Hike Mount Moriah Loop via Hendrys Creek Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, NV

Oct 02, 2022 — Mount Moriah is a massive mountain in the northern portion of the Snake Range, one of the many 4k+ prominence peaks in the area. It's overlooked since most recreation traffic goes to Great Basin National Park just to the south, but also because there's really no easy way to access Mount Moriah. Most seem to approach via a bad road from the north, bumping along until their driving nerves coax them into hiking instead. That route requires hiking a more reasonable 6 miles, some of which is along our route (the northeastern bit near Mount Moriah). I held off on doing this stunning mountain because the road scared me, until my friend Sam Grant provided a critical insight: there's an excellent trail coming in from the east that leads to nearly the summit of Mount Moriah called the Hendrys Creek Trail. I knew this would be the more exciting route choice for me. Additionally, I spent a bit of time researching routes to access three Nevada 11ers that stretch along the ridgeline from Mount Moriah leading southeast: Silver Creek Baldy, Second Fork Peak, and Old Man Mountain. I wasn't a fan of the out-and-back options used by previous hikers to reach those remote peaks, so I considered looping them in with Mount Moriah, forming what would be this particularly big day. I remember sitting at my computer with a big, stupid smile on my face at the idea. I reached out to Sam and despite the fact that he's hiked Moriah several times, he immediately agreed to doing the loop. Luke joined in, also almost immediately. And then Sam brought Sean along (aka Dr. Dirtbag). I'd somehow managed to find myself amongst a posse comprised of particularly skilled ultrarunners. The day ended up being absolutely wonderful, the loop working out better than any of us could have hoped, minimal brush and no severe obstacles to contend with. Plus, there's a trail for more than half of the day!

To reach the trailhead, leave the highway and head north here (39.0564, -114.03666), ten bear left here (39.17256, -114.03229) and head north. You'll want decent tires even though the road is in good shape since there are sharp rocks, one of which gave me a flat. Without even a hint of a complaint, my friends stuck around at the end of the day to make sure I got out okay, heroically suffering the risk of sacrificing tacos before their restaurant of choice closed. We started along the Hendrys Creek Trail, happily noting the creek was flowing and we'd be able to refill water along the way. As reported by Sam, the trail was certainly in excellent shape. We made pretty quick progress as it ascended gradually through the drainage, beautiful fall colors highlighting the interesting cliff faces found along the walls of Hendrys Creek. Unfortunately, after a couple of miles in I realized I wasn't really warming up. Turns out this would be one of those rougher "my body hates me" days, which was a bummer since I later would slow the crew down a bit, and I was definitely looking forward to going as hard as I could for this end-of-summer epic. It's sad I can't predict poor physical performance, especially since I felt like a superhero the previous day. Anyway! It was a gorgeous fall day and the weather was perfect, so I think I was able to overall keep my spirits high and fight the nausea that progressively festered.

After many miles in the Hendrys Creek drainage, the trail started ascending to the north along the southern slope of Mount Moriah. It followed one sweeping switchback and eventually emerged from treeline, leading to the northeastern ridge of Mount Moriah. The peak looked glorious from here, as did the views in all directions. We left the trail at about 11100' and ascended on a sporadic social trail along the ridge, interesting white rock formations starting to pop in. In order to reach Mount Moriah, Luke and I followed a trail that wrapped around the southeastern base of the peak and then hiked the steep, mostly grassy slope to gain the ridge and ultimately the summit. This seems like the most common way to obtain the summit ridge. Sam and Sean instead chose to go along the crest, claiming it was Class 2. In hindsight that was probably the more scenic option, though the trail we took led through some pretty hoodoos. Mount Moriah's east ridge requires some Class 2 for the last hundred feet or so. 

We continued southwest along the tundra, Silver Creek Baldy our next goal. Along the way there was one hump that made more sense to ascend rather than side-hill around. The expansive views on the way down to the saddle were probably my favorite of the day, and the terrain overall was excellent, free of boulders and mostly runnable. The ascent from the saddle to the summit of Silver Creek Baldy was steep and straightforward, and the views were great, though not quite on par with those from Mount Moriah. The descent from Silver Creek Baldy was steep and soft, which we were able to wrap up quickly. Lovely, now my knee was hurting. It would be one of those days, indeed.

We avoided a small hump near the saddle and then entered a clearing at the base of Second Fork Peak. We peered up at the summit, which had some impressive formations on its northwest face. This would be the most difficult climb of the day. While not technical, we'd hike up 1200 vertical gain in only 0.6 mile to reach the peak's northern ridge. The ascent was obstacle-free except for the occasional downed tree. Once along the ridge, some Class 2/2+ along the crest led to the high point. On the way down from Second Fork Baldy we got bird-called by some hunters who asked where we came from, but required a few explanation iterations to understand. We were equally surprised to find people this far out here. There were a few minor cliff bands on the way down that we were able to avoid, and the ridge was wide enough that it's possible, relative to the rest of the day's straightforwardness, to start descending an incorrect slope. With occasional topo map checks, we made it to the base of our final peak for the day, Old Man Mountain. The hike to this summit was initially similar to Second Fork Peak's, though it required a bit less elevation gain. Toward the top, a limestone cliff band funnelled us along a wide Class 2 slab, though there are likely multiple ways up. The ridgeline to the summit introduced some rockier terrain. Keeping to the crest initially resulted in a hard down-climb that Luke and I chose to wrap around to avoid, keeping this section Class 2/2+.

After taking in the views from Old Man Mountain for a bit, we all agreed the best option would be to descend back to the Hendrys Creek Trail rather than taking a more extended ridge option that would lead closer to the trailhead. We weren't sure what the brush situation would be like farther down, and thought it best to just get back to the trail as efficiently as we could, even if the mileage was slightly longer. We descended north through an extended and outstanding ancient bristlecone pine grove, and then the slope dropped away more steeply at about 10400'. We kept a bit left of the ridgeline here initially since we were tempted by a soft, fun slope. However, I recommend getting back to the ridgeline as soon as possible or risk being pushed into a drainage and having to side-hill forever to get back to it. The descent ridge we chose was almost as fun as the seductive slope had been, and pretty much completely remained easy hiking until about 9400'. Here we were granted some nice views as the tree-covered ridge was overtaken by boulders and loose talus. Obviously this meant we also had some Class 2 to contend with, slowing our progress a bit. Sticking to the rim meant more burly scrambling, so I chose to stay just to the right most of the time while the others played around on the rim and often got shut down. The Class 2 continued for a few hundred feet, plenty of open space mixed in with the rock. We were extremely happy to find that we were only about a quarter mile from the trail when we were hit with a wall of brush. Fortunately we could pick our way through without too much strife, and there continued to be occasional open sections. Overall it wasn't anything to complain about and we felt it didn't mar the quality of the loop as a whole. The last couple hundred feet can get quite rocky, so pick a good route in advance to avoid additional aggravation.

Once we made it back to the Hendrys Creek Trail, we all high-fived and made our way back through the forest to the trailhead, thrilled at how the route turned out.