Hike Soda Mountains Loop Soda Mountains Wilderness BLM, CA

Feb 07, 2023 — The Soda Mountains High Point was my first outing for a central Mojave trip to get a bunch of high-prominence peaks I've neglected. This small and amorphous range is located outside Baker CA and sort of blends in with its surrounding desert peaks. It seems many approach the high point from the northeast, but I was hoping to find a route starting closer to pavement and also allow me the ability to form a loop within the range. Originally I planned to go for a larger loop than what you see here, but I ended up just getting the two highest points since the remainder of my proposed loop looked quite boring and I was more excited to preserve time for an additional sunset hike. Plus those add-on peaks were possibly unranked anyway.

The route I pieced together seemed best done from the south, just north of I-15. Leave pavement and head northeast here (35.13550, -116.21282), taking this road that's barely suitable for Crossover vehicles due to a steep incline over a lump, though I didn't need to engage 4WD. Turn left here (35.14566, -116.20238) onto a sometimes rocky road. I parked and started west toward the major unnamed wash draining south from the peaks. A few miles of mostly flat and easy desert walking brought me to a major fork. My loop ascends the right fork of this wash and returns via the left fork. So far the miles of wash walking weren't particularly interesting, but it was nice to be in a remote area.

My first goal was to gain the south ridge of the Soda Mountains High Point. On the left I noted a gully that was low-angle relative to its surrounding slopes and headed up. There was some fun Class 2 scrambling, including a couple of short dryfalls, and soon I was up to the south ridge. Continuing north, the terrain was overall much more straightforward than I expected, only some short spurts of Class 2 boulder-hopping. The summit had cool views into the winding washes surrounding the high point, and I took a moment to inspect the other peaks on my loop, barely discernable bumps along the ridgeline. This was the point I decided I was content to omit them, though Peak 3461, located just to the west, was a worthy second peak and would facilitate a cohesive loop. I started down the west slope of the Soda Mountains High Point and followed it to the saddle separating the two peaks, a couple of short Class 2 sections along the way.

From the saddle I took the somewhat steep slope leading to Peak 3461, more Class 2. From its summit I was looking forward to some more views and decided to keep heading along the ridgeline, choosing to descend via a loose slope instead. It wasn't too bad, just a bit out of character compared to the rest of the hike which had been all using nice rounded ridgelines and easy drainages. In hindsight, a possibly better alternative from Peak 3461 might be to just return to the saddle and drop into the wash from there, despite the short backtrack. Regardless, using the slope I'd chosen, I was funneled into a minor drainage, and this drained into a slightly larger wash, etc.  There were some short Class 2 boulder obstacles sporadically throughout this descent until I was in the main wash again. Ultimately I was spit out into the left fork of the initial unnamed wash I hiked in on.