Rawhide Mountain (NV)

Overview

Rawhide Mountain is located near US 6 in the south end of the Hot Creek range in central Nevada, this nice looking mountain ranks #108 on the list of Nevada prominence peaks.
Rising to 9169 feet high, amazingly enough, this mountain has decent road access that allows you to get fairly close to the summit. With a prominence of 2450', it is of value to those who are interested in prominence peaks.

The nearest town to this peak is Tonopah, located over 60 miles away to the west so be aware that despite the nearness of US 6, this mountain is to be considered remote and you need to be very self contained with supplies and should let others know where you are going to be.

Getting There

 
The distances in Nevada can be daunting. Leaving Ely, a sign tells you it is 169 miles to the next gas station, to be found in Tonopah. Therefore, make certain you fill up on gas and supplies before you leave town if you are heading west. By the same measure, if you are leaving from Tonopah, that is solid advice, make certain you have gas, supplies and plenty of water. US 50 is touted as the "loneliest" highway in the USA but I'd vote for this stretch of highway to be awarded that dubious honor. There is one rest area along this stretch and it located "only" 30 miles east of Tonopah. The next restroom will be found 130 plus miles away from that rest area in Ely.

From Ely, it is roughly 115 miles to a turnoff onto a dirt road with a cattle grate. If you get to the junction with Nevada 375, you have gone 2.4 mile too far. (A helpful waypoint would be 38.2203 38,3470). . Zero your odometer, turn northwest onto this road and follow it, keeping left at a junction in 1.7 miles and right near Milk Spring at 3.6 miles. Pass a Wilderness Study Area sign on your right at 5.1 miles and keep right at 6.8 miles. At 7.1 miles find the Crystal Canyon road on your right. Passenger cars should be able to get here in dry conditions. Don't attempt the road if it is raining or has snowed recently. Turn north on the road up Crystal Canyon and rezero the odometer. It may be necessary to park and walk from here if you have a low clearence vehicle but an adventurous driver might attempt to go as far as they can. Keep right at 1.2 miles to an unmapped junction at 2.2 miles (7500+'). We parked here due to snow, but you could go further in dry conditions another 0.3 miles to the saddle. At this point the road you want has a BLM "Route Closed" sign indicating no vehicular traffic any higher. Decent parking can be found just to the right of the sign. Once again, I'd recommend high clearance and 4WD for the drive up Crystal Canyon from the main dirt road.

From Tonopah. To the turn off on the dirt road, it is roughly 53 miles. A helpful hint is Drive 2.4 miles past the Warm Springs Junction with highway 375 (no gas) and find the dirt road as mentioned above. (A helpful waypoint would be 38.2203 38,3470) Then follow the same directions from the cattle grate as given above.


For a helpful road map, I'd suggest the Benchmark map book for Nevada.
 

Red Tape

 
This is BLM land and the area off to the side of the road up Crystal canyon is designated as a Wilderness Study area. The road allows you to get close to the peak before hitting a "closed to motor vehicles" sign.

For more information:
BLM Battle Mountain District Office
50 Bastian Road | Battle Mountain NV 89820 |
775-635-4000
Office Hours: 7:30 am - 4:30 pm M-F

Camping

 
There are no "developed" campgrounds in the area but there were several places where you could "car camp" on the way to the trailhead with perhaps the best area found just to the south of the "closed to motor vehicles" sign that I would consider the trailhead. See map. Practice the "leave no trace" style of camping. Bring your own water as there is none in this very arid area.

Weather

Click for weather forecast


Click for weather forecast

Route

See Ken Jones peakbagger GPS route found here.

Another route was found by Brad Boester as related here on peakbagger.com

Seldom visited summit and some views

The register showed that we were one of the few to have visited this peak in the past few years.

Images

View Rawhide Mountain (NV) Image Gallery - 24 Images