Yoga Peak

It had been over six years since I stood at the summit of Yoga Peak. For years I was told there was a fifth class wall that stood between the summit of Yoga Peak and the Mescalito ridge. Recently I talked with Joseph and he said that was not true. Last week Kathy and I wanted to find out the real story.

Fern Creek

Knowing we had to gain the Mescalito ridge, I decided the Fern Creek route was fastest. We gained the ridge near the Windsock tree and headed west toward Yoga Peak. At first we did not see any cairns and were forced to stay off the crest of the ridge to the south. After an awkward class 4 climb we saw cairns off to the north. Obviously, the route jumped over to the north side, but we never saw the cairns that indicated this.

Cairns Abound

Now we started seeing well placed cairns and the route was fairly easy to follow without cairns. For the most part it stayed on the ridge with several easy, but exposed class 3 climbs. There was another awkward climb partially due to a well placed cactus. Well, maybe not so well placed.

Hit the Wall

The next 100 yards or so stayed on the ridge and offered great views ahead. Standing in front of us was an imposing fifth class wall. This is where the confusion rears it's ugly head. My old route meets up here and follows a very unlikely ledge that appears to fall off into oblivion. Just before the ledge gives away, there's a very steep, 40 foot, crack one must climb.

The Finish

The last 400 foot vertical climb to Yoga Peak is one of the best in Red Rock. It looks impossible without ropes, but most of it is class 3! This is a fun climb. Once at the top of the climb, Yoga Peak is really nothing but a bump on a ridge. Thanks to Mike R. there's an ammo box with a register in it. The cool feature at the peak is the sea of sandstone out to the west. It's really one of the most unique places in  Red Rock.

Mescalito - Southern Route

New route

The Southern Route to Mescalito has always been a great hike with the exception of where you leave the wash and start up the loose slope littered with rocks. Well that has changed. Yesterday I rerouted the route. The new route goes up the loose slope about 30 yards and then heads east along a solid slab.  See the first photo. The cool thing is the route heads for the windsock tree, which is a great landmark. The red arrow is pointing at the windsock tree.

Photo 2

Photo 2 shows more of the slab as it heads toward the windsock tree. We cairned this part of the route to make it easy to follow. Up to this point the route is only class 2.

Photo 2

The Climb

The third photo shows the class 3 climb. This is an extended climb that connects with the original route just beyond the exposed ledge system. This route is now near perfection. Mescalito has always been a fun hike, but the loose slope was at best a pain, but could be dangerous with lots of hikers ascending or descending the slope.

Let me know how you like this new variation.

The climb

Mescalito Northern Route Options

Mescalito is the pyramid shape peak that divides Pine Creek Canyon into north and south forks. There are two standard routes to the summit: the Southern and Northern Routes. The Southern route has not changed much since I found it back in the nineties. The Northern route is a different story. The original route was up a loose embankment and then through the brush to a short climb. At some point I changed the route to ascend a very steep shoulder. This involved a very exposed (read: you fall; you die) class 4+ climb.

The Change:

Last week I redid the route up the loose embankment. It's brush free, easy to follow and well cairned. The photo shows both routes. At the top the routes meet up and continue to the windsock tree. It's here that the Northern and Southern routes merge. From there the route travels to the summit.

Northern Route Options

                   The Descent:

If I ascend the Northern Route, I normally descend the Southern Route making it a round trip hike.  Virtually all hikers like round trip hikes as oppose to up and back hikes.

Stats: (Northern Route)

Trailhead: Pine Creek — marked
Distance: 8 miles - round trip
Elevation gain: 1,858 feet
Elevation of peak: 5,440 feet
Time: 5 to 6 hours – up and back
Difficulty: 4
Danger level: 5
Class: 3+  (4+ if climbing the shoulder)

Route Updates: Terrace Canyon Peak and Other Routes

Terrace Canyon Peak

The original route is a tough class 4 route that is hard to follow. We have always descended through a magnificent bowl into Pine Creek. This descent route can be used as an ascent route. Here's the quick description: From Pine Creek TH (Red Rock Canyon) follow the trail into the South Fork. When the canyon divides, hike into the south fork. Continue pass the turnoff for Terrace - Gunsight Notch Canyons. Continue another 20 minutes or so where a large tree has fallen across the wash (See the photo). Just before the tree turn south (left) and follow a drainage up into the bowl. Near the top of the bowl head west on a path and then up the low angle wall. Once up, the summit is in sight off about 100 yards to the east.

East Peak

East Peak

On the exposed ledge there was a scrub oak bush that forced hikers to either duck under or drop down on an even more expose ledge. This is no longer the case. Hikers can now stay on the less exposed ledge and hike by the scrub oak tree without ducking under it.
Stats:

Distance: 3 miles — round trip
Elevation gain: 1,500 feet
Elevation of peak: 5,280 feet
Time: 3 hours – up and back
Difficulty: 3
Danger level: 4
Class: 3

Juniper Peak

Juniper Peak

Once in the canyon the route ascends boulders and then follows a small drainage. The old route would leave the drainage and head up a hill via a very loose path. The new route continues up the drainage. It was hard to determine where to leave the drainage and follow a path that heads NW (right) to the top of the hill. This is no longer the case. It's now very obvious where to leave the drainage and follow the path.

Juniper Peak is consider by many hikers to be one of the best moderate hikes in Red Rock Canyon.
Stats:

Distance: 6 miles — round trip
Elevation gain: 2,131 feet
Elevation peak: 6,109 feet
Time: 4 to 6 hours - Up and back
Difficulty: 3
Danger level: 3
Class: 3

Hiking and Photography - Carl P.

Hey everyone Carl here. Since Branch was cool enough to open up his blog for contributions from club members I’d thought I’d give it a whirl. So here goes.

Bridge Mtn - Red Rock Canyon

Many of you already know that I love to take photographs and sometimes I get pretty lucky and get a good shot. For me hiking is a means to take great photographs. Hiking with the club takes me to places I’ve never been before and probably wouldn’t be able to get to without someone like Branch or Mike or one of the other organizers. While I am an organizer and a very experienced hiker in my own right, some of the routes we take would be way too dangerous to attempt by myself. So hiking with the group adds a level of safety that I (and my wife) really appreciate.

We are very lucky here in Las Vegas. We have Red Rock with its awesome sandstone peaks and canyons which are great for hiking, climbing and scrambling and we have the Spring Mountains (Mt. Charleston and environs) which provide a high altitude escape from the heat during the hot summer months. And, they are home to the largest grove of Bristlecone Pine trees on the planet. The Bristlecone Pine is the oldest living organism with some specimens nearing 5,000 years of age. That’s not a typo. Some of the specimens here in the Spring Mountains are among the most beautiful I have had a chance to photograph. They are by far my favorite subjects and in my humble opinion one of the most fascinating organisms anywhere. For more on the Bristlecone just Google it.

Subway in Zion

Hiking is also one of the best ways I know to get and stay fit. It provides an excellent cardio workout and the class 3 and 4 scrambling adds great upper body training. As well as coordination, balance and core strengthening. But perhaps one of the most beneficial aspects of hiking is the effect it has on my well-being. When we hike to the beautiful canyons of Red Rock or the lofty peaks of Mt. Charleston it has a very calming and soothing effect on me. In these difficult times going for a good, hard hike is just a great way to stay grounded and put life in its proper perspective. It reminds me of what’s important and to takes my mind off of the mundane troubles of everyday life.


I’ve been hiking all around the southwest since I moved here almost 20 years ago. I joined the 52 Peak Club last summer and have around a dozen or so cards. I’ve hiked most of the peaks, but most of them before the club. So, I’ll just have to do them again! Las Vegas provides a great jumping off place for trips to at least 10 National Parks within a 1 day drive and quite a few National Monuments, National Forests, State Parks and endless amounts of Wilderness. The Las Vegas based hiker is truly blessed. Right here I will shamelessly plug Branch’s books (Hiking Las Vegas) and website: hikinglasvegas.com. I also have a couple of websites you can visit to view some more of my photos www.mephotoman.comand http://picasaweb.google.com/mephotoman

Bristlecone in Mt. Charleston

Carl P., 52er, Asst. Organizer  

Hiking, Writing and finding my way... Ken Kiser

For most of my life, I considered myself a failure. You see, I suffer from a dysfunctional, backward-wired brain. Most people find it difficult to muster the commitment to tackle long-term goals. Sure, they enter into the challenge, amped up with determination and enthusiasm, but all that soon dries up and they lose interest. It's a common problem for most people and nothing to be ashamed of. Unfortunately, that is how I always was... but with short-term goals. Give me an easy task, that should only take a few hours to complete, and days or weeks later, I'd be still trying to get it done. Needless to say, I never really accomplished much. Then, a miracle happened: I discovered that while I couldn't manage to commit to short-term challenges, I seem to excel with very long, difficult and arduous tasks. I seem to have a talent for long-term goals. Imagine that!

I have wandered the hills and mountains of Las Vegas for nearly twenty years. Over those years, my interest in hiking has come and gone. It waxed and waned like the moon, yet was never quite full. In August of 2011, I stumbled upon a thing called the 52 Peak Club. Wait just one minute... you mean this is a goal that will literally take a year, or two, to complete? Heck, this was something designed specifically for my dysfunction! Where do I sign up?

Well, six months have gone by and I'm learning to love hiking more than I ever have. I've taken on and beaten sixteen of the required peaks so far and I'm trudging steadily toward that sublime goal of fifty-two. Branch Whitney and his amazing club unleashed that long-term drive in me that has become my defining quality. Since joining the 52 peak club, I have lost weight, built confidence, and even become one of the group organizers. It is very satisfying to lead groups of new and eager hikers to some of the most beautiful and rewarding destinations in Las Vegas.

It stunned me when I first heard people talking about me being an inspiration. Me? The dysfunctional failure? Well, the truth is, that since learning to manage my strange ability to commit to the long term, I no longer consider myself the failure that I once did. I've harnessed that dysfunction and have turned to my advantage. I have seen many new goals through to fruition. I have improved my fitness, made massive gains in career, and achieved things on a personal level that I once never dreamed possible.

Easily my biggest accomplishment, was completing and publishing my novel, FIFTHWIND. This was a task that took me many years of commitment, study, practice, and effort. Where most would have given up, I pressed onward. When I found myself against the wall of writer's block, I tore it down. In an effort no different than putting one determined foot in front of the other on a hike, I typed out word after word until the day came that I had amassed 146,000 words and found myself writing the last two... “The End”

Just as I finished my dream of writing a novel, I now know that I will finish my goal of reaching 52 peaks. And along that winding trail, I will make new friends and find new reasons to succeed. For that, I give thanks every single day.
---Ken Kiser
To learn more about Ken and his novel, please visit www.thekreggorian.com

Changes in this Blog

After 512 posts in five years this blog will now focus on members of the 52 Peak Club and their accomplishments. For those readers who do not know what the 52 Peak Club is about, please go to this website: http://52peakclub.com/

If you live in Vegas, I encourage you to become part of the 52 Peak Club. In our first year we offered over 400 hikes! That's more than a hike a day.

I will occasionally blog on hiking topics other than the 52 Peak Club. Thanks for reading and I will see you at the peaks.

Branch