Last Chance, Waucoba, and Glass Mt

Harlan W S & Bart S
April 17-20, 2013

Roads: On this trip, all the roads I took into the east side of Waucoba, and the east side of Glass, were excellent, recently bladed and essentially 2wd. However, the road I took in to the east side "trailhead" for Last Chance -- the route recommended by the old DPS guide-- is absolutely terrible in a few places. I got my soob (7.3" clearance) in there, but it was touch-and-go and required some very slow driving with careful wheel placement. There is one stretch about 0.3 miles before the old cabin site, where the Last Chance Road edges along a steep hill; there are eroded cuts on the downhill side, and big humps on the uphill side, caused by rockslides from uphill. It's creepy. Try the other route on the south side of the range (in Zdon's book, by Last Chance sulphur mine (Crater Mine)). Camping: For Last Chance, camp near the sulphur mine (Crater) or farther in. Waucoba has a nice primitive site at 7200'+, right at the start of the trail-- just be aware that area can get cold at night. Glass Mountain has "summer camping" at the Sawmill camground (~9200') and has a few turn-offs at lower elevation on the roads to Black Canyon/Sawmill Canyon.

	GPS trace on Last Chance. The up-route was pleasant, but the trail disappeared in a maze of scree on the way down.	The faint but generally good use trail on the southern of the two routes on the gps trace.
	Unfortunately, the pleasant up-route brings you over lots of intermediate bumps.	At top, panoramic view. It took me 2 hours to reach the summit by the longer S route (more elevation gain). The wind chill was ~0F.
Self-portrait, view W to Sierra. The wind was so strong that I had to hop to keep from being blown over. Note the sandstorms blowing across Eureka Valley.
Panoramic view, with sandstorms.
		I came down the ridge route recommended by DPS; it's hard to call this "hands-in-the-pockets" class 1. Perhaps it was the dim light as the sun set behind the mountain, but...
...the use trail tended to end over sections like this, where the top of a small cliff is covered with very loose scree. I think it would be easier if I had ascended this way, but I can assure you that I didn't have hands in pockets, and the trekking poles were anathema.	I cut down into the gully, and found more territory that was more like class 3.
The spring.		Next day I went to Waucoba. The minor snow was a slight irritation, but I made the top in less than 3 hours.
		Panorama from top, toward Sierra. The top is huge, and you will want to go to the N, W and S sides to appreciate the view.
		White Mts to N.
Sierra to W.		Mts Keynot and Inyo.

The terrain is largely granite boulders in sand made from corroded granite, and some care must be used on descent.	The way down, view E.	Squaw Mt to the N.
I spent a day in Big Pine, dealing with a car issue, then drove N toward Glass Mt.	From the N, Glass looked exceptionally snowy; but I drove to the E side "trailhead," took a 500'-gain scoping walk. I concluded our group could take a relatively snow-free route over sun-exposed ridges.	View of Montgomery from near Benton Hot Springs. I met the LVMC at the springs, we camped, and got up next morn for the short climb (1h 20m for me, despite the snow).
View of the Sierra from a few hundred feet below the top. The east side of this false summit was very snowy; fortunately the snow soon soften, allowing a safe descent.	The DPS summit.
View S from DPS summit.	View north to the slightly lower summit indicated as "Glass Mt" on USGS maps.
		Joseph chills on top

		I headed down to give my poles to other folk, and missed the group summit shots.
My tent.	Preparations for human sacrifice.