Hike Mitchell Point, Edgar Peak, Fountain Peak Traverse Mojave National Preserve, CA

Dec 11, 2021 — The Providence Mountains are reportedly a very rugged range in Mojave National Preserve. Despite their size and beauty, they've fallen to the wayside for both Tyler and me, but we committed to finally checking out the traverse of Mitchell Point, Edgar Peak, and Fountain Peak together. These three summits cmoprise the crest of the range, and even though our projected mileage estimate was low, we knew it would be a big day. We were a bit weary due to the many reports of the individual peaks being rugged, scrambly, cactus-filled, and unpleasant. However, despite our shared route-finding fatigue at the end of the day, we agreed the traverse was quite a nice desert adventure, certainly not for the faint of heart. Our average ended up being roughly 1mph, and we felt like we were moving quite quickly.

The only information we had about the route was from Bob Burd, who came at the traverse from the south, whereas we'd be coming from the north. We chose to go this way because the route from Edgar Peak to Fountain Peak would be the crux of the day, and we knew we could bail after Edgar Peak on its northeast side and make the hike into a loop if the traverse to Fountain Peak seemed too scary. Ultimately we got the whole traverse, but definitely plan for the route-finding to be more tedious than it may appear. Navigating the cacti and rocky terrain in the dark would be aggravating, to say the least.

Another important tidbit is that the Providence Mountains State Recreation Area (located at the base of Edgar Peak) is closed to the public to protect the caves, meaning starting along the paved road leading to it visitor center is off-limits. This meant our route needed to start and end outside of the recreation area in order to avoid a potential citation. However, while the crest of the Providence Mountains does go through the park, I imagine it's not a huge problem since the concern seems to be centered around protecting the caves. The park doesn't seem to have any intention of re-opening anytime soon.

We set our end car at Foshay Pass here (34.91485, -115.54605). Reaching Foshay Pass is doable by vehicles with at least mid-clearance. Tyler and I both came in from the east, leaving the paved Essex Road here (34.90843, -115.42476). Now we had to drive to get to the start of our traverse, which would begin at the end of an unnamed dirt road at some ruins surrounding Bonanza King Mine. Reaching this start point meant leaving a very well-graded dirt road here (34.97566, -115.47419). This spur road is horrible, only good for the first quarter mile before requiring good tires and clearance. I even engaged 4WD once. Not being able to drive this section to the Bonanza King Mine would add about 2 miles to the start of the route, which honestly wouldn't be horrible since it would provide a nice warm-up, but we were happy to get to the base of Mitchell Point with a car, unsure how long the day would take. We cursed the Providence Mountains State Recreation Area for not allowing us to just use the paved road. What a waste.

From the Bonanza King Mine ruins, we set out west and then headed southwest along a very old roadbed. This brough us to just below Mitchell Point's east slope. We ascended the Class 2 terrain, which was riddled with cacti and mini cliff bands. We took turns exchanging how we didn't think the cacti was as bad as we expected, though this was probably more nervous hopefulness since we both got pricked at least a handful of times. We made quick progress up the slope, encountering a couple of likely avoidable Class 3 moves and eventually got to the ridgeline. A false summit of Mitchell Point became visible, and we stuck more-or-less to the ridgeline as it ascended another 1000 or so vertical. Along the way we stuck to the crest of the ridge or just to the left. It was mostly pleasant, though slow-moving terrain.

Once we reached the false summit and Mitchell Point came into view, we realized just how big of a day it would be. Ahead was a severe-looking slanted ridgeline with an impressive cliff face on its north side. Initially we tried to stick to the crest, but we were getting slowed down significantly by the many scrambles. We bailed on the crest shortly after trying, opting instead for Class 2 side-hilling about a hundred feet below the crest. This proved to be the better choice, and we made lots of progress. That's not to say that it's easy. There are plenty of obstacles along the way, but nothing really exceeded Class 2/3. Now below Mitchell Point, we knew we had to get back to the ridge crest. We cut north and located a Class 3+ set of moves to get over a cliff band and regain the ridge, but there are likely easier options if you spend time searching. Back on the ridgeline now just northeast of the summit, an animal trail led us to Class 2/3 fun to gain the summit of Mitchell Point.

Kelso Dunes, Granite Mountain, and New York Mountain stuck out on the horizon. Edgar Peak loomed ahead. We didn't linger, realizing the traverse to Edgar would likely take longer than anticipated. Along the way the route seemed to include many small humps and 10-20 foot cliff bands to contend with. We descended the 600+ vertical feet from Mitchell Point on Class 2/2+ terrain. From the southern base of Mitchell, a dirty slope led up the first major hump. From the top of this hump we could see the next few humps. It would continue like this for a couple of miles. I can't describe exactly what we did because there's no way you'll follow our route exactly. In general, the traverse stayed at Class 2 with large sections being mostly easy terrain (not counting the cactus-dodging, of course). We kept mostly to the left (east) of the ridge crest to avoid excessive vertical gain and potentially rough cliff bands. We pulled at least one Class 3 move, but again likely avoidable. My best advice for navigating to the base of Edgar Peak is to not drop too far because you'll have to regain that vertical, and if you see a cliff band, shoot higher rather than lower. More than a few times a cliff looked scary from far away only to end up being very tame up-close.

Finally we were at the base of Edgar Peak, the prominence prize of the day. The slope was steep, but far less bad than it appeared from below. We made quick work up its majority, then ascended via a bouldery section and up to more complex terrain before the summit. I am sure there are better options than what we took, so I recommend just scouting around yourself. We used some loose Class 3 chute that neither of us were fond of. The summit was gorgeous, and the views stetched on through the desert forever.

Fountain Peak lay ahead. It looked like a very serious traverse to get there from here, but Tyler and I were both feeling good and it was early enough to go for it. After playing around on the ridge crest for a bit, we realized continuing like this would be a hell of an undertaking and instead descended on the left (east) side via a Class 2/3 chute at the base of the ridge crest cliffs. We encountered one Class 3 downclimb on loose boulders. The chute veered off to the left away from the cliff face, which was our cue to stop descending. Instead, a Class 3 move led over some big boulders out of the chute. From here, Class 2/3 side-hilling brought us across steep terrain and back to the ridgeline. We popped over to the west side to avoid a series of pinnacles and came across the next major obstacle, a big face with a gully on its left side. This gully went at Class 3, and then a short Class 3/4 section led to the top of the bump. The descent from the bump was Class 3 with a Class 4 downclimb move within a chute. Fountain Peak was now just ahead.

Fountain Peak's summit is guarded by a serious-looking cliff. The north face was reportedly loose Class 4, and we wanted to see if we could find an alternative to this scary option. Ultimately I think Tyler and I agreed it would have saved a substantial amount of time to just ascend that way, but our scouting mission landed us a super fun scramble and we were very happy about it. Instead of ascending the Class 4 north face (purple dotted line on attached map), we kept right and wrapped around the cliff base. Overall the brush wasn't bad, but we did have to bushwack a bit. A little bit of up and down near the cliff bases led us to what appeared to be a potential weakness up the face. Feeling optimistic since we'd already had come so far through the brush, we started up a Class 3 ligher-colored ramp. I removed our previous ramblings from my attached map, but we are quite confident there were no ascent options until this. After the ramp, some steep Class 3 continued to a tree, whose roots were pivotal in keeping the pine-needle-covered rock safer. Heading right led to a cliff face, but left led to an unlikely chute. The chute began Class 3 and slowly became Class 4. We found plenty of very good holds and pockets to use for the scramble. It was only lightly exposed because the chute was narrow and there were at least three ledges along the way to take a breaks on. We loved this section and it made up for the additional time/brush. It brought us basically to the summit of Fountain Peak.

We still weren't home-free, despite being done with the Edgar to Fountain traverse. A couple of short Class 2/3 sections along the ridge crest led to a serious set of moves. We realized we needed to drop left off the ridge crest onto the more tame terrain below, and I'd say you should do it as soon as you can after leaving Fountain Peak's summit. The side-hilling was easy and lasted only a short time before finding a forested gully complete with an orange flag someone kindly left behind. This brought us up Class 2/3 to easier terrain back along the ridge crest. The technical stuff now complete for the day, we started down the southern ridge of Fountain Peak.

Usually pretty much void of rock, we followed a combination of social trails and common sense down the open landscape. There were many, many small rock outcroppings that required wrapping around on either side, or going up and over. We starting making less ideal choices, the weariness from using route-finding brainpower all day really sinking in. If doing Fountain Peak as an out-and-back, it wouldn't be too difficult. Granted there are a lot of cacti on this section of the route, but it's nothing too out of the ordinary for typical high-elevation Mojave Desert hiking. Physically we were doing surprisingly well, but we just wanted an easy descent and that didn't happen. Honestly there's really no one "best" way down along the ridgeline. You can keep the whole thing at Class 2, but Tyler and I sort of split up and did lots of different descent options, still keeping mostly to the ridge crest. Expect at least a few steep and loose sections where a rolled rock means landing your leg on a cactus. Eventually we made it back to Foshay Pass, thrilled we got the traverse done.