Hike Pleasant Point Inyo Mountains BLM, CA

May 01, 2022 — Pleasant Point is best accessed from Cerro Gordo, a silver mine ghost town maintained as a tourist attraction. The peak has a bit of bureaucratic stuff to contend with, but the summit is quite nice and worth the excursion. The drive to reach Cerro Gordo is overall in excellent condition, but the steepness and light rockiness might make sedans hesitate. Upon reaching Cerro Gordo, Tyler and I inquiried about paying a reported access fee to help maintain Cerro Gordo. Since we weren't actually visiting the attraction, the caretaker nicely informed us not to worry about it, and we were off to the trailhead, located at a saddle above the ghost town. We started up the dirt road, which would lead us about halfway to the summit. We later found out that the road we chose to take is off-limits to hikers and vehicles alike (orange line on my attached map), but we didn't know better at the time. Most hikers seem to use this route since it's significantly easier than the "legal" alternative (blue line on my map). I'd recommend inquiring about both the permit and the access road when you visit, since the level of nonchalance may differ depending on the person currently attending the area.

Choosing the orange route means following a road to reach the south ridge of Pleasant Point. The road continues to a minor peak housing some towers (apparently the reason this route isn't okay is to prevent people from getting too close to the towers). A social trail continues along the ridge and wraps around a small hump along the ridge. The legal alternative follows the 4WD Swansea-Cerro Gordo OHV Route (which you could drive to shave off some miles), then leaves the road in order to ascend the steep slope up to the ridgeline, avoiding the off-limits area. I drew this line in for reference, but we did not go that way and my hike stats reflect the orange line only. Either way you go, the route to ascend Pleasant Point remains the same once reaching the ridgeline.

The slope is quite nice as it ascends toward the Pleasant Pinnacles, nothing exceeding light Class 2, nor ever particularly steep. There were a couple of times where sticking to the ridge crest directly resulted in some mild bushwhacking, but it can be avoided on either side using one of a few social trails. We reached the base of the Pleasant Pinnacles, both a very short Class 2 jaunt to reach, and I'd say both are worth checking out since they offer excellent views both toward Pleasant Point and to the east into Saline Valley.

After enjoying the Pleasant Pinnacles views, we headed back down to the social trail, which continues down a small Class 2 gully to avoid a short section of loose rock outcroppings. From here it was more nice walking on a well-defined social trail to the summit of Pleasant Point.