Page Type:
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Route |
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Lat/Lon:
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39.36520°N / 117.759°W |
Route Type:
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HIke |
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Time Required:
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Half a day |
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Difficulty:
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Walk up |
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Approach
As you travel on highway 50 from Fallon Nevada, travel six miles past the Cold Springs area to an unmarked road that heads almost directly east. This road is the old Overland road, a dirt track and just a short distance off of the highway is a gate that you need to open and close. The Topozone co-ordinates for this junction can be found here
This dirt track becomes rougher as you continue on and after about three miles starts to trend south east. There were hunters parked everywhere and all were driving 4WD vehicles. Could a 2WD drive vehicle make it further up this road? Yes, one with fairly high clearance and a careful driver. The road enters a canyon and begins to gain some elevation, stay on the obvious main road as you encounter lesser roads, the first that goes north and then another a little further on that goes south west and at around ten to eleven miles, you come to an area called Basque Summit (see topo)
Basque Summit is marked by a corral and a road junction. Stay on the poorer road that goes southwest past the corral and take the fork to the right when it presents itself. It may be possible to go higher in the long run if you go straight ahead but that is not the route we took. The road to the right gets rougher but will eventually curve back towards point 8043. It gets pretty rough for a 2 WD and you may prefer to park and walk from here. A 4WD vehicle could pull up the 8043 hill and eventually make it to a saddle up at the 9000 foot level, making the final 900 feet a trivial effort.
Route Description
Whether you hike up to the saddle near 9000 feet or drive it, you will pass to the right of point 8043, after which the road drops down to a saddle, and then begins a long pull up to a broad saddle just north of point 9130. There is a gate to go through and after you crest the saddle, the road turned right and headed straight uphill. Rather than go up the hill, contour below the hill that the road heads up and aim for the saddle at 9200 feet. From there it is straightforward to work your way to the summit. Should you have extra energy, you could go up over the top of the summit of the other Desatoya Twin (elev 9965) but by sidehilling on its west side you'll save yourself a lot of energy. A cairn and a register is found at the top. A nice view down the Rock Ridge route is available as are expansive views in all directions.
Essential Gear
Normally, just a hike. Snow might change the equipment needs but I can not see the need for crampons on this one. Perhaps snowshoes or skis
Miscellaneous Info
If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.
Moogie737 - Oct 18, 2017 5:57 pm - Voted 7/10
Finding the Old Overland RoadIf coming from the Fallon area check the mileage at Cold Springs as stated. As you cross under high tension power lines you are 1.5 miles from the turnoff to the gated road. (Pass the Alpine Ranch sign on the west side of Hwy 50.) As of 10-13-17 there was a highway sign post with a bright pink trail ribbon and another trail ribbon tied to the gate wire, the gate through which you first travel. At about 4.9 miles you come to a corral which had a green steel gate, another gate which you must open and close. It is very heavy. Then there are no more gates until Basque Summit.