Sutor Peak

There is a big gap between this hike and the last one, but there is a reason for that:  it's snowboarding season.  As soon as there was enough snow to open our favorite resorts, we were out there as often as possible.  Thus, snowboarding has kind of replaced our hiking pursuits.  In fact, our increase in hikes this past summer can be attributed mostly to our desire to answer the question, "Now that snowboarding season is over, what are we gonna do?"  We use an app called Phresheez on our iPhones to track our snowboarding progress and also author small writeups of each of our days.  Here's my Phresheez profile, and here's Karen's if you're interested.  We LOVE snowboarding all over the Western US.

Sutor Peak is a small mountain that is a few miles behind our house in an area called Sloan Canyon.  We live in southern Henderson, so our backyard is basically an expanse of desert.  I've ridden my bike all over the area behind my house several times, and I'd actually been to Sloan Canyon a few times.  I'd always wanted to climb one of the peaks out there but never got around to it. 

For this particular hike, Karen and I had just returned from a day trip to our home resort in Utah and Karen was at work.  I was bored and feeling quite fit though we had just enjoyed a strenuous powder day the day before.  On a whim, I decided I'd bike out to Sloan Canyon, lock up my bike, then hike out to the tallest peak I could get to.  I was aware that one of the peaks was named Sutor and that it was the tallest, but wasn't exactly sure which one was it.

The bike ride out to Sloan Canyon is easy, especially if you're familiar with the area.  When I got to the entrance to the canyon, there was actually a pickup truck parked there.  This was the first time I had seen anyone else out here.  I locked up my bike and started walking.  The hike through the canyon is on a bed of small pebbles and stones worn smooth by thousands (millions?) of years of water flow from above.  These slowed me a bit, but I was happy to be out there, all alone, hiking at my own pace.  There are ancient petroglyphs lining the walls of this canyon but honestly, I kept a quick pace and had my eyes on the peak as often as possible. 

I had brought a thin, dry-fit t-shirt and unfortunately had forgotten to pack another layer.  It was a breezy day and in the sun I was fine, but my hike started later in the day and the low angle of the sun prevented it from penetrating into the deeper parts of the canyon.  I was a little cold and kept moving in order to keep my body temperature up.  On a few short scrambles over some rock falls, I marveled at how worn the rocks had become from countless seasons of water flowing over them.

About a half hour after starting to hike, my target peak (turned out to be Sutor) came into view.  Another 5 minutes later, I decided to leave the wash and start up toward the ridge of the peak.  I looked around for some sort of trail but figured that this isn't a popular hike so shrugged my shoulders and made my way up the steep incline to the ridge.  When I reached the ridge, I built a small cairn so I'd know where to start descending.  The day was getting late and the last thing I wanted was to become disoriented.

It took a few minutes on the ridge to reach the summit.  As soon as a I saw the PVC pole sticking up from the rocks, I figured I'd reached Sutor.  I slowly looked at the surrounding peaks, confirming I was at the highest point in this small area.  A geodetic survey marker confirmed my assumptions.  I also located an ammo box with a summit log.  After our "no pen" experience on Northshore Peak, I was glad I had brought a fresh pen with me to sign the summit log.  This peak is climbed more frequently than I had expected.  In fact, someone had been up there before me that very day.

I'd brought some peanut butter graham crackers as a summit treat and enjoyed them as the sun warmed me and the wind cooled me.  The views were very nice and I enjoyed looking at Black Mountain, which we'd hiked last year, from a new vantage point.  Mummy Mountain, as it is from most of the city, was elusively hidden from view by other mountains in front of it.  I reached for my DSLR and switched it on to get some summit pics.  I was warmly greeted by the "No memory card" message.  I hadn't brought any SD cards up with me, so I had to resort to my iPhone for the summit photos.  It was especially difficult trying to prop it up on some rocks to get a timed self-shot. 

I decided to start descending shortly after that since the sun was getting low and I knew it'd be cold in the canyon.  I savored my last summit views and quickly picked my way down to my descent cairn.  The descent from the ridge was very quick and I determinedly hurried through the cold confines of the canyon.  The bike ride back was uneventful. 



The Geological Survey Marker



Enjoying the summit

View of Las Vegas from the summit