Page 2 of 2
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:40 pm
by Lightning Dog
Wow!!! You guys are amazing. I've been looking at all the photos of the many, many peak trips you've gone on in just the past few weeks with a mixture of envy and fear.
Once more with feeling... WOW!!!!
Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:42 am
by KathyW
Dan, Fred, and I decided to go ahead and give Dry Mountain a try yesterday. We agreed on a route that I found in the DPS trip report archives refered to as the Beck-Kelsey Ridge or Route C. It was a great hike along a ridge from 6300 feet elevation to just over 7900 feet elevation - then you still have to drop down the 700 feet and go back up the 1400 feet.
Anyway, the weather was perfect and the hike was a long but an enjoyable one via the Beck-Kelsey Ridge. Dan kept track of the hiking time and he reported that it took us a couple minutes more than 6 hours to get up and a little more than 4 hours to come down. A total of 10 hours and 20 minutes hiking plus we spent about an hour on the summit, so 11 hours and 20 minutes out there. The topo software says it was 14.6 miles roundtrip with about 5800 feet elevation gain, but that doesn't count every swithback you take in the steep sections.
Thanks for your reports Sooz, Cori, and Tom - the route you took didn't sound like much fun, so they were the reason I looked for an alternate route. When I found a route that was described as a ridge-run I was very happy.
My pictures and a map of our route:
http://kathywing.smugmug.com/gallery/2622975#138438602
Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:09 pm
by tomcat_rc
Kathy - looks like an excellent variation to the route - I wondered about that while we were up on the high ridgeline - the extra miles look like a pleasant alternative to loose scrambling up canyon walls. great pictures and glad you were able to make it this year - the desert is heating up fast.
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:48 pm
by KathyW
Yes, the desert is heating up. The temperatures on the hike to Dry were just beautiful - not too hot or too cold, but it was in the 80's at Stovepipe Wells after dark when I stopped to take a shower on Saturday night. It was 88 degrees when I got to Mesquite Springs at about 5:30 pm on Friday evening. I think I'm done with the desert for the season with the exception of some of the higher peaks like Wheeler in Nevada, Humphrey's in Arizona, and Montgomery here in California.
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:25 pm
by Trailtrekker06
Congrats Kathy! Sounds like you took a nice route up there. If I ever do it again (not likely!!) I'll try it that way!