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| Hiking | 5.44 Miles |
1,200 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.44 Miles | 3 Hrs 52 Mns | | 1.70 mph |
| 1,200 ft AEG | 40 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I've been wanting to knock another hike off in the Hell's Canyon Wilderness and I settled on Peak 2992. This is a rather unique hike in that the lone write up is done by desert boonie from 2009 and the pictures are by boxerjoey from 2003. I figure that I will try to complete the triumvirate by providing a GPS route from 2016. However, this GPS route would only be good for two things: to confirm which peak is 2992 (the last picture by boxerjoey gives a clear idea of which peak you are trying to bag...you basically have it in view the entire time you are hiking along Hermit Trail) and to show you which route Not to take on your way to the top.
Got to the trail around 8am. There's parking for about 5 vehicles on the shoulder of the road just past the cattle guard. Crossing the large wash, I angled to the left a little to sign in on the register and then start up the trail. The trail split at .2 miles. Spring Valley Trail heads off to the left and Peak 2992 via Hermit Trail turns to the right. As soon as I start down this trail I had Peak 2992 before me. It's a large red prominence with a significant drop off on its southern side. Very striking! I can understand why desert boonie would want to "bag it" and I'm surprised why more haven't. The Hermit Trail that gets you to the base of 2992 is well used and well cairned. I did the cardinal sin of jumping too soon. At 1.64 miles into the hike, just prior to reaching the crest and starting my descent into Four Tanks, I left the trail and made my play for 2992. My thought was to get to the top via the northern slope. This turned into a fun, but challenging and time consuming endeavor. Between the trail, which I had just left and the peak which I planned on ascending, there was a significant (but beautiful) canyon which I had to navigate. This involved quite a bit of route planning and a little skiing to reach the bottom. Fun.  And then it was up, up, up the other side. As I climbed, I kept angling to the right with the intent of reaching that "gentle" slope that I had envisioned being on the north side. If I took off my glasses and used my imagination, I guess you could say that I found it. The slope was overgrown quite a bit and I ended up doing some hand climbing with the route that I took. Not the easy route that I anticipated, but fun. And the view from the top was worth the effort. I hit the east knob first, and then the west. I'm sad to say that it appears that these mountains are eroding before us. The peak needs to be renamed Peak 2954. We've lossed 40ft in 3 years.  . At that rate this mountain will be nothing but a hill in 100 years. From the top I decided I decided to descend along the southern slope. It certainly didn't look any worse than what I came up. And, while I was at the top, I saw 4 hikers taking the trail up to Governors Peak. A "trail" sure looked and sounded pretty good at this point. With the exception of a couple of bees that kept me company for half my descent the southern slope definitely proved to be the path of least resistance. I had definitely "jumped" too soon. When I hit the Hermit Trail I took it east and headed back to the car.
Weather was awesome today. Low 50's. This caused me to wear a jacket, which probably saved me some "sergeant stripes" that I otherwise might have gotten from my off trail adventures. Wildlife wasn't as much as I would have hoped. Lizards, a couple of chipmunks and a lone burro who disturbed twice during my hike. Once going in, and once going out. I did hear a few " distressed" burros in the distance, but never saw them. |
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