Pa's Rump 3x, Bluebird Peak, near Las Vegas

Pa's Rump (3x) & Bluebird Peak, near Las Vegas

I first went up Pa's Rump in 2005, one month after my dad's death. The name was intended as a take-off on Pahrump, the town to the west, and an acknowledgement of my dad's dry sense of humor. (My dad was healthy, until kidney cancer took him down very quickly at age 90.) In 2005 there were no cairns, no register, no sign of previous ascent. My trip report noted the wilder peaks to the SW, which I would have visted in 2005, except I had to get back to work.

I wasn't quite prepared for the onset of intense peakbagging. Courtney P. was kind enough to acknowledge (in a 2008 book) the name I had put on the web site. But then the summit ended up on Peakbagger; when I next went up in 2014, a lot of visitors had come in the intervening years. I was intensely ill or recovering from surgery (mostly iatrogenic) from 2017-2020; then the whole world got ill. It was a warm day for this last visit, and this was a good social distancing exercise for COVID-19, as I saw no one, and it was just 74F when I got back to the car. I use this time of quarantine for unfinished business.

Road was in decent shape, most passenger cars with ~5" clearance will make it WITH CAREFUL DRIVING..

Pics by Harlan W S
April 27, 2020

Trips from 2005 (blue), 2014 (magenta) and 2020 (red). The way I take for ascent is direct but uses class 3 (SW side of last steep chute) to class 4 (NE side of chute)	Context. Take the Potosi Camp Road off rte 160, washboarded but fit for passenger cars with decent clearance.	There are basically three "easy" ways to break through the cliff bands. Middle route has a class 3 stretch, R route has class 2+.
If you take the middle route, stay L in the gully.	La Madre at left distance, Windy and Hoolw Rock in middle.
	Potosi to E	Bluebird to S (view from S peak of Pa's Rump).
View NE from south peaklet of Pa's Rump.	Getting closer to Bluebird
It is a bit hard to walk on the very edge, but that path avoids the talus and brush on the W side
	The rock is so frictional, one can climb steep stuff (but beware of loose rock!)	View back NE
		Bluebird again
N face of Bluebird looks OK, but I chose easy route along ledge on L (E) side	Kingston range, where I was a week back	Clark Mt at L on skyline
		Steep drop to W
View back N	Charleston L, Griffith mid, Mummy R	Ridgeline S of Bluebird
View back N	I chose to cut L here to descend; should have gone another 0.5 mile S
After cutting E, I had to cut N to avoid cliffs below.	Flax	Fremont phacelia
Globe Mallow	Claret cup	globe mallow
turpentine broom	I came down the break at L	windows on Potosi
	From 2014: View NE from Pa's Rump shows a crease on E side where one can descend	Another view NE, with crease on E side