Point 6247 - Washoe County, Nevada

Mountain/Rock

Point 6247 - Washoe County, Nevada

Page Type: Mountain/Rock

Lat/Lon: 39.48315°N / 119.91029°W

County: Washoe

Activities: Hiking, Scrambling

Season: Spring, Winter

Elevation: 6247 ft / 1904 m

Page By: hgrapid

Created/Edited: Apr 29, 2007 / Jun 6, 2009

Object ID: 289318

Hits: 1604

Page Score: 87.3% - 6 Votes

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Table of Contents

Overview

Point 6247 is a rocky point at the top of a series of rocky cliffs just west of Reno, Nevada. It is generally not visible from Reno because it lies on the west side of the Hunter Creek blocked by a larger foothill on rising east of the Hunter Creek. While the summit isn't considered that high for the Reno area, the great views, challenging climbing options, and general beauty of the area make this a compelling destination.

The summit is the rocky point at the left of the photo

There are three main routes to the top. The most challenging involves an 800' class 3 jaunt up to a rocky cliff, and involves a stretch of the Hunter Creek Trail.

Rocky cliffs below the summit, as seen from the Hunter Creek Trail

Despite being just outside of Reno's residential neighborhoods, the Hunter Creek Trail is rather rustic in appearance. It is a place to get away from it all, without getting away from it all. It can be reached within 10 minutes from downtown, and leads to a variety of interesting hiking options; Point 6247 being one of them.

Getting There

All three routes start from Woodchuck, a road off Plateau Road in Reno. Plateau Road is in the western part of town. From the western loop of McCarren south off I-80, take the north entrance to Caughlin Parkway. Head west for about 1 mile to Plateau Road. Turn right on Plateau and follow it for about 3/4 of a mile to Woodchuck. Take a left on Woodchuck, passing the entrance to the Steamboat Ditch trail, and follow the road as it goes uphill. The trailhead is about 1 mile from the entrance to Woodchuck.

The trailhead is currently part of a construction effort called the "Michael D. Thompson Trailhead Project". The project is still under construction as of March 2009. However, the distance from the parking area to the start of the trail has already been cut down by half a mile in the past two years. Despite the construction effort, parking is still allowed at the edge of the trailhead project.

From the parking area, follow the jeep road straight until you reach a stream crossing after a couple hundred yards. After you cross the stream, you continue straight for another few hundred yards where the road ends.

At this point you have a couple options. Two of the routes involve the Hunter Creek Trail, which is directly in front of you. The second option requires you follow the jeep trail as is heads back up a hill. These routes will be described below.

Routes

There are essentially three routes up to the top, and only one legitimate route back down. This is because two of the routes are way too steep and dangerous to climb down.

ROUTE 1:
Route: Jeep Road route - out and back
Elevation Gain: ~1100 feet
Round Trip Hiking Distance: ~5 miles
Difficulty: Hike

This route requires that you avoid the Hunter Creek Trail, and instead follow the jeep road as it heads back up a hill behind you. Follow this road as it winds around the hill, and then goes straight below some telephone polls. The road curves around until it heads south, and eventually parallels the Hunter Creek Trail. Make sure to follow the road as it curves to the southeast. Although the road loses slight elevation early on, once it heads back up, make sure to follow it this way. The road eventually ends, and you follow a slight use trail up the ridge. After you reach a ridge, you'll go straight up towards higher elevation, where you will eventually find a trail, which you follow up the ridge. The trail ends briefly at a series of rocks. Climb over the rocks, and follow the trail again up towards a false summit. Continue over a couple false summits until you reach the final summit. From the parking lot, the route to the top is about 2.5 miles and involves a class 1 hike.

The final summit coming from the Jeep Road route

ROUTE 2:
Route: Hunter Creek Trail to North side rock face gully/return Jeep Road route
Elevation Gain: ~1200 feet
Round Trip Hiking Distance: ~4 miles
Difficulty: hard Class III

If you want a challenging non-technical rock climb, this is the best route.
Start by taking the Hunter Creek Trail. It heads up and down through a canyon on the right side of the Hunter Creek. After about 3/4 of a mile on the Hunter Creek Trail, you will see the large rock face about 600 feet above you. There is an obvious gully to the right.

The gully

From here, the ascent is pretty straightforward. It is very steep and can be treacherous at points. It takes about 20 minutes to reach the top of the gully. From there, continue up another 200' up the rocks to the summit.

Descending the gully is very treacherous, and is not recommended. The rock is too loose. Return via Route 1 once you reach the summit of Point 6247.

ROUTE 3:
Route: Hunter Creek Trail to South side Open Meadow route/return Jeep Road route
Elevation Gain: ~1200 feet
Round Trip Hiking Distance: ~4 miles
Difficulty: Class II/III

For this route, you still take the Hunter Creek trail. However, continue past the gully below the rock face route. Hike for another couple hundred yards until you find another gully. This time, the gully is far less treacherous and steep early on. Hike up the gully and then get to the left upon a steep meadow. This meadow involves a lot of loose dirt and rocks. For this reason, it is recommended that you hike this route only when there is hard pack snow on the ground, for better traction.

I attempted this route in late April of 2007 only to encounter a rattlesnake sitting on one of the rocks in the gully. Upon seeing the snake, and figuring there were probably several more along the route, I turned back.

I took this route again in early April 2008. The weather was much cooler, so no snakes were present. From the gully, it took about 25 minutes to reach the summit, mostly due to the challenge of finding the best route.

Descending the meadow is treacherous, and is not recommended, unless there is hard pack snow. You should return via Route 1 once you reach the summit of Point 6247. If you choose to descend the meadow you will shave off about a mile. However, be very careful, even on hard pack snow.

Gully for Route 3

When To Climb

While this area can be climbed all year, it is recommended to climb in winter and early springtime. As noted above, I ran dead straight into a rattlesnake in late-April, one of two snakes I saw that day (although the only rattlesnake). Bugs are pretty bad during the summer given the low elevation of the area. Wintertime in Reno generally isn't that cold, and the rock is easy to climb during wintertime because there usually isn't much ice.

Overall, the best time to hike Route 1 is winter, early spring, and late fall.

The best time to hike Route 2 is early spring and late fall.
The best time to hike Route 3 is winter, preferably on snow.

Hunter Creek Trail

The Hunter Creek Trail is a sandy, rocky trail that follows a canyon. It can be accessed about 3 miles from West McCarren Blvd. Following the directions in the getting there section, you enter the trail about 1/4 of a mile from the parking area.

The trail goes over sand and boulders along the way. The corners of the trail are loose at times and require balance and careful foot placement to avoid slipping. The trail passes a couple smaller climbing areas before reaching the large block of rocky cliffs that make up Point 6247. Beyond this area, the trail continues straight southbound and begins climbing up the canyon until you reach a waterfall about 3 miles up the trail.

Past the waterfall you reach a meadow. From here, it is possible to find your way towards a trail to Mount Rose. This trip would probably require two days. However, there are campsites near the meadow.

Besides Point 6247 and the waterfall, there are plenty of other opportunities to climb up the rocky slopes above the canyon. A few of these are pictured below.

Rock formation further up the trail

View further up the trail to the higher mountains

Red Tape

No red tape.

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