NW gully via Hidden Valley

Approach

See main page.

Route Description

From the parking area, head up a fading Jeep road to an obvious saddle to the W/NW. At the saddle, you will find the wilderness boundary. A really cool area called Hidden Valley is directly below.

Drop down from the saddle on the Jeep road and follow it into Hidden Valley. At first the road heads westerly, then bends toward the southwest. While in the valley, be sure and scramble around and check out many of the odd and wonderful sandstone formations that you'll see. Good stuff.

About 1/2 mile after leaving the saddle, the road dumps down into a prominent wash before continuing on the other side of the wash. From this point, leave the road and head south along the wash.

Your next goal is to head south cross-county to the other side of Hidden Valley and to a prominent saddle to the right of Muddy Peak's false summit. Don't bother looking for a trail - there isn't one. Here's a picture showing the saddle from about halfway across Hidden Valley.

Once the saddle is reached, after a long and tedious slog up to it, hang a quick left and start up another steep and tedious slope - this one of scree. It's a drag, but quick, and you're aiming for the false summit, which is directly above and to the left. As tempting as it may be to angle directly toward Muddy Peak, which is to the E/SE, head straight up to the false summit by staying as close to the left ridge as you can. Trust me. It's easier this way.

Once the false summit is gained, look southeast toward the now-unfolded summit block of Muddy Peak, still 1/2 mile or so away. The ridge you now need to follow is quite obvious from here. It has some ups and downs, several sections of class 3, a couple of potentially bypassable class 4, and staying near its crest is the best way (in my opinion) to go.

Now, if you stay more or less true to the crest of the ridge, you will find that it will eventually drop you off at the base of an obvious gully - this is the NW gully. Although from a distance the summit block seems unsurmountable, once you reach the base of the gully, you will see otherwise. Head up the gully.

The majority of the steep gully, which is perhaps 125 feet in length, is class 2-3, however, there are 1 or 2 short sections of class 4. Exposure is minimal.

At the top of the gully, you will find that you are still only about halfway up the summit block. You will now need to angle to the right slightly and work your way up onto an exposed class 2 & 3 rib.

Follow the rib up for 50 feet or so until it dumps you off in a short gully that leads you straight to the summit over class 2 terrain.

Congrats! You have now reached the summit of one of southern Nevada's finest peaks.

To descend, retrace your steps.

RT numbers: approx. 9 miles & 3000 ft gain

Essential Gear

Hiking, boots, sunscreen, hat, plenty of water.

A rope and some slings if uncomfortable with short class 3 and easy class 4 stuff.

Images

View NW gully via Hidden Valley Image Gallery - 6 Images