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A Surprisingly Lush Trailhead in Nevada
We planned on hiking Boundary peak as an acclimatization hike for our ascent of Whitney later that week. I also happen to be an avid state high pointer, so naturally, being in the area, I thought it would make perfect sense to bag Nevada's high point.
The day started off early, 5am wake up call at our inn in Mammoth Lakes. We drove towards the White Mountains under a star-filled sky. As the sun rose behind the White Mountains, we caught a glimpse of Boundary and Montgomery peaks from route 6 near the Nevada border. Fast forward one hour later (still on the road, this time gravel), we passed by a little pond where the fish were literally jumping (perhaps worth a visit after our hike?) Finally, we got to the trail head.. it was pushing 8am. Thank goodness there was a sign because frankly, I wasn't one hundred percent sure we were even on the right dirt road.
We loaded our packs with water and lots of tasty chocolate snacks and headed off. The trail wound its way through a lush forest (are we in Nevada??) next to a stream. There were a few tiny stream crossings and interesting foliage until we got to a clearing where scrub brush and loose gravel started to predominate. By 9:30 we were hiking on fairly loose gravel, still on trail. We weren't quite sure which peak was Boundary given the sparse detail on this seldom-visited peak. We spotted our friends from Philadelphia off in the distance mid-way up a steep section (they had started almost two hours before us and were taking a more conservative pace) so at least we were on the right track. The next 2500 feet were a slog up loose gravel, scree and big boulders.
It took a while for us to reach the crest where we caught up with the Philly people. The view opened up: Montgomery peak was so close we could almost touch it! Boundary peak was about a half a mile and two false summits away. Some scrambling and a traverse over yet more loose rocks and we earned ourselves the summit! From the summit we could see across the Owens Valley all the way to the peaks in Yosemite. There were eight of us at this point plus one state high pointer who was on his 38th summit. While we were sitting on the summit enjoying lunch, basking in our complacency, we decided not to climb Montgomery peak after all: at 13k and change, nothing particularly exceptional about this peak, we decided it wasn't worth it.
The descent off Boundary was a challenge to say the least: we traversed along the ridge gaining 1000 feet in elevation from the endless ups and downs until we reached a point that wasn't as steep to make our way down to where the trail left off. Going down was an exercise in rock hopping, scree skiing and tripping: whoever said the descent part of hiking was easy! By the time we rejoined the trail, we were pretty tired and found a nice soft mossy area near the stream to lie down and chill. To our great surprise it was only 3pm, not late afternoon as we all feared. A mile or so more and we made it back to our cars, but not before discovering what sort of creature had made those gargantuan piles of droppings we encountered along the trail. We spotted a group of gorgeous wild horses frolicking in the brush. Not knowing anything about how wild these creatures are, we decided we would not get too close. They viewed us with equal trepidation and moved along, allowing us to proceed to our car.
The adventure wasn't quite over yet! A few feet from the parking lot, we drove over a sharp rock: next thing we knew the car's dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree! Fortunately I had three veteran flat-tire changers in the car with me. I just stood aside as they got to work like well-oiled machine. I took pictures of them as they worked. Half an hour later, tire fixed, we were off, at a snail's pace however as we had used up our one and only spare! Oh and if anyone ever finds a camera in a red and black camera case by the side of the dirt road near the Boundary trail-head, it's mine and could I pretty please get it back?