A day after hiking Rodman Mountain a bit to the east, I was now hoping to make short work of Ord Mountain today. The two peaks lie near one another in the deserts near Lucerne Valley southeast of Barstow. While Rodman is well hidden, Ord is visible from Interstate-15 and features a big broad saddle-shapes summit plateau. It is the highest peak in this park of the Mojave Desert. The weather had been unseasonably cool, meaning instead of hot summertime temperatures in the 100s we had nice springtime temperatures in the 70s and 80s, with cool mornings. From Rodman I had driven myself south along Ord Mountain Road and onto a maze of mine roads in the foothills of the Ords. One road went up the hillside and seemed to me to be a good bet; I had no map so I would largely be doing this hike blindly. I gently crossed a gas-line and drove up the hillside road a short ways and made camp for the night.

The plan was obviously to make an honest effort at Ord, but without a map (it’s a long story), I was unsure if I was in the right starting place. Reports mention some cross-country while others mention a road leading all the way to the top. I kind of assumed my road would get me partway up, then I’d have to cross-country the rest. The slopes are open and there are no trees, so line-of-sight navigation would have to suffice. From where I parked I could see a well-defined conical subpeak above me. My plan was to get as close to this peak as possible, and if I was on a dead-end course, at least I could see my way back from this peak.

Very early the next morning I started up the trail, leaving my truck and starting the hike at 5:30 in the morning. The road goes up the initial hillside then makes a strong bend left toward the mountain: this was good. The sun was still behind Ord and in the shadows I could not make out much detail on the slopes above me. In less than a mile the road had worked up over a small rise and down onto a saddle. To my right and in a sheltered valley below me was an old building and some scattered rusting junk. Two or three old mine adits were visible across the way. Directly ahead of me the road started up the slopes again and came to a BLM gate with the usual meek warnings against damaging the gate but not prohibiting access. The conical-shaped peak was still ahead of me.

I stayed on the road of course, and each time it came around a bend or over a rise I could see more of it, and it always was going in the “right” direction – toward this conical summit and even past it. Finally the road switchbacked up close to this conical summit, then leveled and curved around its southern flank. Curious, of course, I walked it to see if it ended or continued. It continued, and now with more sunlight I could see the road went all the way to the top of the ridge! This was great news. The summit was still invisible and I had no idea if it was close or far from where the road crested the ridge. Only one way to find out!

This section of road was quite steep and rubbly, but energized I made good time and in time I approached the apex of the road. Now I’d find out how close (or far) I was from the top, if I could see it at all. Well, I got really lucky this time: when I crested the road the summit was right there! Well, only about three-quarters of a mile away, but still, not something like five miles like I feared. I was pretty pleased, I’d say. The summit of course is covered in some simple buildings, solar panels and a couple of towers, and the road leads directly to it. This section was lovely – the plateau is a meadow of low desert scrub plants, rock and gently rolling little hills and ridges. I made the towers and the summit, and spent some time poking around for the highest rocks and the benchmarks. The views were tremendous to the south, where snow-covered Mounts San Gorgonio and San Antonio (Baldy) stood high along the horizon.

However, a hill on the plateau to the north looked similarly high, so to be sure I walked down off the rocks and up the easy slopes to visit this summit, too. It turns out not to be the true summit, but it did afford me some good vantage points for photographs and some nice views to the north and east. I walked from here back down to the road. It had taken me exactly two hours to cover the three miles and about 2,100 feet of gain to the top(s). The hike down went very quickly, taking just an hour. I was back to my truck shortly before 9 a.m. in wonderful weather. I took some time to relax and enjoy the area before changing into dry clothes and packing up camp. Ord had gone way better than I had expected – I had quite by luck started along the “right” road, the one that went all the way up. Maybe I should forget maps more often!

For the drive out I decided to take the rest of Camp Rock Road north to Interstate-40 instead of backtracking through Lucerne Valley. It would add overall distance to my drive to Wrightwood but at least cut out the dirt-road mileage a lot. From Ord Mountain Road, it is 9 miles north along Camp Rock down through some interesting valleys of the Newberry Range and into the bustling Daggett-Yermo Marines Supply Depot area. I caught Interstate-40 and took it west through Barstow and south on Interstate-15 and on into Wrightwood. It was still before noon when I arrived at my parents’ second home they keep there. I took a nice shower and a good nap before driving down into Cucamonga to visit with my brother and his family for the evening. The next day I would start my drive back home and visit Toro Peak along the way.