On September 28, 2004, Ken & I hiked up the west side of Frenchman Mountain. Sometimes called the "sleeping Indian", this mountain is the predominant feature looking east from Las Vegas. It's also mistakenly called Sunrise Mountain, its northern neighbor.
We began by driving east on Bonanza Road as far as we could go before reaching concrete barricades. We made a U-turn and parked on the corner. A short walk brought us to a trailhead that went north for a few hundred feet where it turned right and began gaining elevation. A couple times, we thought we lost it, but looking around, we could see the path most worn. The trail continued north, then turned into the mountain and became steep with a few switchbacks. We watched the full moon disappear over Red rock Canyon across the city. The city views were excellent, even though distorted by smog. Our guidebook correctly predicted that we would come to a wash with a choice of options. We could use a steep, slippery trail to the left or go up the wash itself. One look at the trail ruled it out. The loose gravel made it conceivable that we could slip and drop a few feet or even slide over a mound and drop into a deep abyss. The wash route was more like scaling a tilted flat wall which we did carefully selecting toe holds and wiggling each rock before using it as a handle. This got us up the wash quickly and fairly easy. But how well would it get us down?
From the wash, we found the trail. It was narrow and occasionnaly required use of hands for balance. This trail was made very easy to follow since someone sprayed blue dots on the rock and there were a few cairns. Though, the dots helped, I would hate to see trails marked with paint become commonplace. The cairns at least look natural. We turned the corner into a saddle and once again, we could see the electronic gear on the mountaintop. We could no longer see the trail or even any path that we would want to take up to the equipment. We are not climbers - and we still had to return down that wash! We carefully retraced out steps. A barrell cactus got me and I stooped to apply a bandage. Going down the wash was more challenging that going up. We had to find the toeholds and hold on to the rocks. Once through the wash, it was an easy return to Bonanza Road. Later this Fall, we will try the steep road up the other side of this mountain. It should yield some good pictures of Lake Mead. Following are pictures with some comments.
Looking west at the setting full moon.
Our trail, the Mormon temple, Bonanza Road in the mountain shadow.
The Strip with the Spring Mountains behind.
The wash we climbed..