Backpacker – September 2019

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

BACKPACKER.COM 65

Dawn paints

the gnarled

mountain faces

of the Toiyabe

Crest in central

Nevada.

MULTIDAY

TOIYABE CREST TRAIL

Humboldt-Toiyabe National

Forest

Head far out of town and bring

strong navigation skills to this

72-miler, which stays high, skim-

ming the 10,000-foot ridge of this

central Nevada mountain range.

Yo u ’ l l b l e n d wi n d s we p t , h i g h -

country views with beaver ponds

pooling in the shade of aspen trees

on a trail first cut by the Civilian

Conservation Corps in 1930.

Every step is a study in solitude.

Trailhead Groves Lake (39.2503,

-117.1661) 307 miles northwest of

Las Vegas Shuttle car South Twin

(38.8885, -117.2411) 35 miles south

of Groves Lake Permit None Season

June and July (before water dries

up) Info http://www.fs.usda.gov/htnf

Las Vegas Permit None Season Late

June to September for snow-free

trails Info gomtcharleston.com

DAYHIKE

BRIDGE MOUNTAIN

Red Rock Canyon National

Conservation Area

Traverse ba nds of red, ora nge,

and cream sandstone up what

looks, from a distance, like a verti-

ca l crack. Up close, it mellows to

a class 3 chimney scramble, then

pa sses under a n a rch en route to the

summit. Park at Willow Spring, hike

west to Rocky Gap Road and follow

it south (high clearance alterna-

tive: continue on Rocky Gap Road

until you can’t). Pick up the Bridge

Mountain Trail at mile 4.8 (the

Rocky Gap Summit trailhead). Head

east, passing high on the shoulder

of Pea k 724 4 before tack ling the

last segment of stone playground to

the bare-rock summit. Skill check:

Routef inding on the 2.9-mile Bridge

Mountain Trail can be tricky; pick

up a map at the visitors center.

Trailhead Willow Spring Picnic

A rea (36.1610, -115.4984) 28 miles

west of Las Vegas Permit None

Season Ye a r - r o u n d Info redrock-

canyonlv.org

Las Vegas, NV

OVERNIGHT

CHARLESTON PEAK
Spring Mountains National

Recreation Area

The Spring Mountains burst from

the desert and rise to almost 12,000
feet, where pines replace cactuses

and temperatures ease. Two trails,

the North Loop and the South
Loop, ascend the gray striations of

Charleston, the highest point in the

range, and create a 16.8-mile circuit.
Joel Brewster (see right) recom-

mends taking the South Loop Trail

and climbing to a forest of bristle-
cone pines. Mummy Mountain

(11,526 feet), the second-highest

peak in the Spring Mountains,
invites a 1.2-mile side-trip at mile

4.4. Pick a campsite (dry) in a

meadow at mile 6.9, where pea ks
block the Strip and the Sierra domi-

nate the western horizon.

Next day, the switchbacks stack

up 1,000 feet below Mt. Charleston’s
summit. Cross the top and descend

the North Loop, passing through an

aspen grove that fires off in oranges
and yellows in autumn.

Trailhead Mt. Charleston (36.2548,

-115.6441) 40 miles northwest of

Joel Brewster

BOARD MEMBER, LAS VEGAS

MOUNTAINEERS CLUB

JOEL BREWSTER HAS stood

on the highest point in nearly

all of the Lower 48 states,

but the peaks he can’t seem

to get enough of are in his

backyard. He has explored

Nevada’s mountains, canyons,

and deserts for more than

two decades, ticking his way

through the list of 50 classic

climbs designated by the Las

Vegas Mountaineers Club.

Brewster grew up in Northern

California, and when work

brought him to Las Vegas 25

years ago, the redrock land-

scape baffled his woodsy sensi-

bilities. But soon, he realized that

Nevada’s wilderness areas have

everything from pettable taran-

tulas (well, he’s seen that done,

anyway) to bighorn sheep that

bound up near-vertical sand-

stone to wildflowers that flood

the desert with color in spring.

“It always amazes me—the

climate here is so unforgiving for

animals, or even for people, but

things do live here,” he says. “I’ve

really fallen in love with it.”

YO

UR

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