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Feb 26, 2021 — These humps on the west side of the Black Canyon make for a nice loop on mostly pleasant terrain, quite different from the character of the other peaks in the rugged Lake Mead region. This made for a fun outing to roam around the sweeping landscape, even though the scenery is overall not particularly impressive. The drive out to the trailhead was fine for mid-clearance vehicles, only a couple of humps likely giving low clearance some trouble. To reach it, navigate here (35.91391, -114.91852) and follow the south/southeast-leading road (Route E) to here (Route F, 35.88844, -114.90824) and follow this southeast to the trailhead.
From our trailhead, we started east across the desert and entered a wash, trending northeast on our way up a ridge to Pilot Cone. The last few hundred feet to its summit included Class 2 massive black volcanic boulders, and was quite fun. The descent of Pilot Cone's east ridge was a bit loose, but the stroll that proceeded past this and up to Peak 3200 was nice, with some very light Class 2 sporadically along the way. While we opted to head directly down the east face of Peak 3200, it might be less steep if you keep to the ridge. Either way, we ended up in a wash and continued along our way up to Peak 3161. Here we encountered one section of Class 2+, the only climbing of the day, and it was short-lived on massive, fun boulders. You can also likely avoid it by finding a Class 2 option along the rim farther to the right, if you prefer.
The views became more interesting as we traversed from Peak 3161 and past Peak 3125. The dropoff to the east toward the Colorado River was really pretty, and the views to the west of the mesas and hilly landscape felt very freeing. There was a big dip between Peak 3125 and Peak 3160, nothing exceeding easy Class 2. From the summit of Peak 3160, we backtracked a bit before heading off the ridge and ascending to the mesatop of Pilot Mesa. A long walk across this very gradually slope brought us to Pilot Mesa's summit. We located a Class 2 chute to get down from the mesatop's cliff band, but there were plenty of Class 3 options that would have also worked had we left the rim sooner. This section of descending was the longest bit of Class 2 we had for the day, introducing some loose rock. At the base of Pilot Mesa we followed a wash all the way back to the trailhead.
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