DougHemken - Jan 19, 2010 3:41 pm Date Climbed: Jan 12, 2010
More fun than I was expecting
A birthday climb!
The DPS canyon route has traces of a use trail all the way up now, plus there are cairns pretty often. Even so, boulder hopping in the creek is fun, and the home stretch weaving in and out of limestone pinnacles is clever route-finding. All the gaps along the canyon, where a harder layer of rock has resisted erosion a little better than layers to the E or W, are cool geology.
For the descent, I scrambled off to the North, behind North Pahrump Peak (on the E), and back up to its summit. Then I continued North through a notch with some big old junipers, and followed a ridge top (defining the N edge of the DPS canyon system) back out to the West. Coming up this way would be fun too, and would provide an opportunity for some class 3-4 scrambling. As it was I dropped off the ridge top to avoid all the more technical sections. Along the way down I found an old survey "boundary stake", and some blue paint marking a vein that I take to be someone's mining claim (doesn't look like it has been worked)? It made a very nice loop.
DougHemken - Jan 19, 2010 3:41 pm Date Climbed: Jan 12, 2010
More fun than I was expectingA birthday climb!
The DPS canyon route has traces of a use trail all the way up now, plus there are cairns pretty often. Even so, boulder hopping in the creek is fun, and the home stretch weaving in and out of limestone pinnacles is clever route-finding. All the gaps along the canyon, where a harder layer of rock has resisted erosion a little better than layers to the E or W, are cool geology.
For the descent, I scrambled off to the North, behind North Pahrump Peak (on the E), and back up to its summit. Then I continued North through a notch with some big old junipers, and followed a ridge top (defining the N edge of the DPS canyon system) back out to the West. Coming up this way would be fun too, and would provide an opportunity for some class 3-4 scrambling. As it was I dropped off the ridge top to avoid all the more technical sections. Along the way down I found an old survey "boundary stake", and some blue paint marking a vein that I take to be someone's mining claim (doesn't look like it has been worked)? It made a very nice loop.