Dry Mountain is a hike that many people find to be intimidating based on its fearsome reputation. To reach the Dry Mountain summit from Racetrack Road is extremely difficult and is known to be the hardest day hike to a peak in Death Valley. In addition, many hikers are familiar with the Sierra Club's Desert Peaks Section (DPS), which lists 99 of the best and most scenic desert peaks. Of the 99 listed, Dry Mountain is considered to be 1 of the 3 most difficult for hikers to accomplish. There are several different routes to reach the summit of Dry Mountain. Our route started about 9.6 miles south of Ubehebe Crater on Racetrack Road, where we parked at around the 4,600 foot elevation level at 8am in the morning. We decided to take the safest route for hikers, which involved hiking southwest towards the very southern end of the ridgeline. Once we arrived there, we followed the canyon around to the back of the range until we found a safe place to begin our ascent. Progress was slow, as the ridge was steep. But there were great views along the way of the Virginia Dry Lakes, The Racetrack, Tin Mountain, and the 8,432 foot eastern peak. Dry Mountain itself was not visible until we had climbed all the way up to a saddle at 2pm, a good 6 hours into our hike. Once we reached the saddle, we had to drop down into a valley of pinyon pines as we made our way to the base of Dry Mountain. From the saddle, the climb up Dry Mountain (8,674 feet) looked absolutely terrifying. But as we got closer to the base, we could see there was a clear path to the summit, which was steep but not dangerous.
Four of us started this hike... myself, Daria, Patrick, and a fellow hiker. We had heard that the Dry Mountain hike has a failure rate of 50%, meaning that 1 out of every 2 hikers who attempts it does not reach the summit. And this proved to be true with our group, as the fellow hiker and I made it, but Daria and Patrick did not. Personally, I reached the summit at about 4:45pm, which was nearly 9 hours after starting the hike. But I'm not sure if was better to reach the summit, or not to reach the summit. I say this because I spent nearly every minute of the day pushing hard and hiking in the heat, and had very little time to spend on the summit and enjoy the great accomplishment of getting there. Meanwhile, Patrick got to relax under a shade tree for about 2 1/2 hours and enjoy an extremely rare and grand view of Dry Mountain and the surrounding pinyon pines valley from the base. So we all came out successful in our own way. Once we were all back together, we finally got down off the ridgeline just after 9pm, when we all took out our flashlights. By the time we reached our vehicles, it was 11pm. It was 15 hours of some of the hardest, most difficult hiking I have ever experienced. Especially in the early summer heat, as we did the hike on June 14, 2010. For the hike, I packed for myself almost 2 1/2 gallons (308 ounces) of liquids, and it was just enough to survive. I don't think I'll ever forget coming down from Dry Mountain and having to hike back up the 700 feet just to reach the saddle. The sun was blazing and I was simply trying to hike from shade tree to shade tree, all the while feeling totally exhausted and physically drained. The hike resulted in my first ever blood blister and also effectively ended my plans for a hike the next day. During the hike, all I can remember is that I kept thinking that it was me vs. Dry Mountain and I had to come out victorious. I did (barely) and will respect Dry Mountain and all those who can reach the summit, or at least have the courage to make an attempt. Below I have included two maps from Google Earth which show the route our group took during our Dry Mountain hike (click to enlarge). It also shows the Alternate Headwall Route, which is shorter but much harder. As of December 2011, I consider Dry Mountain to be my #1 peak hike in the park.
Four of us started this hike... myself, Daria, Patrick, and a fellow hiker. We had heard that the Dry Mountain hike has a failure rate of 50%, meaning that 1 out of every 2 hikers who attempts it does not reach the summit. And this proved to be true with our group, as the fellow hiker and I made it, but Daria and Patrick did not. Personally, I reached the summit at about 4:45pm, which was nearly 9 hours after starting the hike. But I'm not sure if was better to reach the summit, or not to reach the summit. I say this because I spent nearly every minute of the day pushing hard and hiking in the heat, and had very little time to spend on the summit and enjoy the great accomplishment of getting there. Meanwhile, Patrick got to relax under a shade tree for about 2 1/2 hours and enjoy an extremely rare and grand view of Dry Mountain and the surrounding pinyon pines valley from the base. So we all came out successful in our own way. Once we were all back together, we finally got down off the ridgeline just after 9pm, when we all took out our flashlights. By the time we reached our vehicles, it was 11pm. It was 15 hours of some of the hardest, most difficult hiking I have ever experienced. Especially in the early summer heat, as we did the hike on June 14, 2010. For the hike, I packed for myself almost 2 1/2 gallons (308 ounces) of liquids, and it was just enough to survive. I don't think I'll ever forget coming down from Dry Mountain and having to hike back up the 700 feet just to reach the saddle. The sun was blazing and I was simply trying to hike from shade tree to shade tree, all the while feeling totally exhausted and physically drained. The hike resulted in my first ever blood blister and also effectively ended my plans for a hike the next day. During the hike, all I can remember is that I kept thinking that it was me vs. Dry Mountain and I had to come out victorious. I did (barely) and will respect Dry Mountain and all those who can reach the summit, or at least have the courage to make an attempt. Below I have included two maps from Google Earth which show the route our group took during our Dry Mountain hike (click to enlarge). It also shows the Alternate Headwall Route, which is shorter but much harder. As of December 2011, I consider Dry Mountain to be my #1 peak hike in the park.
Dry Mountain has inspired me as a destination ever since I first caught sight of it from Round Valley. Fast forward 7 months later and our 16 mile round-trip hike began on Racetrack Road:
We began hiking around these small hills and then southwest towards the low point in the ridge:
Looking up at the eastern peak, which is not Dry Mountain:
Daria standing by one of the many amazing Joshua trees. We literally were hiking through a forest of them:
A shot taken early on in the hike as were trying to get around the small hills:
There was a great display of wildflowers during our hike. Here is a picture of Desert Prince's Plume (Stanleya pinnata):
The next four pictures show you a sampling of other blooms:
Steve continuing to head up towards the base of the ridge:
Looking through some Joshua trees up at the eastern peak:
Looking back down the north-south wall and Joshua tree forest that we hiked through:
Getting closer to the base of the ridge now:
More Joshua trees and flowers in the next two pictures:
Entering the canyon that is at the base of the ridge. We walked through this canyon and circled around to the back side:
Looking further up the canyon as we began our ascent of the ridge:
Steve catching a break on the early part of the ridge climb:
Looking up at the ridge line we were now following:
In this picture, you can see our fellow hikers heading up the ridge. They hiked at a bit of a faster pace than Daria and I did:
In the next two pictures, follow the ridge back down with your eyes into the canyon to the right. This is our route:
The views started to get really good. Here we are looking at the Virginia Dry Lakes:
As Steve and Daria continue climbing, The Racetrack comes into view (picture taken by Patrick):
View looking down towards the north-south wall and the route we hiked in on earlier:
Looking straight across at Tin Mountain, a future challenge that awaits:
Following the ridge up was fairly easy, it was just slow going due to the steepness and amount of water we were all carrying:
Another view of Steve with The Racetrack off in the distance:
Continuing to make progress up the ridge line as it gets hotter outside:
At the top of this little bump by the shade tree is where Daria stopped for the day. We estimated that we would be gone for about 3 hours, but it turned out to be almost 6 hours:
Looking up at the eastern peak. We would not taking the side trip to the summit on this day:
Nice shade tree where Daria could relax and wait for us, all the while enjoying some spectacular views:
This was the first view we had of another mountain off in the distance which was not connected to our ridge line. But this was not Dry Mountain:
A few minutes later, we had our first view of the real Dry Mountain. It is extremely hard just to get to this point and finally have a view of Dry Mountain:
Our fellow hikers ahead of me as they are making their way up to the saddle:
View of Steve with Dry Mountain after finally reaching the saddle:
From the saddle, we headed northwest towards another ridge which we could follow down to the base of Dry Mountain:
Looking down into the valley of pinyon pines. We would have to drop 700 feet in elevation into this valley, before climbing up another 1,200 feet to reach the summit of Dry Mountain. Not a pleasant thought for any of us at the time:
The next five pictures all show you various rare views of Dry Mountain as we headed down the ridge towards the valley of pinyon pines. One of the pictures also shows you the route we took to the summit:
A shady tree which I took refuge under. The heat had become a serious factor at this point and shade was extremely precious:
At this point, Patrick took refuge under some shade and enjoyed some nice relaxation, while I continued:
The next five pictures show you the terrain as we climbed up towards the summit. Included also is another view of The Racetrack, which once again could be seen. The climb was very steep but not dangerous in any way:
The summit register box was also in place. We signed in and found that Dry Mountain was a fairly popular summit, with the most recent hiker signing in two weeks ago. We also noticed that there is a great need for a new summit register notebook, as the entries were full in the current book:
Two pictures of the geological survey markers on the summit:
View to the southwest off into Saline Valley. The Saline Valley Sand Dunes were lit up from the sunshine:
Looking directly to the west across the Inyo Mountains to the Sierras:
View to the northwest into Eureka Valley. The edge of the Eureka Sand Dunes are visible here:
Zooming out a little bit to show more of Eureka Valley:
Looking to the north, there were some smaller summits blocking a good view:
In this picture taken looking east, you can see the eastern summit (which we skipped during our hike), and in the back right that's Tin Mountain:
To the southeast, this is the view of The Racetrack from the summit of Dry Mountain:
Zooming in a little bit on The Racetrack and Ubehebe Peak (to the right of it):
In this final view looking south, Round Valley is visible in the middle left of the picture. Someday I would like to backpack from Round Valley to Dry Mountain:
Picture of Steve on Dry Mountain with The Racetrack in the background:
Picture of Steve with Saline Valley, the Inyos, and the Sierras:
And one last picture of Steve with the summit register and Tin Mountain in the background: