Red Mountain 5261′
Southern California- Mojave Desert
Total Time: 2:00
Elevation Gain: 1970′
Distance: 4.6
Crux: Class 1
Companions: Holly
Trailhead: Dirt roads off Trona Rd, no services
Along a lonely stretch of Highway 395 south of the Sierra Nevada is the town of Red Mountain. Blink and you’ll miss it, the tiny town is named for the summit of the same name immediately to the east. Not only is it featured on the Sierra Club HPS List, but is also one of California’s 164 summits with over 2,000′ of prominence. I had passed the mountain a few times driving home from Mammoth Lakes back to Phoenix, but always during hotter months when the hiking the Mojave Peak would be rather unpleasant. But driving back from the Sierras in early spring would work perfectly for an attempt. Driving south on Highway 395, I turned onto Trona Road before entering town and quickly turned onto a dirt road. Unfortunately, my driving instructions didn’t quite match up with the junctions I quickly encountered. I took the correct branch initially, but then quickly came up on two more junctions that weren’t mentioned in my beta. I chose the more well traveled path and found myself heading towards an old mining site near the base of the mountain. Some Google satellite imagery showed some 4 x 4 tracks that would get me on the right path, so I parked the car content to do a little extra hiking.
A front moving in off the coasts meant the winds were unpleasantly strong, and Holly and I had little relief from the gusts as we started up the road, following the 4 x 4 track for about a half mile before reaching the correct road I should have been on for the trailhead. I was happy for the steepness to keep me warm in the high winds, and we reached a flat saddle at about 4300′.
The summit was less than 1,000′ above us, and we picked up a use trail to the south which quickly rejoined the road below a false summit near 4728′. Traversing this false peak, we dropped to another flat area with a seasonal dry tank and firepit. Had the wind not been so horrible, it would have made for a nice break spot and campsite.
We had been hiking for about an hour, and the wind was only getting worse. I would read later that there were gusts over 100 mph in the nearby Sierras. Still with at least 600′ of gain to go, Holly decided to turn back. She’ll admit wind is her least favorite element, and I can’t remember such a windy day in the mountains since a winter climb of Mount Rose near Lake Tahoe. She took the car keys and headed back while I half jogged up the ridgeline, wanting to finish off this blustery summit as quickly as possible. I reached a broad grassy plateau just under 5,000′, with easy cross country travel through the low scrub.
I knew the high point above me was a false summit and skirted along the east side to reach a notch leading to the high point, requiring a good 200′ descent.
The final 200′ to the high point had some options for scrambling, although a well defined use trail made it unnecessary. Some old tanks and a cement foundation mark the high point, the site of a prior communications tower.
I could barely stand with the high winds, and after briefly looking for a summit register (0/3 on the weekend) I headed back down the mountain, jogging most of the way. Aside from the constant wind, the return hike was uneventful and I made it back to the car in under an hour from the summit.
Driving back to the 395, we hooked south through the Mojave, stopping in Palm Springs for lunch before making it back to Phoenix in the evening.
