11 years on Bridge Mountain, Nevada (Red Rock)

pics by Harlan W.S et al.
Jan 01, 2012 and 2001.

(Thanks to Susan M for reviving this tradition.)

My first hike to Bridge was on Jan 01, 2001; at the time I noted that 010101 was binary for 21, an auspicious number in Las Vegas. We hiked via the North Peak wash, and I met a lot of great folks – among them, Peter Barndt, who (I was amazed to discover) was 66, going on 67. I actually thought we might move back to Albuquerque that summer, so I wanted to “do” Bridge before we left. The next year I had a “freak” stroke that left me without natural balance and with partial paralysis in the right side of my body, so I figured my first trip up Bridge would also likely be my last (it wasn’t clear if I would live, let alone regain the ability to walk).

On Jan 01, 2012, I climbed Bridge by the much tougher Pine Creek route, for the 21^st time—there’s that 21 again! The hike was led by that same Peter Barndt, now 77 going on 78, seemingly faster and more nimble than he was 11 years earlier.

Let’s start with Jan 01, 2012. The Pine Creek Route. Jim and I took a slightly different descent from the causeway, compared to the directions in HLV.	The Pine Creek Trail descends, with a good view of Rainbow Peak.	Then take the N fork of Pine Creek, on the N side of Mescalito. This fork is called “Fern Canyon.”
		Peter led us around the dryfall with the hangers and rope.
…but we still had to go up the slimy, slippery slot at the end,	Barb looks off an exposed corner.	Barb heads up to the last tricky slot before joining the normal Bridge route (from Rocky Gap or N Peak Ridge).
zoom view down as others approach.	Jim scouts ahead.	Barb confidently crosses over from that last slot.
…then Tom	…Peter	…Judy and Candace.
Yep, that’s Bridge.	Jim and I got ahead, so we could take pics of the folks below.
We waited for a short time, the others caught up.	But we aren’t going to wait long enough for them to rest!	Suddenly, we’re on top! Peter is in red.
The east tinaja is frozen.	Bridge Point to E.	Arrogance!
Heading back down the upper ramps.	I expected folks to follow me on the upper ledges, but instead they chose to descend back over the slick friction slab.
	We meet the folks who came up via North Peak Ridge.
Descending the lower crack system.	Jim and I dropped off a different route, just in time to see Barb descending the normal route.	view up – Jim and I came down around here.
The last slot (before joining other route) is in back.	Jim on the “tough class 3”— one of the handholds is about to come loose.	Back to Fern Creek, in that slimy chute.
Paiute Wall in back.	Barb somehow decided to go really high. We asked her what she was doing, and she said “getting more miles.”	Here’s the waterfall where the fellow had slipped and almost died just days before.
Almost out of the dark!	The peak! (not really)	Now back to Jan 01, 2001! back before GPS, I was not really sure how the North Peak Wash route went.
At the top of North Peak Wash. Peter is at right, in white sweatshirt and yellow hat. Photos were taken with a compact film camera, then scanned.	Thes folks never stopped. I would stop to take photos. When I 1^st put this on the web in 2001, I included this route guidance.
I stopped to take photos of the arch— a wonder to me—and theses folks just rushed through!		Perhaps the most amazing thing about this photo is the “young” clean-cut Nick Nelson at R.
		So started a tradition. I’m more flexible now, but rarely balance on my R foot, as that is the partly-paralyzed side.