Bard-Ireteba Loop Hike

Drive In

This was my 3rd hike in 3 days of hiking around southern Nevada. It was my last hike before heading home to Las Vegas. I drove up from Laughlin that morning. I followed the directions from Searchlight in the "Getting there" section of Bard-Ireteba Loop route.

Along the way to the parking area I saw a nice huge jack rabbit. The drive into this area was fairly good. A high clearance vehicle is definately needed but I never had to go into 4WD.

Hike up Bard Peak

Once I parked I saw the wash just to the left (North) of where I parked. I started hiking into the wash heading towards Bard Peak's west ridge. Along the way I passed a rock wall on the right side of the wash.

Once I got on the west ridge of Bard Peak I looked up and saw 3 minor peaks. Bard Peak was not visible at this point. I hiked up the left side of the peak straight in front of me and towards the ridge of the peak on the left heading towards the peak furthest up that I could see.




Once I got up to the top of this peak I then could see Bard Peak not far away. I hiked the rest of the way to Bard Peak. The summit log was in an old beer can and inside of it was a medicine bottle. I replaced this register with a new one. This was needed.




I then rested here enjoying the views of Lake Mohave, snow topped Mt. Charleston, McCullough, the Colorado River, and much more. It was very sunny. I took pictures as well.

Hiking to Ireteba

After resting on Bard I started hiking down the North ridge to the saddle between Bard and Ireteba Peak. I then scrambled the boulders along the west side of the south ridge up Ireteba Peak. I again enjoyed the great views and took many photos. The last time this peak was summited was on 8 March 2006.

I could see my pickup from the summit. I looked down and planned my route off of Ireteba down into the wash and back to my pickup.




[img:262899:alignleft:small:Myself on Ireteba Peak]

The Hike down

I started hiking down the west ridge of Ireteba. I had to take my time and find routes that were not over cliffs along the way off the ridge. I managed to hike down mostly class 2. I had to watch my step though to keep from slipping.

I hiked down off the ridge into the wash between Bard and Ireteba Peaks. I then hiked towards a little hill on the left side of the wash and then turned left (South) over 3 washes. I ended up hiking down to far and had to hike back up the road a short distance to my pickup. The whole trip was 3.0 miles, but if I wouldn't have gone to far out of my way it would have been about 2.6 miles.

Images

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