ipernity: Desert / Ghost Town Trek #36 by Jeff Nicholson

Red Rock Mine 01

05 Jan 2001

68

Fall colors near Sagehen Peak, off Hwy 120 between Mono Lake and Benton, CA.

Red Rock Mine 02

06 Jan 2001

86

Red Rock Mine 03

05 Jan 2001

69

This is the first time I've come out to the desert this late in the season. Impressive display of fall colors.

Red Rock Mine 04

05 Jan 2001

104

Camped at 8,000 ft elevation at Crooked Meadows to get some acclimation for my Boundary Peak hike. My toes went numb overnight, it was cold!

Red Rock Mine 05

05 Jan 2001

67

Boundary Peak and White Mountains from the Sagehen Peak area.

Red Rock Mine 06

06 Jan 2001

110

Sagehen Peak.

Red Rock Mine 07

06 Jan 2001

121

Went up Trail Canyon Road the next day. A recent flash flood really tore the place up. I turned back at one point for not recognizing the road and thinking I was lost, it was so dramatically different.

Red Rock Mine 08

06 Jan 2001

58

I drove this road just seven weeks ago. Apparently Benton got a lot of damage from this storm.

Red Rock Mine 09

06 Jan 2001

85

View from high up in the Whites. In addition to the terrible roads, I had just gotten over a summer cold, the night time temps were worse than I thought for September, and I heard gunshots from up by the trailhead. All combined this spooked me out of the hike. It's a subtle thing, but you have to be extremely stoked to do a peak. If your heart's not in it, you shouldn't go, especially if it's a solo outing.

Red Rock Mine 10

06 Jan 2001

79

Drove down to the relative warmth of 6,000 ft in Fishlake Valley to camp. This was kind of depressing to ditch the hike again, but it actually turned out for the best (more on that at the end).