Death Valley Buttes Solo (got all 3 summits)
Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:27 pm
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/508964499zUgOGP
I was meeting BobR (and friends) on Sunday to hike Corkscrew Peak. Since I was solo (Calhiker had to back out last minute), Bob suggested Death Valley Buttes combined with Titus Canyon and Thimble Pk for Saturday. But then added "if you're a purist you'll get all 3".
So from the 2nd butte, I had to make a decision . . . Go back on a trail or take the 'Rockwell Challenge'.
Since I had already done Thimble two years ago, I decided to go for the 3rd butte. It took me 1:25 to the second summit (started at Hell’s Gate, :retard: duh!), then followed the ridge west towards #3. It was a challenge as the trail disappeared 
and everything was steep and I was sliding all over. I kept stopping and thinking I should turn back , but the ‘challenge’ was there so I evenually found my way down. 
After I got down to the wash, I headed for the third butte, which is separated from the first two Death Valley Buttes. I saw a trail to a mine about 2/3 up, but it looked near vertical the rest of the way up. I had not seen any info on the 3rd butte, so from the wash I followed a use trail to the north, which I later concluded was an animal trail.
I decided to head straight up to a saddle for views. From there it didn't look that far up, so even though it was vertical and rocky, it looked doable. 
The higher I got, the steeper it was (almost like climbing a ladder) and the handholds were breaking off and rocks were sliding down. 
I got to the bigger more stable rocks and climbed over them and soon reached the flat summit. No register on this one either. 
I remembered the south side of the 3rd butte looked smooth and not so cliff-like, but when I got there it was steep with a bigger drop. I looked on the side where the mine was, and decided to go down the chute and take the trail down. That was a good decision (once I got out of that nasty chute ). Happy again to be down, I headed up the wash, another 3 miles/800' to the truck (according to my GPS). I saw something move ahead, got the camera out, and kept walking. There was a herd of bighorn sheep in the wash! I tried to stay out of their view, and got kind of close. They heard me and took off for higher ground. I counted 17 sheep in 3 small groups. A little too far away to photograph, but it was fun watching them from afar. I headed up the wash again, and about 10 minutes later I saw 5 more sheep to the left. I ran up the little hill for a better view, but they were gone. The rest of the trip was uneventful. Seemed like a long walk back, since I was low on water and really thirsty. Got back with 3 sips of water left in my Camelbak. Total time was 7 hrs 10 min, 6.75 mi with ~2,500' elevation gain/loss.
I got a shower, ate, repacked my daypack for the next day, looked at pics and got really sleepy. Lights out by 8:45pm which is really early for me.
I was meeting BobR (and friends) on Sunday to hike Corkscrew Peak. Since I was solo (Calhiker had to back out last minute), Bob suggested Death Valley Buttes combined with Titus Canyon and Thimble Pk for Saturday. But then added "if you're a purist you'll get all 3".
So from the 2nd butte, I had to make a decision . . . Go back on a trail or take the 'Rockwell Challenge'.
Since I had already done Thimble two years ago, I decided to go for the 3rd butte. It took me 1:25 to the second summit (started at Hell’s Gate, :retard: duh!), then followed the ridge west towards #3. It was a challenge as the trail disappeared and everything was steep and I was sliding all over. I kept stopping and thinking I should turn back , but the ‘challenge’ was there so I evenually found my way down. After I got down to the wash, I headed for the third butte, which is separated from the first two Death Valley Buttes. I saw a trail to a mine about 2/3 up, but it looked near vertical the rest of the way up. I had not seen any info on the 3rd butte, so from the wash I followed a use trail to the north, which I later concluded was an animal trail.
I decided to head straight up to a saddle for views. From there it didn't look that far up, so even though it was vertical and rocky, it looked doable. The higher I got, the steeper it was (almost like climbing a ladder) and the handholds were breaking off and rocks were sliding down. I got to the bigger more stable rocks and climbed over them and soon reached the flat summit. No register on this one either. I remembered the south side of the 3rd butte looked smooth and not so cliff-like, but when I got there it was steep with a bigger drop. I looked on the side where the mine was, and decided to go down the chute and take the trail down. That was a good decision (once I got out of that nasty chute ). Happy again to be down, I headed up the wash, another 3 miles/800' to the truck (according to my GPS). I saw something move ahead, got the camera out, and kept walking. There was a herd of bighorn sheep in the wash! I tried to stay out of their view, and got kind of close. They heard me and took off for higher ground. I counted 17 sheep in 3 small groups. A little too far away to photograph, but it was fun watching them from afar. I headed up the wash again, and about 10 minutes later I saw 5 more sheep to the left. I ran up the little hill for a better view, but they were gone. The rest of the trip was uneventful. Seemed like a long walk back, since I was low on water and really thirsty. Got back with 3 sips of water left in my Camelbak. Total time was 7 hrs 10 min, 6.75 mi with ~2,500' elevation gain/loss. I got a shower, ate, repacked my daypack for the next day, looked at pics and got really sleepy. Lights out by 8:45pm which is really early for me.