A Central Muddy's Ramble n' Scramble

The Approach

Having kept an eye on the forecast for 40% chance of rain, I awoke this morning to pleasantly clear skies. Very nice. after getting jr. ready for school I headed off to Lake Mead NRA to follow up on a hike made the week before. I had hiked washes and benches below the central Muddy's east flanks, crossing in and out, and up a fun canyon to gain a ridge and 2 very fun and scenic high points overlooking Buffington Pockets. this time out I wanted to start high and stay there, traversing the entire ridge to the head of a wide wash further north of the last outing. Making it thru traffic and enjoying the always fantastic Northshore Road, I again turned onto the Bitter Springs Backcountry Byway just west of Redstone. Always a fantastic drive as well ! Not a very difficult road, but high clearance definitely needed to traverse. Two hours after leaving home I reached my TH at the foot of the central Muddy Mountains south flanks. Still nice and clear but getting partly cloudy. Some nice dappled light, my favorite.

The Meat

Armed w/ polska kielbasa for lunch, a gallon of water, and my much abused camera, I started the climb to gain the ridge.



Spring is in the air in the Mojave. Its not here yet, but I can feel it right around the corner. I can't wait ! Once I gained the ridge it was rugged walking, sometimes having to drop to one side or the other, sometimes having to backtrack 50' or so after cliffing out. Sometimes straddling the knife edge ridge, usually when the drop off was only a few feet. I'm scared of heights.



After a bit points 1355 and 1315 offered some nice flat ground for a bit, as well as some nice views. then it was time to drop down below the ridge line to traverse over to point 1348 and an unnamed spire before that w/ some fun scrambling required to gain the small, flat summit w/ a really nice view of Buffington pockets.







It became increasingly cloudy until my beautiful dappled light became bland overcast dullness. Bore-ing ! But the hike was still cool, just the photos suffered, not my enjoyment or the beauty of the moment.





Hitting all the ridges high points along the way I eventually came to my drop off into a broad wash after the ridge began losing considerable elevation. Then it was a pleasant stroll back to the Tracker where my knees thanked me very much for the respite.

full photos if your interested - Central Muddys Ridge Walk

Images

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