Desert Peaks - Glass & almost Boundary

“On Friday afternoon, June 23, 2005, I day hiked to the highpoint of the Glass Mountain Ridge (Glass Mountain 11,140') off of 120 near Benton, California. Glass Mountain is a volcanic peak and the hike to the peak is short and steep, with 1,900 feet gain in 1.5 miles. All along the route to the summit there's shinny black obsidian rock. It was beautiful out on Friday and the views of the Whites, Mono Lake, and the Sierra from the summit were great.

Here are pictures of that hike:
http://community.webshots.com/album/379272275cviIqs


On Friday night I met up with Joe at the Queen Mine Saddle. The Queen Mine Saddle is reached via a dirt road off Highway 6 near
Benton, California. The Saddle is at 9,800 feet elevation 6 or 7 miles from Highway 6. We camped at the saddle and got up in the
morning to hike to Boundary Peak (13,140'). We started out at 7:30 am and the rain clouds were already forming. I thought we had until noon at least before the rain would come, but I was wrong. At 11 am
just under the summit at about 13,000 feet elevation I caught up with a couple that had been just ahead of me for most of the hike and lightning struck next to the rock they were sitting on. The electricity ran through their bodies but they were okay. The
lightning continued to strike as we carefully worked our way back down avoiding the ridge where lightning was hitting. Joe was out along the ridge getting close the summit when he decided that he wouldn't make it before the storm came. He said he felt a tracer being sent up from his head. At
that point he moved quickly back down off the ridge. When I got back to the trucks safely, but it was very frightening. It was snowing and windy at the saddle and it was only around 2 pm, so we decided to head home.

Here are the pictures from that hike:

http://community.webshots.com/album/379299578EPPOZD

Anyway, I'll be headed back to do Boundary again before next winter - anyone interested?.”

“oops, got my dates wrong. I did Glass Mountain on Friday June 24th and tried Boundary on Saturday June 25th.”

“Wingding I was wondering about you this weekend on your Boundary Peak hike & was a bit worried because of the weather. We had thunder here at Tahoe Friday night & some pretty heavy thunder clouds building on Saturday. I can imagine how scary that must have been..you were very smart to go down..gosh what a story..those people sitting on the rock and feeling it!! That is darn close. Glad you two got back safe & sound

How much snow fell? Seems like that range really gets hit by storms. I loved looking at all your beautiful pictures of both hikes! My favorite has to be the one of the wild horses on the ridge! That is such an awesome picture I think...that one should win a prize!!
I am so sorry you did not get to the peak this time...but lt will be there for you the next time.

Boundary has been on my to do list of peaks for years..and was thinking of doing it this summer sometime...so let me know when you plan on going again.
I would just love to see some wild horses :) boy that would be the best. What is the round trip mileage?

Thanks for sharing your report and the beautiful pictures”

“Nice pictures.”

“oops, I slipped - I know that's not Mono Lake - it's Lake Crowley in the Owen's Valley that you see from Glass Mountain in some of my pictures. But, you can see Mono Lake in the picture of the summit of the peak with the radio repeater.
last edited: 6/26/05 7:46:39 PM”

“Kathy....nice shots!

Glad to see ya got off the mountain without incident....that couple was awfull lucky but now they have a story to tell....if it were me.....i'd prolly poop my trousers!

That shot of the register is way cool.....I noticed Corrine & Justin's entries.....it must be awesome to see someone ya know but then again...they're prolly in every register in the Sierras!!

I agree with madeintahoe...the wild horsey shot is very nice....giddy up....

BTW Kathy....you have mail....and are those maps you have posted in webshots created using TrailSmart by NatGeo? If so, do you have Joshua Tree in that package?

peace out.....joe”

“Thanks for checking out my pictures everyone!

stratus - I use National Geographic's TOPO software to make my maps. I do have the regional CD,s including one that covers Joshua Tree, but I don't use them anymore because I bought the software that covers the whole state of California (10 cd's). I also bought the CD's for the state of Nevada recently because there's a lot over there that I want to check out. The state version are $100 each, but I think it's great mapping software.

I have the DeLorme Topo Software for the whole country, but I only use it for work. The DeLorme software is not nearly as good as the TOPO software by National Geographic.”

“Thanks! I think I'll definitely take gloves on the HST. It looks like full-on winter in some of those shots. I like the one of the 'lightening couple.' I can feel the snow it's so real. Whew, quite a story.”

“Glad you made it out ok! From Mammoth we could see that Glass Mtn got some snow on the far ridge, but we couldn't even see Boundary!
http://community.webshots.com/photo/380064318/380538989kwpEXi

I probably would have turned back sooner. We saw wild horses up there in 2001, but they were far away. Must've been cool to see them close up!

Looks like Glass Mountain lost a lot of snow since we were there. Love the obsidian!”