The Ongoing Adventures of Snow Nymph - M t Dubois

“ Mt Dubois (13,545'), 2nd highest peak in the White Mountains, CA

I started at 8459' and stopped for lunch at 11,900’. Mt Dubois, the 2nd highest in White Mountains (CA) is at 13,545’. The trail starts in NV, and crosses over to CA. My GPS said I had gone 2.16 mi, 3500' el gain. I still had 1700’ to go in 2 more mi, and was running on 4 hrs of sleep. The guys were 1.5 hrs ahead of me and I was running out of gas. I stopped to eat, hoping it would give me strength to get over the next boulder/talus hump. What to do?

Friday I left right after work to drive to NV. I got caught in LA traffic, and it took almost 3 hrs to get to Mojave (normally 1.5 hrs). That got me to NV around 12:45am, then I got lost on 4wd roads (gas tank warning light came on). At one point, the road had sage growing in the middle, and it was so bumpy and unmaintained, I was afraid I would get stuck. I backtracked and ended up at the Boundary Peak TH, arriving at 3:15am. Directions said to “NOT” go there, but at least there was a sign and I knew where I was. Got up at 7:15am on Saturday, backtracked again towards Highway 264, asked directions, and took a easier way, arriving at Middle Creek TH (8459') at 9:35am.

Jay, John and Dave started at 8:30am. By the time I got my pack out, boots on, ice in the camelback, trying to locate them with the binoculars, it was 10:10 am and by then they were at 9800'. No sign of trails here as this route is off the beaten path and gets few visitors. This area is known for bighorn sheep sightings and the remains of native American habitation sites located near the top. Jay saw a ring of rocks at the top, but his new digital camera (new card) wasn’t ‘formatted’ so the images didn’t save.

I was hiking at their pace, but by 10,800' I was starting to slow down. They were talking about unexpected boulder scrambling, and it sounded like it was getting rough up there. I ran into Dave at 1:45pm, he turned back at 12,000’ because the pack on his shoulder was bothering him. 45 minutes later I arrived at the saddle where Dave turned back. I stopped for lunch, hoping food would help me. No appetite but I forced a sandwich, cashews and Cytomax down. I looked at the map, and what I thought was Mt Dubois turned out to be a bump to get there. My GPS said I was at 2.16 miles, and had 2.0 mi to go. At 3:10pm, the guys radiod that they summitted. I didn't want to do the boulder/talus hopping alone, so I turned back. Jay and John went back via "the Jumpoff", which was a few hundred feet higher, and about 2 miles further. I arrived at the truck at 6:45pm, took a quick bath, and worked on my photo album. They guys arrived at 10:00pm, tired and hungry. I was glad I turned back.

I wasn't prepared to stay overnight (food wise), but the guys had extra food. We had beer, chips and salsa, and hot dogs cooked over a fire. I started fading, said I was going to get some sleep, and someone noticed it was 1:20am! No wonder I was tired!

Sunday morning we slept in, and hung out. Around 10:30am, I left to get gas 15 miles south down the road (I drove 71 miles since the warning light went on). Dave had an event to go to at home, so he left. Jay, John and I headed north to check out a petroglyph site near Bishop. On the way, we saw 5 pronghorn and 4 wild horses before entering CA. We stopped for lunch, then they headed south. I did a little shopping at Wilson’s Eastside Sports, Schatz Bakkery, then headed for Whitney Portal.

After downloading my GPS tracks, it showed 6.89 mi r/t, but read 4.37 mi on the GPS. I will just have to go back again, but maybe take a day to drive up so I can get some sleep. This is one trip I’m glad I did not finish.”

“SN,
3500 ft elv. gain in 2.16 miles is sick!!That kills me just thinking about it.I'd love to see some of them wild horses.Are pronghorns those gazelle thingy's?i'd like to see that too.Were is this road/hiway were u saw all that wildlife?
On my trip i pulled over at Fossil falls but parked on a spur road that was so nicely graded and wide.Played guitar in the warm desert winds and clear black sky.Then went to sleep and at about 3am felt the ground shakin like 7.0!!!Well the shakin was a bunch of monster trucks driving back and forth!!I had parked next to a rock quarry!!!!!!Dont ask me why they start work at 3am!!!!!”

“Davex- I learned the same lesson the hard way at Fossil Falls. You have to drive way back in to the desert to get away from those trucks. Snow Nymph and I camped back there once and woke to a dust storm so bad we couldn't even get out to take a leak. It felt like it was going to blow the truck over!”

“Yes, 3500' in 2.16 miles is sick. I looked at my GPS and what was ahead. There's always another day.

The wild horses and pronghorn were on Hwy 6, west of Hwy 264 (NV). Yes, pronghorn have the gazelle like horns. They were just on the NV side of the border. There were signs with horses in the area.”

“SD,those truck drivers must have a howl every time they see 'car campers' camped on their road and knowing the nightmare they are about to unleash on us unsuspecting peeps!!I swear i thought i was in a X-Files episode!!”

“Snow Nymph...if you DNF the hike...I think more than half the TT'ers here wouldn't have gotten halfway to where you stopped. Very good report. Don't know how you do it...backpacking every weekend.”

“Nice report SN - we complain about 5,000' ft. peaks out here, wish I could take a crack at the one you just mentioned.”

“Great pics as usual. Sounds like you had a great time aways.”

“Cool trip report and pictures! That is some sick elevation gain, very cool! :-)”

“You are amazing as always Snow!”

“DNF?”

“DNF - did not finish”

“I thought it meant Do No Farting...”

“It would only mean that if Newergirl was on patrol Bit!”

“Boy she and my son would get along...lol....”

“Snow Nymph,

Great story and pics (per norm)!

Thanks once again for adding vicarious life to my work day.”

“Yes, there is always another day. Mt. Dubois certainly sounds like a tough one - one you'd need a good night sleep for.

How hot was it out there?”

“Snow Nymph, I'd say you did good, really good. From what I've determined while lurking, is that most of these people have more trouble than you did just climbing up on their chair so they can post messages all day.”

“Great pics and report as usual. I don't think I would do very well on a hike like that...my hat is off to you.”

“DNF beats the hell out of KIA.

Nice!”

“I didn't check temps, but it was warm in the morning. Maybe because it was all uphill. When I got to 12K, it got cold. I put layers on and stared at what was ahead. On the way down it was cold, til about 10,500'. Maybe coz I was in the trees. At night we had a small fire, but since I don't like the smoke, I sat away from it and had all my layers on, and I was comfortable.

Maybe if someone was with me, I would have pushed. I was tired and didn't want to go up the boulders alone.

I'll try it again another time!”

“Thank you again for the report and photos, Snow Nymph. Nice write up.

Kind of related..I've learned that from evening through morning, cold air tends to settle in valley's or depressions even at higher altitudes. Generally, you want to be up off the valley floor about 50ft during your route selection or camp site. If practical, only to avoid colder temps. Usually not a big deal for 3 seasons.

Traversing a boulder field alone brings to mind the Mike Turner story. A lesson to learn from.”

“"Traversing a boulder field alone brings to mind the Mike Turner story. A lesson to learn from." . . . Tekapo

That thought went thru my head . . . actually, it always comes to mind when I'm climbing in boulder fields . . . I knew the guys were doing a loop, and I didn't want to be stuck in that terrain alone.”

“Is Mike Turner the guy who got his leg stuck in the rocks..........and croaked?”

“Yes, that's him. We read about him just before our trip to to the Winds. We made a side trip to the lake where his ashes were scattered. On our layover day I dayhiked to the pass where he slid down, and got a look at the area where he died.

Now everytime we get into situations where we're hiking xctry in big boulders we think about him. Its not going to stop me from going to places like that, just make me more cautious.

Last weekend I was tired, and that boulder strewn 1700' gain looked like too much work for how I felt. Injuries happen when you're tired.”

“SN - You are wise to stop when you don't feel safe. Thanks for sharing because is sets a good example for the masses that worship you.”

“get stuck in rocks and croak.What a way to go...that's friggin miserable.”

“What's worse is the water was 30' from where he was trapped!”

“are u saying he baked in the hot sun?or did he have to freeze his ass numb?Or both?Where/when did this happen again?”

“I hit send too soon. This was in Wyoming. I just posted our WY Wind Rivers trip from July of this year. We made a side trip to Island Lake where his ashes were scattered. I dayhiked to Indian Pass and Knife Edge Glacier, where he went up and over. Beautiful area!”