Camping overnight at the low spot bend on Panamint Mines Road. It was a very isolated and peaceful camping spot:
My brother Jim and I set out to do the epic Sugarloaf Peak hike on an early winter morning. Behind us is an old closed road which first must be climbed:
The old road crests and then drops 250 feet in steep elevation into Anvil Spring Canyon. Coming back at the end of the day, the climb up will be dreaded:
For all routes to Sugarloaf Peak, you continue 1/2 mile up Anvil Spring Canyon and then turn left into Lost Spring Canyon (seen up ahead):
The hike up Lost Spring Canyon varies between wide open sections and narrower parts:
Jim enjoying the openness of the desert through Lost Spring Canyon:
After 2 miles (3 miles overall), here we have turned to the left off into Lost Spring Canyon's 1st side canyon (or 1SC). This is the beginning of my newly created Front Face Route to Sugarloaf Peak:
The Lost Spring Canyon 1SC has one major constriction in it, seen here as we approached it:
We are heading toward the low pass (or saddle) seen far in the distance here:
Rugged cliffs rose up high on the left side of us:
The Lost Spring Canyon 1SC area becomes more defined about halfway through the canyon. Up ahead, there is a junction where we needed to stay to the left:
The wash really narrowed down once we began gaining elevation:
Notice how the terrain varies from rocks and brush on the right to more smooth surfaces on the left:
A small climbing area with crumbly terrain which we passed through:
As we approached the pass, the burro trails became more defined. If you look at this area on satellite imagery, you will notice there are burro trails everywhere:
Jim pictured on the pass with the southern Panamints and northern Owlsheads in the background:
Steve on the pass with the Anvil Spring Canyon and Lost Spring Canyon area scenery in the background. It was about 4 3/4 miles hiking to this point:
This full view shows the scenery of the side canyon we had just completed hiking:
From the pass, we had this incredible view of Telescope Peak and Gold Hill (directly below it):
We soon began following the burro trails down the other side of the pass:
One benefit of having wild burros in the park is that they do create and maintain trails in some isolated locations of the Death Valley backcountry:
Looking back at the pass after we had followed burro trails down and cut over to the right to follow our route:
We had to wrap around a hillside to the southwest to stay on the Front Face Route. Sugarloaf Peak was not yet visible:
Another view back to the pass shows you the general direction we hiked after coming down:
Panoramic of the Sugarloaf Peak Front Face Route with first view of Sugarloaf Peak:
This is what the Sugarloaf Peak summit ridge looks like:
Zooming way in on the actual summit of Sugarloaf Peak (center) in this extremely rare view:
Also zooming way in to take a picture of the rocky gorge leading to the summit which we were heading toward:
Off to our right, this small peak with unique formations caught our attention:
This regular view shows what kind of terrain we were up against on the Front Face Route. We needed to find our way into the rocky gorge entrance seen at the back left:
Jim looking ahead to our ultimate goal of Sugarloaf Peak:
Off to our right, we could see some drainages heading up to another low saddle in the distance. But this was not our route:
Much of the terrain along the Front Face Route was fairly easy ground to walk on, sometimes for good distances:
Another Sugarloaf Peak Front Face Route panoramic taken as we got closer to the mountain:
Sometimes we had to deal with both small and large drainages which we would have to drop into or cross:
Climbing a minor dry fall in the one of the drainages:
As we approached the front face of the mountain up ahead, we continued working toward the gorge entrance to the right of the small triangular peak:
The true front face of Sugarloaf Peak:
Looking up toward the actual summit, there are some interesting rock shapes up high:
The terrain was a bit more difficult closer to the face, but still very manageable:
Beautiful colors and shapes define the front face of Sugarloaf Peak:
Looking back at the vast desert crossing we had to undertake to carry out this new route:
Keep in mind that when taking the Standard Ridge Route, all of these views of Sugarloaf Peak from below are missed:
Looking to the right at the long ridge which extends from the summit:
After hiking around the eastern face of the mountain, we came upon the wash of the gorge below us:
From the crossover point we were standing on, this was the view of Sugarloaf:
Dropping into the wash and looking back at a massive boulder:
There were more massive boulders in the wash up ahead of us:
Looking back at the early part of the wash prior to entering the gorge:
We would need to follow the gorge up ahead, staying right at any major junctions we encountered as we hoped to wrap around the mountain:
The gorge was fairly easygoing until we encountered the first obstacle of boulders:
In the next four pictures, notice how we began climbing through a series of boulder blockades in the middle of the gorge:
Notice how large some of these boulders are in comparison to Jim:
A few times, we found ways to circle around large boulders by staying on the hillside:
Looking back down some of the terrain as we exited the first portion of gorge:
Zooming in, the colorful hills east of Sugarloaf Peak can be seen in the foreground. At the middle left side, you can see Shoreline Butte:
We encountered a junction up ahead where we stayed to the right and entered another section of gorge:
Jim working his way past some more massive boulders:
The second portion of gorge had plenty of boulders waiting for us to overcome:
Jim taking a short break as we still had a fair amount of elevation to gain before reaching the summit (seen behind him):
Taking a closer look at some of the polished rocks of the Sugarloaf mountain block:
The second portion of gorge started out somewhat level but then began getting steeper:
There were more obstacles in the way which we had to contend with:
Boulders piled high in the gorge. There would be no way to climb some of the ones seen here:
You can just imagine how loud and scary it would have felt to be hiking in the area when some of these massive boulders broke off the mountain and rolled into the gorge:
We would overcome one series of boulders and another section would be waiting for us:
Finally we got to the top of the gorge and the terrain leveled off:
It was at this point when we finally realized our hike would be successful. Since nobody had ever reported on hiking through the two sections of gorge, we didn't know whether or not they would be passable:
We were now hiking through a small enclosed valley as we continued circling around toward the summit:
Some very colorful rocks which we encountered along the valley portion of the Front Face Route:
We soon found that the wash was a little too rugged to continue, so we moved over onto the right hillside:
On the hillside, we dodged boulders and stayed generally close to the wash on the left:
Looking back at the very distinct hill which rises above the small valley we were in:
Continuing to hike uphill as we climbed up above the small valley:
At this location, I spotted a small gully off to the right. We decided to try to use this gully to reach the summit:
Looking back down, you can see how the valley we were in circles around toward the summit:
Looking down the steep and rugged gully we were hiking up:
Continuing up the gully. It was slow-going but we tried to make steady progress:
The top ridgeline of the range we were on came into view:
At the top of the gully, we looked to the left and saw the actual summit waiting for us:
At the summit, we noticed that the benchmark was placed in 1949 and labeled as Sugar Loaf:
There was a small tin can buried in some rocks which held the summit registry:
This was our registry entry. The previous entry had been made 10 months earlier on 3/21/14 by a Cow Creek resident and DV employee:
View from the summit to the north showing central Death Valley in the distance:
View to the east at some of the flatlands and drainages below which we crossed on our Front Face Route:
Looking to the southeast deep into the Owlshead Mountains:
We were amazed to see this unique view of Lost Lake far in the distance:
Zooming in on the dry lake bed surface of Lost Lake:
These were the smaller peaks and bumps along the same ridgeline located southeast of our summit:
Looking due south at Owl Bm and Wingate Dry Lake:
It's hard to believe that just 2 months earlier, I had walked across Wingate Dry Lake during my Wingate Wash backpacking trip:
This was the view off to the west looking toward Butte Valley:
A dramatic view of Needle Peak, which is Sugarloaf Peak's nearest neighbor and perhaps a future challenge for us:
Another impressive peak located to the west is Manly Peak (summit seen here in the center):
However, despite all the amazing views I've already shared, this view of Striped Butte was my favorite:
A closer look at Striped Butte, which rises above Butte Valley with unique colors and great beauty:
This is the view to the northwest. Between BM, another summit which I have reached, can be seen as the lower hill peak in the middle:
This is a very rare picture which captures four Death Valley named peaks all at once. Between BM is at the bottom, Mormon BM is on the upper left, Porter Peak is in the center, and Sentinel Peak is on the right:
Zooming in on the Telescope Peak ridgeline with the peak above Water Canyon seen on the far left:
And here we have a close-up view of Telescope Peak as seen from Sugarloaf Peak:
Getting a picture of Gold Hill to the north:
Looking down at the Standard Ridge Route which leads toward Lost Spring Canyon:
While zooming in to the northeast, I was stunned to capture a view of Schwaub Peak (left side) and Pyramid Peak (right side) from the summit of Sugarloaf Peak:
Three pictures of Steve and Jim at the 4,819 foot Sugarloaf Peak summit:
When it was time to head down, we decided to take the Standard Ridge Route for comparison purposes and to see different scenery:
Looking back up at the summit after going a short distance down:
The Standard Ridge Route began by following along a mostly level ridgeline for a while. This was the easy part:
Jim looking down at some of the drainages we crossed during the Front Face Route:
As you can see, the ridgeline to the summit doesn't look all that bad from here:
But then we went over a bump and looked down into Lost Spring Canyon which was a huge drop in elevation some 2,000 feet below us:
The necessary drop in elevation started to take place quickly as we went down some steep slopes:
Looking back up at some of the nasty terrain we had gone down:
The difficulty only increased the closer we got to the bottom:
Jim surveying the area and looking for a decent route down into Lost Spring Canyon:
The Standard Ridge Route requires hikers to scramble down (and/or up) the terrain seen here behind us:
Another look up at the punishing terrain of the Standard Ridge Route:
We finally got back down into Lost Spring Canyon, avoided the resident mountain lion, and made it safely back to our Jeep well after dark:
