Mopah, Umpah & Old Woman, CA

Pics by Harlan W. S. & Branch Whitney
March 30-31, 2006

Mopah and Umpah are west of route 95, south of Needles, and north of Vidal Junction. Both are silicic volcanic plugs; Umpah has more crystalline rocks on the N flank. Near the top of Mopah, one comes into flow-banded, weathered rhyolite. The bands were once strings of air bubbles, hence the rock is weak in the bands and breaks off easily in sheets. Thus it is important to stay on route, where other climbers have preened the loose rock. Both peaks are tricky to navigate, and detailed instructions may be forthcoming at www.hikinglasvegas.com. The tops of the peaks give good views of the Oompah-Loompah Range. This area is known for the beautiful chalcedony roses that weather out of pockets in the volcanic rock.

Old Woman is most notably a DPS list peak. The ridge is nice, and the lower peak just to the S (Poohpah, aka 1619T) looks more impressive than the highpoint. The geology is very different in this range, consisting of granitic rocks down low, with older schists, amphibolites and a few migmatite "gneisses" on the ridgeline.

GPS trace. We took the N route in, and went out by the S route.	Umpah (L) and Mopah (R) as seen from route 95, near dusk.	In N wash; view SSW of Mopah. Bushes in wash are mainly palo verde.

	View SSW, about to leave wash for slopes of Mopah.

View SW; head for the right-most notch, turn the corner right and enter a steep valley that slopes up to W.	View down the steep valley.

View N. The big "cave" is to left. There was a strap at the top of the section on right, but it seemed unnecessary.	Looking back down S; the "cave" is behind Luba.	Above the cave, one heads N up a narrow chute to a sharp notch.

This is a view NW of the class 4 move, just N of the notch. It is much easier to ascend on the left, not using the strap (which is primarily for descent). The route bends into a hidden gully at left, after the class 4 move.		View ESE. Behind Luba are the lower Oompah-Loompah Peaks.

	Now we head back down; view ESE, just before class 4 and strap.	Luba downclimbs the airy class 4 section without aid of the strap.

Ed examines Nick's Vasque boots. View S through the tight notch.	Descending SSE below notch. Note the sheety, crumbly rocks at the upper R of photo.	To be honest, I don't know where this picture was taken; but I must do penance for all the butt shots I took.

	Now we head S to N face of Umpah.	Top of Umpah. Castle Rock is to right. Some of us went up N side of Umpah, some the S side.

View ~N to Mopah.	From Umpah, view of Mopah; standard cerebellum check. 3/4 full on right side.	Hello, Elvis?

	Descending off SE side of Umpah.

Walking out on southern wash.	Looking back at Mopah; route is shown as blue dots.	Next day; gps trace for Old Woman Peak, S of Essex, CA. The trail start is at the end of the old Danby Road.

Jackrabbit in the dim light.	Phacelia (Canterbury blue bells)	Mouth of first canyon, near prospect.

A hard-rock mine prospect (probably gold-quartz vein).	View NNW at summit of Old Woman Mountain.	View NW.

View ESE to Peak 1619m, aka Poohpah.	Looking SE; the 'M' is above Mopah Peak, in the distance.	Standard cerebellum check

We head back down; view to N.		Luba comes down the Canyon.

	Coming down the chute above the mine prospect.	The Mopah area is known for pink "chalcedony roses". The volcanic glass, cristobalite and tridymite dissolve to form solutions that are supersaturated in silica; these solutions precipitate cryptocrystalline quartz.

Another piece of pink chalcedony from between Mopah and Umpah.