Mount Wilson is the highest point in the Wilson Creek Mountains of eastern Nevada, in Lincoln County about 25 miles north of the town of Pioche (and about 200 miles from Las Vegas). My interest in Mount Wilson came from its inclusion on the Nevada list of peaks with 2,000 feet of clean prominence, and for its status as a range highpoint. I had planned to visit this peak last year on my Ely/Mount Ward run with my dad, but time and tiredness prompted me to put this peak off until another time. The FAA maintains a radar facility on the summit – one of those “bowling pin” types of radar as opposed to those giant geodesic dome installations that lie on other peaks. As such, a decent road leads all the way from Pioche to the summit, although finding this road and staying on it can be a bit tricky, even with maps.

A month ago, descending Navajo Mountain in Utah, I twisted my left ankle pretty badly and strained some ligaments. In the intervening time the ankle seemed to mostly heal but I could still feel some tightness and soreness in it. My original plans this year had been to hike North Schell up near Ely, but I was fearful my ankle might not be up for the continued stress that hike would entail, so I opted instead for a set of peaks near Pioche, this one and nearby Highland Peak. Both have roads to the top and would give me a chance to test my ankle under some more controlled environments. A third hike, Scrub Peak in Utah, was also planned, plus some exploring of the area. I was also keen to visit the town of Pioche a little more than I had done in the past. With time off before classes start in a couple weeks, I left the fires of hell that is Phoenix this time of year, making a 4 a.m. start for my folks’ place in Henderson, Nevada. I arrived mid-morning and spent the rest of the day not doing much except going out for steaks with my dad and winning $30 at slots, which would pay for a cheapo hotel room later this trip.

I left Henderson around 6 a.m. today, following US-93 up through the Pahranagat Springs and the towns of Alamo and Caliente, arriving in Pioche a bit before 9 a.m. I played tourist briefly, driving through Pioche and checking out some of its sights, plus stocking up on some drinks and food. Pioche sits at over 6,000 feet and the temperature was warm but not hot, maybe in the low 80s. It felt really nice. Finally, I went on my way to have a visit with Mount Wilson.

From Pioche I went north on US-93 a mile or two to the junction with state route NV-320 on my left (west), which leads to Highland Peak. I didn’t want this highway at the moment, but directly across from NV-320 is the dirt road that eventually leads east and north up to Mount Wilson, which for the moment stood way far off to the north, visible as some light-colored slopes above the greener, more heavily forested slopes of the foothills. No signs indicate the name of this road, nor its destination. Perhaps this is deliberate, to keep the curious ne’er-do-wells away from the radar facilities. As for me, I was “pretty sure” I was on the right road, so in I went. The only junctions I had to worry about: a straight at 3.8 miles, a hard-left at 11.6 miles, and another left at 12.3 miles. After this last left, I came upon a work-crew out clearing brush for the BLM, and they confirmed this road does go to the summit. All other junctions were obvious, always following the main road when in question. After about 17 miles the road enters into some canyons, hemmed in by low, thick forests of juniper, pine and the ever-present sagebrush. The road makes a couple switchbacks, then descends into another canyon to a storage garage building marked as a snowcat shed on the latest Nevada atlas (presumably for the FAA people). From here, the road gains moderately steeply up the west-facing slopes of Mount Wilson proper, making long switchbacks with some interesting sections of exposure to finally gain the summit ridge/plateau, elevation about 9,100 feet. I drove up and down one little hump and parked along the road near hill 9,292, just south of the presumed summit, spot elevation 9,315. My odometer read 25 miles exactly from US-93. The road was better than I figured, and I was able to cover this distance in about an hour. Even up high the road is easily two cars wide, but with no room for error; the drop-offs are quite high and steep. I used 4-wheel drive for one stretch where wash-boarding was a problem, causing my truck to yaw a little too much for my comfort. High-clearance is probably adequate in dry conditions. Snow in winter and mud in spring probably keeps this road effectively closed to the public during those times.

It was a bit past 10 a.m. when I arrived, weather stable and pleasantly cool with some high clouds. I got my boots on and made the short and easy hike north to the northern summit where the bowling-pin radar thing sits on a flat clearing. The one-way hike covered about a half mile and gained me 120 feet along very gentle slope. I paced the perimeter of this radar apparatus and tagged a small cairn set near the east end of this little clearing, but avoided the apparatus itself. I took time to inspect another summit hill to the south, this one with more towers and a spot elevation of 9,308 feet. Given where I stood now was bull-dozed flat, I could not be sure if the 9,315-foot spot elevation given for this hill was pre- or post-bulldozer. The views were very nice, with big Wheeler Peak to the north, and dozens of peaks all around me in Nevada to the west and Utah to the east. The walk back to my truck took 10 minutes and my ankle was feeling pretty good so far.

Back at the truck, I drove south a short bit, back up and over the intervening hill near spot elevation 9,292 feet, and parked below this southern hill, the one with elevation 9,308 feet. A steep road leads to the top, but I chose to hike up the sage and rock-covered slopes instead, since it was less rubbly and slippery than the road. The hike to the top of this hill took 10 minutes and gained me about 160 feet. I looked around, tagged a rock outcrop, looked back at the northern hill, and could not determine which was higher – they both look like a statistical tie for summit honors. In any case I felt I had covered all bets by visiting both summit hills. The hikes were short and fun, a good opportunity to see how my ankle would feel. Both summits are bare, but some stands of pine cover the east-facing slopes and there is an old 4-wheel drive track that leads up to Mount Wilson from the east; this could be an interesting hiking option, although getting to the trailhead obviously requires a longer drive. A good road leads from Pony Springs about 20 miles north of Pioche on US-93, working its way north and east of Mount Wilson. With good maps, managing these roads should be a snap.

After my summit hikes, which cumulatively took less than 45 minutes, I started the long, slow drive back down into the Wilson Creek Valley below, retracing my route and having a lot of fun on the descent of the steep roads near the top, a real chance to “hike by truck”. The drive out took about the same time as it did coming up, and I was back to US-93 at almost noon exactly. This drive and hike of Mount Wilson had gone well, much faster than I anticipated given the roads were better than I had assumed, and I didn’t get lost like I figured I would. With still most of a day to kill, I decided to drive up toward Highland Peak and at least scout some of the roads and approaches for the hike, set for tomorrow morning by default. Well, things went better than planned there too, and I ended up hiking Highland today as well: read all about that hike here.

Just so you know: a road marked as “Mount Wilson Road” is located about 12-15 miles north of Pioche along US-93. Despite its name, it does not lead to the mountain. It leads to someone’s ranch instead. The roads I followed from the US-93/NV-320 junction works very well.