Post by ronnv on Mar 10, 2011 21:25:55 GMT -5
Land Rover Trek 201 – Seeking the Top of Eetza Mountain – 9 March 2011
It’s another Wednesday with three hours to kill between the Portrait Art and Forensic Art Classes. Monday’s snow has melted and left a bit of mud amongst the rocks in the area. Eetza Mountain is a split topped mesa that during the Pleistocene was a pair of small islands that just barely peaked above the surface of now gone Lake Lahontan. The western peak is part of the Grimes Point Archaeological site and is off-limits to motor vehicles. The eastern peak is my destination.
About two miles past the Grimes Point turn off I find a trail that takes me onto the old abandoned surface of the original Lincoln Highway. I follow along this until I find a trail that runs north onto a ridge on a slope of the mountain. The first half mile crosses a mild slope of very muddy sand that gradually climbs the ridge.
Once on top the ridge I’m greeted with a row of “Authorized Personnel Only” signs. There is an active sand and rock quarry on the north side. I skirt along to the west and eventually I run out of trail and have to return to the old highway.
I travel another half mile around a spur ridge to the east and find the road that the quarry people use. I follow this road about ¾ mile north and then take a primitive trail continuing north passing an old corral and on to a large mudflat another mile north.
Just beyond the mudflats I spot a couple of trails that appear to head towards the top of the mesa. I climb some very steep spots that bring me on to a spur ridge where the trail just ends near a bluff. The top of the mesa is about 500 yards to the south-west and perhaps 100 feet higher than I am in elevation. Some time in the future I may come back and hike to the top.
The next half hour is wandering down from the high point via a different route than I came up. This route is even steeper than the climb up. Eventually I end up near Burnt Cave and follow the graded road back to the highway.
It’s another Wednesday with three hours to kill between the Portrait Art and Forensic Art Classes. Monday’s snow has melted and left a bit of mud amongst the rocks in the area. Eetza Mountain is a split topped mesa that during the Pleistocene was a pair of small islands that just barely peaked above the surface of now gone Lake Lahontan. The western peak is part of the Grimes Point Archaeological site and is off-limits to motor vehicles. The eastern peak is my destination.
About two miles past the Grimes Point turn off I find a trail that takes me onto the old abandoned surface of the original Lincoln Highway. I follow along this until I find a trail that runs north onto a ridge on a slope of the mountain. The first half mile crosses a mild slope of very muddy sand that gradually climbs the ridge.
Once on top the ridge I’m greeted with a row of “Authorized Personnel Only” signs. There is an active sand and rock quarry on the north side. I skirt along to the west and eventually I run out of trail and have to return to the old highway.
I travel another half mile around a spur ridge to the east and find the road that the quarry people use. I follow this road about ¾ mile north and then take a primitive trail continuing north passing an old corral and on to a large mudflat another mile north.
Just beyond the mudflats I spot a couple of trails that appear to head towards the top of the mesa. I climb some very steep spots that bring me on to a spur ridge where the trail just ends near a bluff. The top of the mesa is about 500 yards to the south-west and perhaps 100 feet higher than I am in elevation. Some time in the future I may come back and hike to the top.
The next half hour is wandering down from the high point via a different route than I came up. This route is even steeper than the climb up. Eventually I end up near Burnt Cave and follow the graded road back to the highway.
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