Hike Stateline Wilderness Loop Stateline Wilderness Area, CA

Feb 06, 2022 — This route gets the three ranked peaks within the Stateline Wilderness Area, a small stretch of land outside of Primm, California. I was mostly interested in the wilderness high point because I heard it had a cool scramble toward the top, but ultimately I turned this outing into a much longer ridgeline traverse with lots of cool Class 3 moves and overall reasonable terrain, considering the general nature of the limestone in this area.

To reach my start point, I drove to the back of Whiskey Pete's Casino here (35.6106, -115.39434) and through the open gate. I followed the relatively easy to navigate minor road system to Stateline Road here (35.61855, -115.40872) and then took this for a couple of miles. The road requires high clearance and good tires. I bottomed out a ton along the gravel road, but it was moreso just the bottom of my 8'' clearance knocking rocks out of the way. I wasn't thrilled with the drive, and parked where I did because I was sick of wincing at the banging underneath, plus it gave me an excuse to head up to Peak 4425, which was initially not part of my itinerary.

From my parking spot, my first concern when seeing Peak 4425 was its east face riddled in serious cliff bands, so I thought maybe the major drainage on the northeast side of the peak could work well. I could always climb out of it if I got cliffed out. Additionally, I noted the peak's northwestern ridge had significant-looking pinnacles. I knew tackling this peak could result in a failure, but it was early enough in the day and I was feeling antsy. I headed southwest toward the major drainage, a sandy wash with minimal rock-hopping as it quickly narrowed into a short slot. Past here I followed the main drainage as it climbed west to the summit. There were a few forks, and I kept right at each, hoping they'd lead me to the peak. Along the way there were plenty of Class 2 and Class 3 short dryfalls, more fun than dangerous. Toward the top the drainage was a chockstone with a Class 3 move that led above it to more tame Class 2 where I used a combination of a gully and a rib to reach the summit ridge. I was surprised the route went so well based on how gnarly the peak looked from below.

Happy to reach the summit of Peak 4425, I noticed there was no summit cairn or register, nor were there any ascents notable online. A first ascent, maybe? I peered out at the northwestern ridge, a series of potentially route-killing limestone pinnacles. Stateline Widlerness High Point also poked out in the distance. Fortunately, the ridgeline did go quite nicely, and without exceeding Class 3. I'll note the imagery on maps seems incorrect here, the pinnacles not registering and making it look like a mellow sloping ridgeline, which was definitely not the case. I started down from Peak 4425 and stuck just left of the pinnacles initially, concerned staying high would result in more difficult climbing than I wanted. There was a bit of up and down to avoid ribs and gullies, but overall the movement was fun and the route-finding mostly straightforward. Once I was confident I had cleared the pinnacles, I headed north up Class 2/3 in order to regain the ridge crest. From here the ridge went more reasonably for a short time, but the final dip to the saddle seemed steep. I dropped to the left again and descended some loose Class 2 to reach the saddle below.

The route from the saddle to the base of Stateline Wilderness High Point was largely uneventful. There were a few little rock outcrops that an animal trail wrapped around on their west side, and some short Class 2/3 obstacles farther up. The final bit to the summit required a Class 2/3 chute.

Next up was Peak 4586 to the north. Bob Burd had done this section years ago, so I knew it went at Class 3+ in advance. You could likely avoid all the hardest stuff by dropping to the west and staying below the ridge crest cliffs and side-hilling on less fun terrain. The first few hundred feet of the traverse are the most complex, as they are still part of the meandering northern summit ridge of the Stateline Wilderness High Point. I never felt unsafe because of ample great holds. A notch shortly after starting off the summit hit me first, a good tester to see if you're feeling the traverse. Past here there are 3-4 big drops requiring some Class 3 scrambling on fun blocky limestone ledges. There was one Class 3+ downclimb through a 30-foot chute along the crest to finally get down from the peak's northern ridge crest. It was a little unnerving from above, but I didn't experience an issue. You might be able to find a slightly less scary alternative.

Aside from short Class 2/3 moves along the ridgeline past here, the route was more tame. At the end of the ridge there's a minor bump that I avoided on its east side using an animal trail that wrapped around on a nice ledge. A final drop led to a saddle before Peak 4586, then Class 2 led up this ridgeline to the summit. I kind of wasn't done hiking, but Peak 4586 was the last seignificant bump in the area so I decided to call it an early day and dropped south off the summit along the nice ridgeline. Below I could see the outline of a very old road, which is what I decided to aim for. The ridgeline curved east and then I dropped off and headed south on a Class 2/2+ spur ridge, a little loose. I made my way down the slope and got into a major wash, which led to the old dirt road. The old dirt road continued to the road I drove in on, which I hiked on back to my car.