Where: Near Beatty, Nevada
When: February 22, 2009
Beatty, Nevada has a rich mining history, much of it centered around the once-hip, now-ghost town of Rhyolite. And because of this mining history, a significant cluster of named peaks (more than 20) are situated nearby. I'd been casually working to tick them off. Only 9 remained...
#1 - Bullfrog Mountain
Although nested just outside of Rhyolite, Bullfrog Mountain sits just inside the border of Death Valley National Park, in the obscure Nevada portion of the park. With a short, easy hike up a gentle ridge, DB and I were pleased to find a register recently placed by Lilley/MacLeod.
#2 - Ladd Mountain
Ladd Mountain, a heavily mined, ugly mountain sitting due south of Rhyolite, was next up. With a short, steep hike to the top, DB and I found the views to be rather nice, especially down to the ghost town and the weird art display next to it...
#3-4 - Rainbow Mountain & Black Peak
East of Rhyolite are Rainbow Mountain and Black Peak. Together, they make for a short romp with nice views of the area. Although we'd found Lilley/MacLeod registers on both Bullfrog and Ladd, none were to be found on Rainbow or Black.
Afterward, we stopped for a quick visit to Rhyolite...
#5 - Burton Mountain
With four peaks under her belt for the day, DB called it quits before Burton, so I headed up alone. On top after a short but very steep hike, I immediately raced back down and set off for...something else!
#6-8 - Little Cones, Red Cone & Black Cone
Although I was feeling spunky and the day was still early, I decided to head home after bagging a quick trio of minor, named peaks hidden from common view in the desert behind the Bare Mountains. Little Cones, a pair of small cinder cones, came first. Next, Red Mountain was a more pronounced cinder cone with nicer views of the area. And lastly, Black Cone, by far the most prominent of the three, was a loose, steep hike to a decent viewpoint.
Then it was time to make the longish drive back to Vegas to prepare for another mind-numbing day at work. My final Beatty objective would wait for another day...
An 8-Peak Flurry Near Beatty
