Ophir Grade route

Approach

For those who haven't the time or the inclination to hike up from Virginia City, here is an alternative (shown on the map on the front page). I've attached some info provided by Scott Surgent from his trip report in case you are determined to minimize the effort but, this is such an easy mountain that it would be best to hike up it and get the exercise. This road also provides another way you could hike up from Virginia City if you didn't want to take the direct cross country route up. Anyway, here is the info provided by Scott as provided in the Cohp
trip report:

Date: August 9, 2000
Author: Scott Surgent

"The Ophir Grade Road shown on the topo is not the easiest road to find when in Virginia City. The main drag (NV-342) is choked with tourists and not all the street signs are visible, or even existent! After a couple times up and down the road, I finally asked for directions at a gas station, and I was on my way.

The Ophir Grade Road is the first road on your left, immediately after two steep (15% grade) switchbacks and a Nevada-DOT yard, as you head north. A storage/garage unit and a water treatment pond are in the area. Ophir Grade Road is, in a word, awful. It was full of deep ruts, pits, and sections of jagged rock from where they blasted out the road bed. After about 4 or 5 arduous miles of driving I finally came to the intersection with the access road for Mt Davidson and its nearby summits.

This road was better, ironically. It's steepness in parts prompted me to use 4wd, but overall it was much more enjoyable than the Ophir Grade Road. After driving another 3 miles or so in a Northeasterly direction, I made a right at a rockier spur to Mt Davidson, drove in a bit, and parked about a half-mile short of the summit rocks."

Route Description

Again, a brief description is provided by Scott Surgent and again, I quote him:

"The hike was quick, following the small ridge spine up and down over 3 intermediate bumps. The final bit was up a trail through the rocks to a jagged summit and some towers. Very windy. A band of wild horses took refuge on the slopes just below the ridge, and there was also a grave site along the way. Net elevation gain was probably about 75 feet, but with the undulating approach the gross gain might have been about 200 feet."

"Then it was back down from whence I came. I took Ophir in 4wd this time, just to make it more tolerable. While the roads don't absolutely require 4wd, having it makes the trip so much more enjoyable."

Essential Gear

A vehicle, with 4WD. I've included this route only because it is well covered in the county highpointers trip reports via reports provided by:
Andy Martin
Ken Jones
Bill Jacobs
and of course Scott Surgent's report, which is utilized for the majority of the route description.

BTW, Scott has done some excellent trip reports, complete with pictures at his website which you can find HERE. Please takesome time and check his work out.


Thanks to Scott for granting me permission to post this info.

Miscellaneous Info

If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.