Tonka wrote:I will be meeting my girl friend in Vegas this Friday and I've set aside Monday to get out and do something (solo). I was planing on Mount Charleston. The round trip milage is pretty high but in reading the SP page and the summit logs I get a lot of conflicting info. People are posting round trip times of like 6 hours and others seem to take 6 days. I assume it's a well traveled trail and a class one hike the whole way which can make for a good pace. I don't mind an 8 - 10 hour day but I did Longs last weekend and I don't need a death march either.
A lot of people partly run the route, at least on the way down. The accumulated gain by the trail is probably 1000' greater than net gain, as one goes up and down a bit.
For most folks, I'd use the old rule: for ascent, allow 1 hr per 1000' gain, plus 1/3 hour per mile. For SLT, since there are little bumps adding to the gain, that would be about 4.5 hours + 3 hours = 7.5 for a "leisurely" ascent. The trip down will take less time, obviously.
I'm sure there is a bit of bragging in the SP logs, so I'll add my own. I've made it up in a tad over 3 hours, but mostly by bushwhack routes. I know trail runners who carry little and make the ascent in less than 2 hours.
We're in the afternoon-rain season, so get an early start. Doing a loop (up NLT, down SLT) is reasonable if you don't mind walking back on roads to your car.