Hike Meadow Valley Mountains High Point Meadow Valley Range Wilderness BLM, NV

Mar 30, 2021 — This route heads to the highest point of the rarely-visited Meadow Valley Mountains, tacking on its neighboring peak, J. J. Freakel Peak. I parked on the side of Kane Springs Road and headed southeast throug hthe desert. I followed Adam Walker's route because he found the remains of a plane wreck, so I was looking forward to checking them out. After about a mile into the approach, I started seeing scattered bits of metal or pipe and finally stumbled on a big chunk of plane. Farther up is the largest piece nestled by a big yucca, and I marked this one on the attached map.

Just past the big plane wreckage piece, I dropped south into the major drainage that drains from the saddle of Meadow Valley Mountains High Point and J. J. Freakel Peak, the saddle being the goal. At first the drainage was an easy walk with some minor brush and boulders to zig-zag around, but as it began to narrow the brush got thicker and the rocks larger. The drainage narrowed into a short section of canyon, where some light scrambling was involved to get over bigger rocks. I was wearing snake gaiters so the brush was of no consequence, but I imagine it could get a little tedious in this narrow section. The canyon widened a bit, and another option presented itself in addition to brush/boulder-hopping: a scree slope. While the scree was fun to slip down on the descent, I wasn't sure if I preferred it to the former option on the way up. As the drainage widened further and seemed to want to continue to take me to the left away from the saddle, I scrambled out of the drainage and started up the slope to gain the saddle.

Once at the saddle, I headed north to Meadow Valley Mountains High Point first. The slope seemed like it might be a little tricky, Class 2 limestone ledges making it slightly dificult to see the best route up. However, I was able to get just below the summit without having to do any backtracking - each time I thought there would be a cliff band blocking access, a Class 2/2+ option presented itself on my left or right. The summit block of Meadow Valley Mountains High Point is the highlight. From below it seems like its completely guarded on all sides by a 15-foot cliff band, but a large crack serves as a Class 3 squeeze move. It's completely enclosed and quite tight, but the moves are straightforward. Class 2 led to the summit.

Back at the saddle, I headed south toward J. J. Freakel Peak. This one was a bit less fun, but still a good add-on. The Class 2 slope was littered with talus and about two-thirds the way up I had to scramble up a Class 2+ weakness in a minor cliff band. Above this was a wide, rocky ridge that brought me below the summit block. It might be tempting to just head up the unnecessay knife-edge ridge, but a short Class 3 move on the right of the ridge more easily took me to the summit without the scary exposure.