Bark Eater - Jul 23, 2010 8:10 am Date Climbed: Jul 18, 2010
Perfect day in the mountains
Wonderful hike up the Queen Mine Route with Steve and John. We had the entire mountain to ourselves all day. Perfect weather with summit temps. about 60F and light winds. On the way back down we enjoyed photographing a herd of eight wild horses on the long flat between the two saddles. #18 on the HP list for me!
redmond - Jul 7, 2010 1:30 am Date Climbed: Jul 2, 2010
Queen Mine
Fun and beautiful hike. I traversed over to Montgomery before heading down. If you have the time and the weather is decent I strongly recomend this, its worth it. This was the 2nd to last climb of a 2 week road trip across the country - Magazine Mountain, Black Mesa, Wheeler (NM),Wheeler (NV) Boundary, and Panorama Point last.
Bombchaser - May 2, 2010 2:56 pm Date Climbed: May 1, 2010
Cold, Windy, Exhausting
Was attempting to climb Boundary and Montgomery Peaks. I got up there Friday and set up base camp. I then summitted on Saturday. The altitude was kicking my butt since I had been kind of lazy the month prior. The weather was supposed to be cold and windy and sunny. On the ascent a lenticular cloud came out of nowhere. Within 45 minutes it went from sunny to 50-60 mph winds, blowing snow, and minus 30 windchills. Was very intense for a couple hours. I managed to reach the summit in this. After I descended the weather cleared back up but was still windy. The entire mountain from where I parked at 9000 feet to summit was covered in snow. Ice axe and crampons were required above 11,000 feet.
Lovely snow climb, windy on the ridge. Looked at Monty, will be back. Bagged Trail Canyon peak from the saddle on the descent.
Guilty - Nov 2, 2009 3:33 am Date Climbed: Oct 9, 2009
Queen Mine Route
Day hike from Queen Mine Route on a beautiful but windy day. Afterwords, traverse over to Montgomery Peak.
seano - Oct 22, 2009 11:22 am Date Climbed: Oct 21, 2009
Trail Canyon
Surprisingly snowy on the north and northeast slopes -- I wish I had brought my bread bags.
Bryan K - Oct 21, 2009 6:05 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 1989
2nd state highpoint
Dad, Rudy and I made it up here as a summer storm was brewing and Dad and I got hit by a leader bolt!! Pretty intense and we headed down very quickly after that too! Great hike and a really fun time, minus the lightning.
Pharmacist - Oct 4, 2009 3:24 pm Date Climbed: Sep 27, 2009
1st state highpoint
Camped out at Queen's Mine, then 4x4 to the end of the road at about 9200 ft. The trail/path seemed pretty easy to follow for us. Traversed to Montgomery Peak after reaching the NV highpoint. The scree wasn't too bad, but I still wish I would have brought gaiters.
camped in trail canyon and celebrated my 52nd b-day with my wonderful wife of 27 years. got a late start saturday and took the left fork of the canyon, leading to the saddle south of trail creek saddle. guess that's what i get for not having a route description or map, and just following the well beaten descent path. what a slog! after reading the entry to this page now i understand why i thought i had already climbed the highpoint of NV in the past. guess when i did wheeler in the early 80s it was the highest? can i claim 2 NV highpoints? :-) Descent of the standard trail canyon route. don't think it really was any better!?
fantastic day, great climb. queen's trail very easy to follow
cdewhurst - Sep 21, 2009 4:57 pm Date Climbed: Aug 29, 2009
cdewhurst
Tough to find the Queens mine cutoff from highway at night. On it's own a good hike. With Montgomery I found it challenging. Hard to stay on trail once you hit the base of the mountain.
I like it on top - Sep 15, 2009 1:24 am Date Climbed: Sep 11, 2009
Queen Mine Route
A beautiful day to be on the mountain. Another Cops on Top venture, meeting new people, and honoring the memory of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. We will never forget.
cab - Aug 31, 2009 10:20 am Date Climbed: Aug 29, 2009
Queen Mine Route
Lost the "trail" many times so we basically slogged up loose scree most of the way from Trail Canyon Saddle. Traversed over to Montgomery afterwards.
SageHawk - Aug 25, 2009 5:38 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2009
Queen Saddle
Hiked up from the saddle above the Queen mine. Nice trail the whole way. Not steep at all until you reach the base of Boundary. Very scenic route, better in my opinion than the trail canyon route. Slogged over to Montgomery after Boundary. Didn't see another soul the whole day!
Initially I thought after summiting that the greatest relief in the whole endeavor would be arriving at the trailhead after an hour on that road! Turns out I was wrong.
I had been fasting for 24 hours as part of a spiritual fast when I hit the trailhead at 11:15 a.m. Somewhere along the ridgeline I had briefly taken off my Camelbak (containing my cell phone, passport, ATM/Debit card, health insurance cards, water, and bars/gels in case of emergency). At the summit I realized I had left my Camelback behind and searched for it along the ridgeline on the way down. This took quite some time, and it began to grow dark. Finally I abandoned my search and started down the scree from the saddle - except it wasn't long before I realized I was NOT in the right canyon. "No problem," I thought, I'll traverse over the ridgeline to get there. This led me into some dense trees and some bristlecones. I still figured I'd be fine as long as I kept descending, I might find a different trail. Soon it was almost completely dark, and the sound of bubbling water sent me running to a stream to fill my dry mouth.
I found a place to lay down for the night (I didn't even bother grabbing my headlamp for a simple dayhike!), my head propped up on a small rock and laying in the dirt. I enjoyed the night sky plenty, with very little sleep - I saw 3 shooting stars. At sunrise, I decided I would hike up to the ridgeline just above me for a bird's-eye view, thinking the trail canyon HAD to be just on the other side of the ridge. I was sadly mistaken.
Once my view confirmed my bleak situation, I decided I would continue hiking up toward the summit and retrace the ridgeline back down the saddle. It did not take long before I realized that over 48 hours without food and over 12 hours without water would not easily get me up to the summit. Not only that, but once I got to the summit I would be in desperate need of water. So at 12,000 feet, just above treeline, I headed back down the canyon to the nearest spring and guzzled down some water.
From this point I decided to simply follow the stream out - it was still morning, so only 4-5 hours of wasted time! I also knew that with highway surrounding the peak on 3 sides, so long as I avoided hiking south, eventually I would hit a road. The going was tough - trying to find the best side of the canyon to hike down, crossing the stream multiple times and fighting deep entanglements of rose thorns each time, stopping occasionally to sip more water. (I'm well aware of the risks, but in the toss-up between giardia and dehydration, I went with giardia.)
The water lifted my spirits plenty, and I kept trucking, stopping only to sip water or to empty my boots. I forgot to mention that my boots had only been used once previously, and this highpoint was meant to be a simple dayhike to help break them in! So now I have blisters on both feet the size of small rodents, which also made the going a bit tougher than it should have been.
Finally, toward late afternoon, I came upon a dirt road. I noticed a pickup truck parked on it and called out, but heard from no one. I hiked several miles down the road before the truck, headed in the same direction, caught up to me. They were EXTREMELY generous, giving me a ride back to my truck and exchanging cash for an endorsed check I gave them so I could get gas for the drive back to Berkeley (all my cash and card are still up there somewhere...).
It's been over 24 hours since my return to civilization. NO symptoms of giardia yet, fingers crossed!
State HP #6. This one was harder-earned, but well worth every step of the way!
Camped at Queen Mine and hiked up the following day. Great weather, enjoyable route on an easy-to-follow trail almost all the way.
mrchad9 - Jul 1, 2009 7:24 pm Date Climbed: Jun 27, 2009
Queen Mine Route
Great day up the Queen Mine route, no snow on the route and just a few drifts on the way to Montgomery, but quite a bit of snow visible on White Mtn. Lots of ladybugs to keep us company.
Interesting to hear all the state highpointers going on about how this is so tough, they having not done any other western states yet.
Climbed with Jim and CoreyMutt via Queen Canyon Mine. It does indeed seem folly to climb this peak, since when you stand on the summit you can look up the same ridgeline to higher Mt Mongomery, across the border. But, "state high peaks" and all that rot, I suppose it had to be done. In any case, it's a great area. Lots of hot springs in the area to soak in afterwards--my favorite has an outstanding view of Mt Morrison.
PellucidWombat - Jun 7, 2009 12:50 pm Date Climbed: Jun 5, 2009
Bad Weather 2 Years in a Row
Climbed the NW Ridge from 7,000 ft in the Chalfant Valley as a start to a traverse of the White Mtns. Horrendous weather and my team mates leaving me solo caused me to rethink plans and bail on the traverse. Snow about this time last year kept me from getting anywhere near Boundary's summit, so at least this was an improvement! Maybe next year . . .
Oh, the Bristlecones!! What else can you say about that climb? Straight shotted this one from the north on Janie's Ranch road about a mile or two short of the summer trail up at the back of the gulch. Up and down overnight. The cylocybin breakfast kicked my ass at about the ridge line prior to the summit climb. Man, I sure missed my dad at that point. I do not practice such meals anymore. Praise God, sober for 12+ years. Sweet summit pic. Well worth the effort.
Bark Eater - Jul 23, 2010 8:10 am Date Climbed: Jul 18, 2010
Perfect day in the mountainsWonderful hike up the Queen Mine Route with Steve and John. We had the entire mountain to ourselves all day. Perfect weather with summit temps. about 60F and light winds. On the way back down we enjoyed photographing a herd of eight wild horses on the long flat between the two saddles. #18 on the HP list for me!
redmond - Jul 7, 2010 1:30 am Date Climbed: Jul 2, 2010
Queen MineFun and beautiful hike. I traversed over to Montgomery before heading down. If you have the time and the weather is decent I strongly recomend this, its worth it. This was the 2nd to last climb of a 2 week road trip across the country - Magazine Mountain, Black Mesa, Wheeler (NM),Wheeler (NV) Boundary, and Panorama Point last.
Bombchaser - May 2, 2010 2:56 pm Date Climbed: May 1, 2010
Cold, Windy, ExhaustingWas attempting to climb Boundary and Montgomery Peaks. I got up there Friday and set up base camp. I then summitted on Saturday. The altitude was kicking my butt since I had been kind of lazy the month prior. The weather was supposed to be cold and windy and sunny. On the ascent a lenticular cloud came out of nowhere. Within 45 minutes it went from sunny to 50-60 mph winds, blowing snow, and minus 30 windchills. Was very intense for a couple hours. I managed to reach the summit in this. After I descended the weather cleared back up but was still windy. The entire mountain from where I parked at 9000 feet to summit was covered in snow. Ice axe and crampons were required above 11,000 feet.
Princess Buttercup - Dec 1, 2009 6:51 pm Date Climbed: Oct 24, 2009
Trail CanyonLovely snow climb, windy on the ridge. Looked at Monty, will be back. Bagged Trail Canyon peak from the saddle on the descent.
Guilty - Nov 2, 2009 3:33 am Date Climbed: Oct 9, 2009
Queen Mine RouteDay hike from Queen Mine Route on a beautiful but windy day. Afterwords, traverse over to Montgomery Peak.
seano - Oct 22, 2009 11:22 am Date Climbed: Oct 21, 2009
Trail CanyonSurprisingly snowy on the north and northeast slopes -- I wish I had brought my bread bags.
Bryan K - Oct 21, 2009 6:05 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 1989
2nd state highpointDad, Rudy and I made it up here as a summer storm was brewing and Dad and I got hit by a leader bolt!! Pretty intense and we headed down very quickly after that too! Great hike and a really fun time, minus the lightning.
Pharmacist - Oct 4, 2009 3:24 pm Date Climbed: Sep 27, 2009
1st state highpointCamped out at Queen's Mine, then 4x4 to the end of the road at about 9200 ft. The trail/path seemed pretty easy to follow for us. Traversed to Montgomery Peak after reaching the NV highpoint. The scree wasn't too bad, but I still wish I would have brought gaiters.
tdoughty - Sep 28, 2009 12:05 pm Date Climbed: Sep 26, 2009
oops!camped in trail canyon and celebrated my 52nd b-day with my wonderful wife of 27 years. got a late start saturday and took the left fork of the canyon, leading to the saddle south of trail creek saddle. guess that's what i get for not having a route description or map, and just following the well beaten descent path. what a slog! after reading the entry to this page now i understand why i thought i had already climbed the highpoint of NV in the past. guess when i did wheeler in the early 80s it was the highest? can i claim 2 NV highpoints? :-) Descent of the standard trail canyon route. don't think it really was any better!?
tednv - Sep 26, 2009 11:05 pm Date Climbed: Sep 26, 2009
queens canyonfantastic day, great climb. queen's trail very easy to follow
cdewhurst - Sep 21, 2009 4:57 pm Date Climbed: Aug 29, 2009
cdewhurstTough to find the Queens mine cutoff from highway at night. On it's own a good hike. With Montgomery I found it challenging. Hard to stay on trail once you hit the base of the mountain.
I like it on top - Sep 15, 2009 1:24 am Date Climbed: Sep 11, 2009
Queen Mine RouteA beautiful day to be on the mountain. Another Cops on Top venture, meeting new people, and honoring the memory of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. We will never forget.
cab - Aug 31, 2009 10:20 am Date Climbed: Aug 29, 2009
Queen Mine RouteLost the "trail" many times so we basically slogged up loose scree most of the way from Trail Canyon Saddle. Traversed over to Montgomery afterwards.
SageHawk - Aug 25, 2009 5:38 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2009
Queen SaddleHiked up from the saddle above the Queen mine. Nice trail the whole way. Not steep at all until you reach the base of Boundary. Very scenic route, better in my opinion than the trail canyon route. Slogged over to Montgomery after Boundary. Didn't see another soul the whole day!
huskertriguy - Jul 20, 2009 8:52 pm Date Climbed: Jul 18, 2009
Lost on Boundary Peak!Initially I thought after summiting that the greatest relief in the whole endeavor would be arriving at the trailhead after an hour on that road! Turns out I was wrong.
I had been fasting for 24 hours as part of a spiritual fast when I hit the trailhead at 11:15 a.m. Somewhere along the ridgeline I had briefly taken off my Camelbak (containing my cell phone, passport, ATM/Debit card, health insurance cards, water, and bars/gels in case of emergency). At the summit I realized I had left my Camelback behind and searched for it along the ridgeline on the way down. This took quite some time, and it began to grow dark. Finally I abandoned my search and started down the scree from the saddle - except it wasn't long before I realized I was NOT in the right canyon. "No problem," I thought, I'll traverse over the ridgeline to get there. This led me into some dense trees and some bristlecones. I still figured I'd be fine as long as I kept descending, I might find a different trail. Soon it was almost completely dark, and the sound of bubbling water sent me running to a stream to fill my dry mouth.
I found a place to lay down for the night (I didn't even bother grabbing my headlamp for a simple dayhike!), my head propped up on a small rock and laying in the dirt. I enjoyed the night sky plenty, with very little sleep - I saw 3 shooting stars. At sunrise, I decided I would hike up to the ridgeline just above me for a bird's-eye view, thinking the trail canyon HAD to be just on the other side of the ridge. I was sadly mistaken.
Once my view confirmed my bleak situation, I decided I would continue hiking up toward the summit and retrace the ridgeline back down the saddle. It did not take long before I realized that over 48 hours without food and over 12 hours without water would not easily get me up to the summit. Not only that, but once I got to the summit I would be in desperate need of water. So at 12,000 feet, just above treeline, I headed back down the canyon to the nearest spring and guzzled down some water.
From this point I decided to simply follow the stream out - it was still morning, so only 4-5 hours of wasted time! I also knew that with highway surrounding the peak on 3 sides, so long as I avoided hiking south, eventually I would hit a road. The going was tough - trying to find the best side of the canyon to hike down, crossing the stream multiple times and fighting deep entanglements of rose thorns each time, stopping occasionally to sip more water. (I'm well aware of the risks, but in the toss-up between giardia and dehydration, I went with giardia.)
The water lifted my spirits plenty, and I kept trucking, stopping only to sip water or to empty my boots. I forgot to mention that my boots had only been used once previously, and this highpoint was meant to be a simple dayhike to help break them in! So now I have blisters on both feet the size of small rodents, which also made the going a bit tougher than it should have been.
Finally, toward late afternoon, I came upon a dirt road. I noticed a pickup truck parked on it and called out, but heard from no one. I hiked several miles down the road before the truck, headed in the same direction, caught up to me. They were EXTREMELY generous, giving me a ride back to my truck and exchanging cash for an endorsed check I gave them so I could get gas for the drive back to Berkeley (all my cash and card are still up there somewhere...).
It's been over 24 hours since my return to civilization. NO symptoms of giardia yet, fingers crossed!
State HP #6. This one was harder-earned, but well worth every step of the way!
buzzdainer - Jul 13, 2009 3:48 pm Date Climbed: Jul 12, 2009
Queen Mine RouteCamped at Queen Mine and hiked up the following day. Great weather, enjoyable route on an easy-to-follow trail almost all the way.
mrchad9 - Jul 1, 2009 7:24 pm Date Climbed: Jun 27, 2009
Queen Mine RouteGreat day up the Queen Mine route, no snow on the route and just a few drifts on the way to Montgomery, but quite a bit of snow visible on White Mtn. Lots of ladybugs to keep us company.
Interesting to hear all the state highpointers going on about how this is so tough, they having not done any other western states yet.
TheRootster - Jun 21, 2009 1:59 pm
Ahh, "geopolitics"Climbed with Jim and CoreyMutt via Queen Canyon Mine. It does indeed seem folly to climb this peak, since when you stand on the summit you can look up the same ridgeline to higher Mt Mongomery, across the border. But, "state high peaks" and all that rot, I suppose it had to be done. In any case, it's a great area. Lots of hot springs in the area to soak in afterwards--my favorite has an outstanding view of Mt Morrison.
PellucidWombat - Jun 7, 2009 12:50 pm Date Climbed: Jun 5, 2009
Bad Weather 2 Years in a RowClimbed the NW Ridge from 7,000 ft in the Chalfant Valley as a start to a traverse of the White Mtns. Horrendous weather and my team mates leaving me solo caused me to rethink plans and bail on the traverse. Snow about this time last year kept me from getting anywhere near Boundary's summit, so at least this was an improvement! Maybe next year . . .
junoiceclimber - Apr 13, 2009 6:30 pm Date Climbed: Apr 2, 1996
Soloed up my own line throuugh the Bristlecones!Oh, the Bristlecones!! What else can you say about that climb? Straight shotted this one from the north on Janie's Ranch road about a mile or two short of the summer trail up at the back of the gulch. Up and down overnight. The cylocybin breakfast kicked my ass at about the ridge line prior to the summit climb. Man, I sure missed my dad at that point. I do not practice such meals anymore. Praise God, sober for 12+ years. Sweet summit pic. Well worth the effort.