Silver Peak pt. 2

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delayed post, I spent the entire morning painting the pool, its being replastered.

So, Silver Peak. We started up the mountain around 6am. I have become used to the thinner air up here, yet Im certainly not used to hiking up mountains. Still, the path wasnt too rugged, only steep and the guy I was hiking with is a birder so we were often able to take a few breaks and look at the scenery. Unfortunately it was a bit of a hazy day, so the pictures are not as clear as I would have liked. This is the other side of the valley (with the road running up to the station). We're probably at less than 5800 ft here and have been hiking for less than a hour

After about an hour and a half, its still desert-like. At this point, we were heading around the eastern side of the mountain. I like this picture, as it shows pretty much what the land and vegation looks like around here.

The rock can be very difficult to walk on at times. Sometimes its round and boulder like, other times its shale, like in this photo. It covers the path and cracks like porcelain when walked on. This photo doesnt do it justice, when the sun shines on the rock it looks bright purple.

Then, strangely, at about 7000 ft, you round the corner (Northern side) of the mountain and enter a drainage area, filled with Douglas fir trees. It does not look much different than northern ontario. Stranger still you enter a very shaded area with tall grasses and steep slopes. Moss grows over all the trees in this area.

At this point, which was about the 4th hour of hiking, we were already pretty tired. Its all switchbacks all the way up. So heads were down, no conversation just hiking up up. This is a view from about 7800ft towards New mexico between two large rocks

But after hiking up 3000 ft for 4.5 hours, we were rewarded. You get up to a point where there are steps leading straight up rock, you have to use your hands while climbing up these.

A marker of the official elevation, 8020ft.

Sadly, these photos dont do the view justice. Its pretty incredible up there. This is the view towards New Mexico

The view North

I climbed up on what appeared to be a well. There used to be a firestation up at the top, and a foundation and this well is all that remains.

I of course have many other photos of the view, but I can't post them all here. We sat up at the top and ate our lunch, and then started the long trek back down. I can't decide whether it was harder going back down than going up. Your knees start to ache from trying to stop yourself from falling down the mountain. Eventually we ended up trotting/jogging down the mountain, and we made it back down in less than 2 hours. In the end, it was a trip well worth doing, a totally amazing view and one of the more difficult hikes in the area. Ill leave you with my favorite photo of the day. Thanks for reading everyone!!