Frenchman Mountain
Summit #33 of 70--September 11, 2023
Wrapping up eight days of mountain seeking, I returned to Las Vegas by midday on September 10. I’d thought about giving 10,000-foot Fletcher Peak a try, but lingering storms quashed that idea. The forecast looked better for the 11th. Since my flight home wasn’t until after 6:00 pm, I could start early and enjoy a worthy hike and some great views just a few miles east of Charleston Peak. At just under 12,000 feet, Charleston is the highest peak near Vegas. I climbed it last year and was surprised to be the only one up there.
If not Flecther, I still had plenty of time for an easy afternoon hike, and the forecast called for storms to subside after 4:00 pm. Looking online, I stumbled onto a little hike/scramble up New Peak in the Calico Hills near Red Rock Canyon State Park.
The sky was still a bit threatening when I started up, though the trend was for clearing. Unfortunately, the dark clouds did not relent by the time I reached the summit scramble. I could see that I’d be squirming among the rocks for awhile, and after that close call on Wheeler Peak a day earlier, I backed off. Too exposed. Once again, I was the only one up there.
There would be no summit that day, but at least I had Fletcher in the wings. Or so I thought. I headed there next to camp for the night, only to find that the entire area had been closed due to recent flood damage. Hmmm, now what?
I’d read about another hike to a high point on Frenchman Mountain, a conspicuous desert peak rising to the east of Las Vegas. So I camped nearby and headed up before sunrise to beat the heat. The forecast called not for storms, but for a toasty warm day with a high close to 100 F.
The usual route follows an extremely steep and rocky “road,” if you want to call it that. The ascent stayed mostly on the shady side of the ridge, so that the majority of the hike was not in direct sun. It was a grunt, but eventually you get there. The finish was somewhat ho-hum, since the summits are adorned with radio towers. While the peak itself is not so much the objective, the view it affords is, from the Las Vegas Strip to Lake Mead.
I’d been skunked on both New Peak and Fletcher, so I was sufficiently pleased to at least earn credit on Frenchman for my 33rd summit. I’d managed eight summits in my eight-day road trip. Not bad for an old guy. I’ll take it.
