mp 12.9 on SR 168 then south on a dirt road for .7 mile to a parking area behind a building. Leaving one truck there, we drove to a dip on SR 168 at mp 9.3 then walked south down a wash and kept going downstream. One handy trail to use is on the right bank at N36 44911, W114 48142. That cuts over to the main Pahranagat Wash then it's a short walk to the narrows and the dam. A rope was tied to a rusty bolt at the top of the dam and hanging down into a stinky pool. We moved the rope over to an obvious safe ledge on the north wall in order to avoid that pool. A sheep trail circles over to the ledge from the entrance to the narrows. We tied off to a large horn then crawled down into a keyhole and rapped about 30 feet to the bottom. Then it's a stroll down canyon, when dry. There was a half hour of road walking to the lower truck. Some of that road is nasty. It's a about a 3 hour walk to do the 6 miles from truck to truck. Cars might have an extra half mile. A 100 foot rope doubled over should work, and 6 feet of webbing for the horn. That rope we used might be gone. This is the best way to see this canyon. Even if you don't rappel, there is an obvious bypass trail around the dam on the south side. Avoid this after wet spells because of long mud holes. Posted October 2015.
- THE BOWL is an odd eroded area in the North Muddy Mtns. Take I-15 to exit 88 and follow the main 4wd road for 3 miles to the crest next to a tower. Glen Benchmark el 2982 is the second peak north of the tower. Sheep trails go around the left side of the first peak. That's an easy, one hour hike. Drive on another mile toward the south tower to a high spot in the road then walk 100 feet to the rim of The Bowl. All roads easy 4wd. Posted 2017.
