Thanksgiving Mojave Peak Bagging – Table Top and Pinto Peak

Thanksgiving Mojave Peak Bagging – Table Top and Pinto Peak

Approaching Table Top
Approaching Table Top

Early Thanksgiving morning, David and I left the Vegas strip for the Mojave desert. We met up with Sooz, Robin, and Gordon at 9 am to hike Table Top mountain, a striking mesa-like peak in the heart of Mojave National Preserve. Like the majority of desert peaks there is no established trail to the top and hikers are on their own to find a good cross-country route.

In fact, I read somewhere that Mojave National Preserve, in its 1.5 million acres of desert, only has two maintained trails. This isn’t uncommon in the desert parks though – the wide open terrain is more forgiving and conducive to cross-country travel than say, Yosemite Valley. So, we found a nice pullout to leave our cars and set out on foot towards Table Top. We walked along the base of the ridge and once passing the jumbles of boulders started up the side of the mountain. This area burned a few years ago and it is very bleak and barren. I imagine that will change during wildflower season!

Below the volcanic ridge on Table Top
Below the volcanic ridge on Table Top

Table Top is ringed with a volcanic ridge that from a distance looks like it would require some technical skills to pass. However, as you get closer to the peak a steep but passable chute becomes obvious and we headed straight up. The last few hundred feet required some hoisting and balancing with the hands, but overall it was pretty easy. Upon topping out, it doesn’t look like a typical summit at all. It is incredibly flat and the actual high point is difficult to determine. Luckily, the high point was very near where we topped out and we found the log book and had a nice break. You can definitely cram a lot of people on this mountain top.

The trip down was fast and uneventful and we found ourselves back at the trucks around noon. After lunch, we agreed that we had enough daylight left to try for Pinto Peak, only a few miles to the north and close to our campsite. It only took a few minutes to drive to the next trail head and soon we found ourselves on the way to Pinto Peak. From where we dropped the cars the peak was not visible, blocked by an impressive and colorful volcanic ridge.

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Turtlehead Peak and Red Rock Canyon

Turtlehead Peak and Red Rock Canyon

Turtlehead Peak
Turtlehead Peak

After three nights and four days in the backcountry it was time to pop back into civilization for food and showers so we headed to Vegas. We usually break up our Thanksgiving trip with a night or two in Vegas and this time we spoiled ourselves with a hot tub room. Although Vegas can be fun, we’ve been there so many times that wandering the Strip has lost its appeal and we prefer to spend the days hiking in Red Rock Canyon.

We spent two full days in Red Rock. On day one, we first headed up to Black Velvet canyon to check out some bouldering sites. There were many climbers up on the bigger walls, but we had just brought along bouldering gear (shoes, chalk, crash pad) and wandered up the canyon while stopping to play on the rocks. It was a fun morning stop away from the crowds of the main park loop, but we had an afternoon plan to summit Turtlehead Peak and didn’t want to run out of daylight so we didn’t spend a lot of time in Black Velvet.

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Tuolumne to Agnew Meadows, Day 3: Thousand Island Lake to Shadow Creek

Tuolumne to Agnew Meadows, Day 3: Thousand Island Lake to Shadow Creek

Banner Peak reflecting in 1000 Island Lake
Banner Peak reflecting in 1000 Island Lake

We had an easy day ahead of us on Day 3, so we took our time packing up in the morning. Pavla went for a swim, I wandered around with my camera looking for wildflowers, and David fished a bit. I think we hit the trail around 10 am and headed south along the JMT towards Shadow Creek. When I went through here in 2007 I was flying and barely noticed how amazing this stretch is. Ruby lake is a stunning deep turquoise color, Garnet Lake has a million little things that make it unique and different, and the wildflowers were just popping.
Once at Shadow Creek we left the JMT and headed up the Lake Ediza trail. The plan was to find a campsite somewhere in the area and stay for two nights, dayhiking some of the less popular lakes in the area. We found a nice legal site just before Lake Ediza where we could have campfires (so we could cook any fish we caught!), and set up.

After setting up, resting, and eating, we decided to dayhike up to Cabin Lake, which is a bit off the beaten track. It was stocked with golden trout in 2000 and David wanted to see if there were any left. Rumor had it there was an unmarked trail heading up to the lake, but we couldn’t find it on the way up. A bit of bushwhacking, scrambling around rock, and persistence finally got us to Cabin Lake. Of course, once we were there we saw the use trail. Figures.

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Warm Springs Canyon
Talc Mine

Warm Springs Canyon

Our last full day of the annual Thanksgiving Trip to the desert was an adventure! We decided to do the run up Warm Springs canyon into Butte Valley, but instead…

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Ibex Peak and New American Mine

Ibex Peak and New American Mine

Sheephead Mountain

Sheephead Mountain

We had some turkey and pie to work off on the day after Thanksgiving, so after a morning of hot breakfasting around the cabin’s wood stove, we headed towards Ibex Peak, the highest peak in the small Ibex range in southern Death Valley. It’s not a biggie, but it did have some great views of the surrounding ranges, as well as towards the snow-covered Telescope Peak and Mt Charlston.

We’d scoped out the route on National Geographic Topo the previous night at had an approach plan. After a few miles of two track driving, we left the trucks at a side road closure and continued towards the peak on foot. After climbing slowly across the desert along the old miner’s road, we finally reached the base of the peak and scrambled up to gain a ridge. It was a simple climb from here – an easy ~1000 feet of gain up the ridge straight to the summit. We enjoyed views towards Sheephead Peak the entire way.

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