Northshore Peak

With the colder weather sweeping through the Vegas area, Mt. Charleston isn't really much of a hiking option anymore.  There is probably snow on every peak we'd want to hike to, and we don't have crampons/ice axes/snowshoes to get up there.  Red Rock is a decent option in the winter, but the area can still receive snow and actually, this particular weekend, there was snow at the top of Bridge Mountain, which is where I wanted to hike.  That leaves the Lake Mead area, which is kind of an unknown for Karen and I.  I've been boating there a few times, and Karen ran a half marathon out there, but I had no idea how many name and unnamed peaks are in this massive area, awaiting exploration.

We decided to do the 3 mile route to Northshore Peak, since we had a time constraint.  There's no trail to the top, but it's an easy to follow route.  The route starts at a rest area about 18 miles down Northshore Road.  You basically park, take a look at the peak, cross the street, and start walking towards the saddle just to the east of the summit ridge.

Temps were wonderful, probably in the mid-50's.  I had just scored a nice new long sleeve moisture wicking shirt and got to try it out.  It worked well.  It was mildly breezy but nothing to impede our progress.  We quickly made it to the base of the saddle, but at this point you're looking up at a wall and you need to find a way around it to gain the saddle.  We found a chute just to the left (east) and picked our way up on to the saddle.  From here, we just followed the ridge.  We had momentary flashbacks to Bear Mountain in Sedona, with its numerous false summits.  Each time we'd gain a high point on a ridge, there'd be more to the hike remaining.

Just before the final couple hundred yards to the summit, there's a downclimb that's necessary to get around a small crevasse in the ridge.  We analyzed our route before making our way down and then back up, and in a couple minutes, we reached the summit.

The views are very nice from the top.  We had fun pointing out Potosi and the Spring Mountains to the West, the Sheep range to the Northwest, and the Muddy Mountains and Bowl of Fire to the North.  Virgin Peak (with snow on it) was to the Northeast, and then we could spin around and see Lake Mead to the South.  The sun finally peaked out just as we reached the top and it warmed us up enough to keep us comfortable up there.  Karen brought some raspberries and we sat happily munching them, enjoying the view.

We found the summit log, which was actually a piece of paper in a glass jar.  Unfortunately, there was no pen/pencil to sign with, so we weren't able to sign.  That's a bit of a bummer, since it looks like only a few people a year get up to Northshore Peak.  We saw signatures on the single piece of paper from back in 2004.

Unfortunately, we needed to get back.  Had we not had the time constraint, we would have continued West along the ridge.  It was a little thin and looked fun.  Alas, we retraced our steps and made our way back to our car.

It's a bit of a long drive out that far on Northshore Rd. but we learned that the Lake Mead area is HUGE and I can't wait to get out and explore more of it.