The Inyo Crest Traverse – May 2009
Pleasant Pt 9690’, New York Butte 10668’, Point 10414’, Keynot Peak 11101’ and Mount Inyo 10975’
Leaders: Kathy Rich, Larry Tidball, and Barbee Tidball
Participants: Anne Anglim, Ron Bartell, Tom Bowman, Nick Brogna, Keith Christensen, Steve Eckert, Michael Gosnell, Ron Hudson, Wayne Martin, Christine Mitchell, Kathy Rich, Barbee Tidball, Larry Tidball
The most complex part of the trip was staging cars at our exit trailhead (Union Wash) while still being able to shuttle everyone to our entry trailhead (Cerro Gordo). Carrying 3 days of water made for heavy packs, but camping at an old mine on the ridgeline and later on the high point of the range made the loads worthwhile. Clouds threatened us every afternoon, and while we saw downpours on every side of us we never got wet.
The car shuttle dominated our first morning. We met at 6.30am, shuffled
plans and people and gear before sending some trucks to the exit trailhead (Union Wash) while others waited at the meeting spot for a
caravan to the entry trailhead (Cerro Gordo).
From Cerro Gordo, we started around 9:00 am with our very heavy packs (mostly around 50lb) and hiked uphill past the big steel gate. We left the road where it crosses the ridgeline and dropped north to the saddle, picking up a use trail that stayed on the west side of Pleasant Point. Bypassing several false summits, we left the use trail at 9600', scrambling 100' to the summit.
We reached our first peak (Pleasant Point 9690') around noon on the first day, and held a pace of just over 1 mph (including breaks) to our camp at Burgess Mine. Along the ridge we had stunning views of the desert, Owens Lake, and the snow-covered Sierra Nevada. Full frontal scenery! One sight some of us didn't expect was the (somewhat restored) Salt Tram, a huge cable car used to carry salt from the east over the Inyo Mountains to Owens Lake.
The climb from Burgess to New York Butte (10668') was easy and we were there by 8:00 am. We stayed more or less on the ridgeline from here to Forgotten Pass, the start of the climb to Keynot. The front of the group got to the summit of Keynot Peak (11101') around 5:00 pm, and we ended up camping right on top.
Our last day was all about downhill - 7500' of it. We started before 6:30 am, dropping our packs at the saddle above Bedspring Camp and switching to daypacks.
We were on our final summit (Mt Inyo 10975') before 10:00 am. Taking full packs down Union Wash involved plunge-stepping in hardball-size sharp rocks, a real boot shredder. The back of the group got to the trailhead around 3:30 pm while the front of the group dashed off to retrieve cars from Cerro Gordo.
Thanks to the leaders and co-leaders for an excellent adventure! By: Kathy Rich and Steve Eckert
The complete report is at Inyo Mountains Traverse on this website.The Inyo Mountains Traverse hasn't been done as an official DPS trip since 1987 and while they did it in only two days they also finished around midnight.
We took three days but had an early dinner in Lone Pine!
There is a lengthy report, with more words, climbing maps, and color pictures on Climber.org. An abbreviated report will be published in the Desert Sage Newsletter of the Desert Peaks Section. | 
