Hike Clipper Mountain Clipper Mountain Wilderness Area, CA

Jan 04, 2023 — Abnormally bad weather in the area pushed us to go for Clipper Mountain, a high-prominence mountain just south of Interstate 40. Normally folks seemed to approach the peak from the north here (34.82055, -115.36535), but that road is completely washed out as of January 2023. Whiley and I instead set out to find another way to reach the trailhead, locating a dirt road heading west here (34.79666, -115.31801). It's passable to Crossover vehicles, a couple of dips into washes being the main obstacles. We parked just before the wilderness boundary and continued hiking along the road.

The first couple of miles continued along the mining road until we reached an open mine shaft. The road was pretty eroded in spots, but easy to follow for the most part. To get above the mine there was some Class 2 crawling up a slope to gain a minor saddle. Once at the saddle, we headed south through the major drainage on Clipper Mountain's northeast side. There were lots of boulders in the drainage and it was slower-moving than we anticipated, plus the landscape was pretty typical and uninspiring so we were happy to have lots to catch up on after months of not playing in the mountains together. It's always excellent to hike with friends who immediate talk about the deep, good stuff in life. And all the giggles.

Farther up the drainage there were some pretty cliff faces and slightly more colorful rock to look at. You can pretty much ascend south toward the summit from here in any direction, though it's least steep if you stick to the drainage until it dissipates and then head to the ridgeline on the east side of Clipper Mountain. You can gain the summit from there. We got some unique views thanks to the distant clouds.