Mt Dubois (NV) and the Jumpoff (CA) Trav erse

“Mt Dubois, NV (13,545') and the Jumpoff, CA (13,484') Traverse - Labor Day weekend

PHOTOS: http://community.webshots.com/album/443803540orueBE

This past weekend was a good time for me to make another try at Mt Dubois (my 3rd attempt). My problem with this peak has always been that it's such a long drive to get to Nevada, I don't have adequate time to acclimatize or get a quality nights sleep. I had just dayhiked Mt Whitney the weekend before and didn't get sick, so maybe this third try would be the charm.

For a warm-up, Calhiker and I hiked 3 miles up Convict Canyon on Saturday, starting at 7,500' to see the remnants of the old washed-out bridge. I was feeling pretty good that day and was kinda jogging down the trail. I'm not sure what happened, but a rock tripped me and I did a nice face-plant. Calhiker was a little ways behind me, but still heard a 'thump'. I had some trouble getting up because my knees were throbbing and both arms were underneath me. When I realized I was ok, we walked over to the lake and I washed off the dirt from my arms and legs. It was somewhat painful to hear and feel the dirt as I slid the lens cover open on my new camera. We stopped at the camera shop in Mammoth and bought a $10 can of air and blew the dirt out. Good as new!

After a quick stop for showers at the condo in Mammoth, we ate dinner, and then drove to Middle Canyon in Nevada to meet up with Astrohound and Rick Kent. Rick turned out to be a no-show. We found out later he was late getting out from his last hike (Mt. Sill & Polemonium Peak, both Sierra 14ers) and couldn't make it. We stayed up a little while talking by the campfire that Astrohound had built, then turned in for the night.

Calhiker had a hard time waking up Sunday morning. He didn't sleep well in his cot and it had been a cold night (29.3 deg at 6:30am). I was walking a little stiff from the fall on Saturday, but once we got started I felt ok.

We crossed a creek, then immediately climbed 2,000' in the first mile. We got to a saddle where it leveled off a little, then had the undulating ridgeline to follow for the next few hours. After the highest false summit, we descended a sandy slope only to climb up again to the final ridge. It was really cold and windy here, so we put on some extra layers. After hiking south for about a mile over rolling terrain, we reached a pile of boulders with a stick -- the Mt Dubois summit. We spent 50 cold minutes here, then headed for the Jumpoff. We passed the saddle where we had come up earlier, then hiked north along the wide ridge. A quick stop on peak 13,521', then the Jumpoff (13,484') before descending 2100' in the first mile on a steep, loose ridge.

It was dark by the time we got back down into the trees. We were forced to do a lot of bush-wacking, but Astrohound kept us on track with his GPS and Topo map expertise. He did this loop 2 years ago and used the same GPS tracks, but we took a shorter route than what he had done last time, so part of this route was new to him. He was awesome in figuring out where to go without being able to see the gullies and steep drops we would have encountered if we had made a wrong turn. We passed by two fire rings, one that had a shelter built out of pine branches with needles as a windblock, so we knew that others had bivouaced along this same route. The descent would have been a lot faster with moonlight, but this was a new moon weekend, so no luck. Astrohound was amazing! He gave us a running commentary the whole way down, letting us know where we were, what we were doing next, and how far we were from camp. He even got us through the extremely thick brush while hitting all of his way points! A pretty epic adventure!


Have to finish packing for a 2 week trip! Leaving in the morning! Whoohoooooooo!”

“Nice report, snowy!!!

Have a great trip - try to stay upright!”