Little Virgin Peak - 3533' and Las Vegas
Location: 36.60303°N, 114.22386°W
Stats
Date: 11/16/2007
Distance: 2 miles
Elevation gain: 1000'
Class (difficulty): 2
Time: 1.5 hours
Range: Virgin
Partner(s): None
Report:
A softball tournament for my daughter's team took us to Mesquite, Nevada during November. The weather was perfect and I had a few hours to spare one morning, so I found a peak to climb nearby. Since I had no Internet capabilities, I looked at a Nevada atlas in a Walmart to find a named peak nearby. I then memorized the roads to get there and headed out. Things went perfectly and the roads led right to the peak.
The terrain near the peak was perfect. Joshua Trees, cactus, painted cliffs, etc... The hike itself was on gravel-like terrain. Even being November, it was very hot (70 °) at 9am. I summited the peak, took in views of Lake Mead and Virgin Peak (much larger peak). Then it was back down and off to the softball tournament.
The softball tournament went well. We lost 3 of 5 games, but actually beat the tournament champion twice before losing to them in bracket play. 3rd place wasn't bad though for a team from Idaho against teams from Las Vegas.
There was a bowling alley in the hotel we stayed at. While watching the girls bowl after the final game of the tournament, I recognized Kevin Cobble, whom I have climbed Mount Rainier and Mount Adams with. Later, Kevin would bring over Dave, who was also on the Rainier trip. What odds to see them in that town, let alone that hotel!!! They were on there way to Red Rocks with their families to do some rock climbing.
After the tournament we hit Las Vegas for 3 days. Wow is all I can say... can't wait to go back and explore that city more.
Getting there:
To get to Little Virgin Peak, I took the first exit west of Mesquite. I crossed over the Virgin River and then took a right on the paved road just after the bridge. Don't remember the name of the road, but it is not signed anyway. I followed that about 10 miles until reached the base of Little Virgin Peak, directly east of the peak.
Hiking instructions:
From the road, head directly west of the peak on cross-county, but obstacle free terrain. If you really wanted to, you could climb some rocks and make it a class 3 hike.
|
|
|
