Bare (Butt) Mountain, 6317', near Beatty NV

pics by Harlan W.S.
Mar 29, 2011

I don't know why I found this hike so pleasant; perhaps it was the cool day, the lack of brush, the views... but in any case, I had a good time. I had no idea where I was going, as I had originally intended to start in another canyon, but was turned back by a "No Tresspassing” sign,  so I came back to the road described by Zdon. And it was (in March 2011) a very good gravel road.

The ridge that I took up is class 3 on very frictional rock. Once up on the ridge at 5000', you can just walk along, occasionally hugging the wall at L to find the best footing.
The wash that I took down is mostly class 2, with some dryfalls near the bottom; most can be passed or downclimbed class 3. The last is about 15', and is slippery and vertical; best to avoid it (and the shorter dryfall that precedes it) by cutting W at the top, traversing over light-brown scree and dirt, into the next gully.  

When I got back home, I read Zdon's description of this route, and was totally mystified; I don't know where the heck he went.

Obviously this is a cool-weather hike. There is no water, and the area has some nasty poisonous snakes that come out in warmer weather. The RT is ~3.6 miles with 2500' elevaton gain; I took 1.6 hrs for the ascent, and didn’t feel rushed.

The 24k topo.  The ridge and gully look deceptively smooth.	A broader view, via 100k topo.	Early view back to my car, with Telescope Peak in the distance at L.
View NE; I headed to the R of the fin in order to mount the ridge.	The ridge is steep, but very frictional.  Watch out for loose rock.  Sticky rubber is a problem on this rock, as it may not let go of your foot!	A view E, showing the high angle of the strata.
Another view of the typical ridge angle.	Telescope to SW.	At the top of the steep ridge, just head up! The ridgetop has some spiky sections, and is eventually an effort to follow. so you might as well walk on the S side.
	Ridges to SE; rough country.	The California Sierra are visible to W as a white band.
You can just walk S of this wall.	Finally you see the "gun sight." Head between the two rocks	To WNW are the  Grapevine Mts, on the edge of Death Valley.
	Boudinage in limestone.	The gun sight approaches!
Sierra again.	View N to the bare butt!
Charleston Peak and the Spring Mountains.	This is the set of ridges I took to the peak.	View off into NTS.
That little nubbin, R of center near ehe horizon, is Eagle Peak.	Heading back down WSW.
		The wash on descent... not all that smooth. Be careful with your footing, as there are many 5-10' dryfalls.
I set the camera at 45 degrees to capture what I had just down-climbed...	...same for this shot.
	The last dryfall was over this lip, and was too much.  I had rap material, and could have buried an anchor in the pothole, but...	...just chose to climb back out. I'm visible at R. Here's one place where the sticky rubber was useful!
It's not worth trying to drive this last bit of road.  The fence at L looks like a tortoise fence.