EISPIRATEN

Kicked off desert season in the Mojave. Old Woman Mountain (DPS #64) is south of I-40 and southwest of Needles. Tricky to reach the trailhead since you have to drive a stretch of Route 66 that has been closed for a while with several bridge washouts. I drove around the barriers and found good dirt road bypasses for the bridges that were out. Hit a couple patches of deep sand on the dirt roads to the start. I hiked south on the road to the first of two very steep gullies. The standard route follows along the left shoulder of the gully. The slopes of Old Woman were lush with vegetation, junipers, knee high grass and cactus. Also an occassional cat claw. The crux of the hike was the steep side hill traverse into the second gully. Fortunately, there was a line of cairns marking the traverse. A fall on the sidehill section would lead to an long, unpleasant tumble over very sharp things. I drifted wide right in the second gully, then it was about a half mile on the ridge to the summit.


Drove around the barriers on Route 66




Above the first gully


Second gully


Summit ahead

Multiple registers lived in the metal ammo box. There was a good reference mark but I didn't find the benchmark. It might have been hidden under a pile of rocks. After a 20 minute stay, I started down. I found some cairns marking the standard route down the second gully and followed. I did the same in the first gully. Although most of the route was class 2, I did get into some short class 3 sections. In between some boulders, I found the skeletal remains of either a bighorn or a deer. It looked like there were two skeletons so they may have been dragged here by a lion. Out of the gullies, I detoured to the Florence mine ruins. The main shaft looked like it went back a good distance.



Abandoned shack of unknown purpose


Spiky subpeak was only 12' lower






Bones on the way down


Florence Mine ruins


Main adit I didn't explore

Drone shot:

The range was named after a feature called Old Woman Statue about 5 miles from the summit. I did not visit the statue but here is a photo from summitpost:



Class 3 to the hemline, then about 55' of 5.7 from the hemline to the top. Bolted route.

Because of the antenna tower, I'm guessing the shack is an abandoned amateur radio repeater.

Fun! Where did you start? You go to Cadiz, and then drive on dirt for a bit? By the way, you were by the Trilobite quarry. Check it out next time if that sounds interesting.

dima wrote: ↑Fun! Where did you start? You go to Cadiz, and then drive on dirt for a bit? By the way, you were by the Trilobite quarry. Check it out next time if that sounds interesting.

Yup, went down Cadiz, then took the dirt road immediately south of the railroad tracks to Danby. I planned to hit Amboy Crater on the way back, but the drive took much longer than expected and I was tired. Next time I head to the area, I'll camp overnight to get more than one peak. Old Dad is on the radar, and Stepladder.

tekewin wrote: ↑I found the skeletal remains of either a bighorn or a deer. It looked like there were two skeletons so they may have been dragged here by a lion.

Or, maybe a Bighorn tried to mate with a deer and it didn't end well for either one of them.

Thanks for the report!

Very cool. I wanna ride out there and climb Old Woman Statue. Has been on 'the list' for a real long time. Those peaks look awesome as well.

Cave Mountain awaits.