Northwest Ridge

Overview

The Northwest Ridge is the easiest route to the top of this peak. It involves nothing that is technical and most of it could be hiked with your hands in your pocket. The steepest part is just accessing the ridge from where you park your vehicle. You will have a good chance to see wild horses on this route as their "calling cards" are plentiful as are some of the paths they have created. For the most part, this is all cross country but a bit of map studying will aid you in your efforts as well as the GPS waypoints I will
provide later on. I had tried to access the peak from the Eastside back in November and found that while it was very doable, it was also a bit longer than I had planned on because the wilderness boundary had stopped me from using a jeep road that another highpointer, John Vitz had used in his hike of this peak a few years before. I had started a bit late in the day and had a commitment to deal with which forced me to abort my attempt about half way up.

Getting There

See the information provided on the main page.

Route Description

From the place where you park, just off the jeep road as it swings back north to go up to Quincy Springs, look at the steep hillside just across the way from where you park. (south) GPS (all are lat/long nad 27)
Park here: 40.5593 112.9815 5760 feet

Climb this hillside until you reach the top of it and then stay left on the top of the ridgeline the rest of the way. Don't be tempted to drop down to the left or the right, just stay right on the top and you will be rewarded for your efforts.

If you have a GPS, here are a few waypoints to keep you on track:
Waypoint one on the ridge 40.5570 112.9798 6170 feet
Waypoint two 40.5558 112.9757 6385 feet
Waypoint three 40.5542 112.9725 6650 feet
Waypoint four 40.5517 112.9693 7055 feet
Waypoint five 40.5492 112.9670 7360 feet

Those will keep you on the ridge. Near Waypoint four, you will want to start angling right. You can't see the summit from here but you will by the time you get to waypoint five. I will readily admit that you don't need any of the waypoints I've provided (I marked them on the way down) but
just in case you run into fog or conditions where you might benefit from having them, I have thus included them. It is helpful to GPS where the summit is regardless of condtions.

I found the hike to be 1.8 miles up (3.6 round trip) and an elevation gain of 2000 feet. I did the hike up in 1 1/2 hours and the hike down in half that time. The longest part of the hike wasn't the hike, it was the drive in and out.

Essential Gear

The usual day hike gear and water. Always take plenty of water in your vehicle and have enough for the hike.

External Links

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Map

A rough map thanks to my inability to get my Nat'l Geographic Topo series to give a high resolution map.

Images

View Northwest Ridge Image Gallery - 10 Images