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| Hiking | 8.36 Miles |
2,234 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.36 Miles | 6 Hrs 33 Mns | | 1.54 mph |
| 2,234 ft AEG | 1 Hour 8 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This was a hike to the summit of Chemehuevi Peak (elevation of 3,694 feet and prominence of 1,774 feet), which is in the eastern Mojave Desert, not too far NW of Lake Havasu, AZ. Chemehuevi Peak is the high point of the Chemehuevi Mountains Wilderness Area, and it is on the Sierra Club Desert Peaks Section peak list, which brought it to my attention.
This peak is named for the Chemehuevi Indians, which were nomadic hunter-gatherers in this area.
I drove in a little more than 4 miles from Highway 95 on a well-graded dirt road that would be ok for most vehicles.
There were 3 parts to the hike:
1) walk across the desert floor for about 2.5 miles, gaining about 400 feet in elevation
2) Go up a rock and boulder filled gully that was vegetated in places for about a mile and a quarter, gaining about 1,000 feet of elevation
3) Scramble up some steep, rocky slopes for about 0.4 miles to reach the summit, gaining about 800 feet of elevation
I am not a fan of rock and boulder hopping, so going through the gully was a bit tedious. At times I was in the gully, but at other times I was outside of it.
Once above the gully I ascended the peak from the NW. I ran into a chockstone once that I did not like the looks of, and I was able to find a bypass around it. I saw a couple of cairns on the bypass, so I was not the first person to get that idea.
It was really windy up there, with the wind coming out of the north. It almost blew me over a time or 2, so I made an effort to stay balanced when the wind was gusting. Once at the summit, I found a place that was sheltered from the wind so I hunkered down there a bit. I located the benchmark, but did not see any other flivers. There were expansive 360 degree views up there, including Lake Havasu to the east, the Whipple Mountains to the SE, and the Stepladder Mountains to the west across the Chemehuevi Valley.
I returned the same way that I came up.
There was some scrambling in the gully and on the last part of the ascent, including a few short but easy class 3 moves.
This was an interesting and challenging hike, although I could have done without going up the gully. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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