'B' Street Route

Approach

There is no designated trailhead for this one but using common sense and a GPS with preloaded summit coordinates allowed me to find a spot off of Virginia City's main street where 'B' and Main St meet up (see Yahoo map below). I parked down on B street where it comes close to intersecting main street , also known as 'C' street. A fenced-off pit area was present and obvious and I parked about 150 feet north of this pit on the west side of the road. This spot became the trailhead for me. There was room to park safely out of the flow of traffic on the roadside.


I've linked a map to the area using Yahoo and this map is found by clicking Yahoo and my thanks to Yahoo for their outstanding website.

Route Description

Immediately behind where I parked, I found a way up to the hillside that led me to an abandoned jeep track that I was able to follow for a fair distance before I started straight up the hill (according to my GPS) in the direction of the highpoint. I had parked at 6314 elevation so I knew I had 1550 feet to climb before I would reach the top. I could see a ridge to the north which separated my side of the hill from the side that others have used to go cross country but I found a rudimentary path that was leading up the hill from the jeep road so I followed that rather than try and access the ridge and intersect the other route.
It turned out to be a good choice as it was very direct.

As I went up, I found that often I would take two steps up and slide back one. The ground is very rocky and loosely compacted. I soon found a way to avoid the backsliding and began to make good time. The town of Virginia City makes a unique backdrop as the sounds of the school yard and bells make you realize that you are never far from civilization. It took me less than an hour to gain the point where the antenna towers came into view and my GPS indicated that I had gained a thousand feet of elevation. The last 500 feet went rapidly and I found it an easy scramble to gain the summit area. I was greeted with outstanding views in all directions and it is obvious that Nevada has many mountain ranges as they seem to be all around you. The view back down to Virginia City was awesome and the town looked liked a toy set.

Time up 1 hour 20 minutes
Time down 35 minutes
Elevation gain 1550 feet
Distance 3 miles roundtrip.(perhaps less)

Essential Gear

In winter, perhaps an ice axe might be worthwhile but until someone chimes in who has climbed this in snowy or icy conditions, I would be guessing as to what you might need. It is too steep for snowshoes and perhaps crampons might be needed.

In spring - fall, take water and sunscreen. This is a quickie and can be done in 2 or 3 hours by almost anyone. I wasn't in great shape and it still took me less than 2 hours.

Adam Helman's X-C route

Adam took a little different route up from Virginia City than I did and so I have placed a link to it HERE.

I started to do his route but a large dog (barking and snarling) blocked my path as I was about to follow Adam's route. Not interested in becoming this Cujo looking mutt's lunch, I elected to seek a different path and that is the 'B' street one I came up with.

Images

View 'B' Street Route Image Gallery - 1 Images