Mummy Mountain as seen from the top of Griffith Peak.On Tuesday night, I left work and drove directly up to The Resort on Mt. Charleston, using the hotel's current $19.99 per night special midweek! The hotel is very nice, but I can see why they're basically giving rooms away. The night that I spent there I saw a couple having drinks in the bar and one guy in the lobby working on his laptop. From the number of cars in the parking lot I got the feeling that I was one of maybe 10 people staying at the hotel that night! It was just deathly silent like a perfect backdrop to The Shining 2 if such a movie would ever be made.
Anyway, I'd definitely recommend the hotel for anyone wishing to get away from the glitz of the city for a night.....especially for $20 a night. There isn't really much to do up there at night, but even taking a walk outside and actually being able to SEE STARS in the night sky is a novelty for anyone who lives in Vegas!
The next morning my wake-up call got me up at 4:50am sharp! I took a shower and ate the breakfast that I had packed into the room fridge the night before including a banana, two bagels with cream cheese, some yogurt and a bottle of chocolate millk! Mmmmmmmm!! That ended up being the only real food I'd eat in the next 10 hours!
Like I said, I got onto the trail by 6:30am, which was about 20 minutes later than I wanted since the sun crested the mountains around 6:08 that morning. It was pretty damn cold out but I only went with shorts and two t-shirts. Trust me, as out of shape as I am, the workout up 3,000 freakin' feet more than made up for the cooler temps starting out. I made the first 2 miles in a little more than an hour, which was way faster than expected. However, the two miles after that became an ordeal. Switchback city!!!!! Once I got to the top of the ridge looking up at the peak, I rested for a bit and ate about 10 little pretzels, which would be the only food I'd eat the entire hike!! I did drink a whole bottle of Poweraide though, so I think that really helped put stuff back into me that I'd been sweating out the previous 3.5 hours. After the rest, I made the final push up the rest of the 400 feet to the peak, which was a BITCH!!!!! Go about 30 feet and stop while gasping for air for 2 minutes! Go another 30 feet...commence with the gasping!! It was unbelievable. The cold was getting to me and I could tell the air was getting a little thinner! So I put my windbreaker on, took my time and finally made it. It was a pathetic scene at the end though. It was so bad that I rounded a little corner, actually saw the ammo box there about 20 feet in front of me signifying the actual peak, and I STILL couldn't walk that last 20 feet without resting for another minute!
Once I finally got to the peak, I wandered around for a while (trying to get rid of a case of the hiccups) and took a bunch of pictures. The pics of the immediate surrounding mountains came out fine, but the haziness was pretty bad in the lower valleys so you won't be seeing any pics of Lake Mead, Vegas, Pahrump, Death Valley, etc. Someone had just changed out the log book in the ammo box the day before, so I had the honor of being the very first entry into the new log book! Woohoo!
The hike back down to the car was also pretty brutal. I never ever got winded at all, but some of the muscles you use when inching down really steep grades start to scream at you after a couple of miles! I sit here really early Saturday and I'm still feeling the burn in my lower calf muscles and feet!
So here are some pictures.
See that peak up there that is a little more barren than its surroundings? That's Griffith Peak. You can't see the peak at the beginning of the hike, so this was my first site of it. Actually, all pics of the peak were actually taken during my descent, which is why the sun is so high in the sky in those pics. I was too out of breath most of the time on the way up to worry about picture taking and I also needed to save my phone's battery.
Here's a view of the peak as the trail kind of goes around the west side of the peak. Look at the steep grade right in front of me. That's what I've been climbing for the past 3 hours at this point!! Thank god for switchbacks!
Another look at the peak, probably about 10 minutes or so before getting to the top of the ridge.
Okay, here's I've made a turn to the east and am officially on the Harris Springs Trail (also called the Griffith Peak trail). This is looking up at the final 400 ft. push to the top. If you look very closely at the trail, it forks off with the regular trail going right and the left fork going straight to the top using a use-trail.
I'm sure I'm out of breath and with hiccups while taking this picture of the lonely ammo box at the peak. In a couple months or so, this box will surely be covered with snow!
This is looking back west from the peak. I've drawn a little orange dot near the center of the pic signifying where the picture two above was taken. This gives you a good look at the final elevation change. From that pic above, it is deceptively steep! See that barren peak off in the distance, that's Charleston Peak. Many people hike to Charleston as a day hike. I honestly don't think I'm capable of that at this point!
This is looking down Kyle Canyon. The hotel where I stayed is down there where you see roads. I saw Griffith from the hotel's parking lot that morning and it was surreal thinking I was on the peak less than five hours later.
Mummy Mountain dominates this picture with Cockscomb Ridge below it.
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