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tekewin Posts: 371
3/13/2021
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Sheep Hole Mountains High Point (DPS #71) is a rough boulder scramble about 20 miles east of Twenty Nine Palms, north of highway 62. The high point has over 2000' of prominence. It averages about 10 visitors a year. I started from the shoulder of Amboy Road, paved all the way. I followed a gully route most of the way. The first half mile up the gully was mellow with small dry falls and easy bypasses. Higher up, the angle of the gully increased toward 45 degrees and boulders and falls got much larger. I drifted left above the gully and found a disjointed class 3 route over car-sized rocks. Although the forecast called for sunny skies, gray clouds had moved in and dropped sprinkles on me. A hard rain would have ended my bid for the summit.
Fresh scat, but I didn't see the perpetrators
Tough going
Stellar views started to open up as I got higher. The final half mile required navigation through bus-sized boulders. I moved in and out and under the boulders on a path of least resistance. I stumbled across some cairns leading around a pinnacle. I was moving very slowly at this point, losing steam, but the clouds had started to clear. Passing the pinnacle finally revealed the summit block. I'd read mixed things about the difficulty of the summit block. The obvious way up was via slab on the northwest side. It was class 3, but only the first 10' required pure friction. There were chunky holds the rest of the way. It was far more challenging to get to the summit area than climbing the block. The register was in an ammo box on top. On the way down, I found what looked like some airplane wreckage. It took nearly as long getting down as up. Tough little peak. 5.7 miles round trip, 2300' gain, 7 hours.
Summit
Going under some boulders on the way down
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Brian Posts: 231
3/13/2021
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I love hearing about areas like this that are new to me.
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+1
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Scooter Posts: 114
3/13/2021
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Interesting, looks like a tough hike. I'll have to add it to the list.
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rockhopper Posts: 668
3/13/2021
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Always had that one and Old Woman Mtn on my radar. Climbed the other "Granite Mtn" near Mitchel caverns near there. Similar granite boulders. Nice hike and great pics. Going down is a work out too! Hope you had good hiking poles.
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tekewin Posts: 371
3/14/2021
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rockhopper wrote:
Always had that one and Old Woman Mtn on my radar. Climbed the other "Granite Mtn" near Mitchel caverns near there. Similar granite boulders. Nice hike and great pics. Going down is a work out too! Hope you had good hiking poles.
Old Woman also on my radar. Long drive I think. Because there was so much hand and foot work, I left the poles behind.
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rockhopper Posts: 668
3/14/2021
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tekewin wrote:
rockhopper wrote:
Always had that one and Old Woman Mtn on my radar. Climbed the other "Granite Mtn" near Mitchel caverns near there. Similar granite boulders. Nice hike and great pics. Going down is a work out too! Hope you had good hiking poles.
Old Woman also on my radar. Long drive I think. Because there was so much hand and foot work, I left the poles behind.
Old school with no poles. Awesome hike.
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
3/15/2021
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Fantastic! How dicey was it coming off the peak boulder?
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tekewin Posts: 371
3/15/2021
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Rocko1 wrote:
Fantastic! How dicey was it coming off the peak boulder?
Rocko1, thanks! It wasn't hard to get down. It's solid rock, and there are big holds along the wide cracks. I was facing out most of the way down.
I had more trouble reaching the summit area and getting back to the gully. It was super fun, though.
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ziphius Posts: 911
3/15/2021
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Nice-going! I mean tough-going! A lot of work and a great view!
--
http://www.coyotelearning.org
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tekewin Posts: 371
3/16/2021
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ziphius wrote:
Nice-going! I mean tough-going! A lot of work and a great view!
Thanks, Ziphius. Views were sweet.
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