Tip Top Mountain and Mineral Mountain

Hiked: 7/29/2026
Distance: 8.4 miles round trip on dirt road, use trail, and cross country
Summit Elevation: 7625' (Tip Top), 7244' (Mineral)
Elevation Gain: 1730'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.3
Round trip time: 4 hours 45 minutes
Recommended water: 48 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on OHV Road 3N03
Difficulty: Moderate (drive, route finding)

Tip Top Mountain (HPS #87) and Mineral Mountain (HPS #108) are two minor Sierra Club peaks east of Big Bear Lake. July was not the ideal time to tackle these, but I had limited time and thought I could be done before the worst of the heat. The Green Fire broke out along highway 38 the night before my hike, so I planned to get the trailhead from the north on 3N03. It was about 8 miles of dirt road to reach the start. The first four miles were mellow, then it started getting rocky. The next two miles required me to slow down, and at six miles, I reached a point where the road ahead looked challenging. I had just repaired my running board the day before and was gun shy about pushing it. I parked just off the road and hiked from there. It turned out that only the next half mile was rough, then the road smoothed out, but even in hindsight, I am glad I parked where I did.

I left the road and started along a use trail up a gully. I passed a sealed mine shaft, one of two I passed along the way. The gully led to the main ridge that went over Peak 7462, then dropped 100' before the final ascent. I crossed a dirt road near the top and realized it was the fork I passed on the way. The road ended about 100' below the top, but a use trail took over. Tip Top had a healthy 712' of prominence and decent views. The benchmark was missing, but there was a register stuffed in a single can. A solar panel powered some small antennae. My guess was they were for the forest service. I signed the register and took some aerial videos before trying to spot Mineral Mountain. It wasn't clear which bump below was Mineral.

"The Playground" OHV area

Tip Top Mountain is the highest point in the middle

I left Tip Top and angled back up to the ridge over easy county. The ridge had a faint use trail on it from HPS pilgrims making the same trek between the two. I identified Mineral as the last (and lowest) stop at the end of the ridge. The register was in a PVC pipe with a relatively small number of entries over the previous five years. The views were subpar compared to Tip Top. I dropped down to the road and walked back to the truck. It was about 85F and overly bright as the road reflected nearly all sunlight. I stopped for another coat of sunscreen. Three Jeeps passed by going the other way, the only other people I had seen. My guess is that 2N01 might be a better road than 3N03 to reach the area.

Mineral Mountain

Looking back at Tip Top

No idea, but someone signed the register as Troll

Arc Dome, NV

Hiked: 7/16/2026
Distance: 14.6 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 11785' (Arc Dome), 11355' (North Arc Dome)
Prominence: 5214'
Elevation Gain: 4480'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 3.5
Round trip time: 8 hours 15 minutes
Recommended water: 132 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Columbine Campground
Difficulty: Strenuous

Arc Dome (DPS #9) is an ultra prominent peak in the middle of Nevada. I had driven to Bishop the day before and hit Iron Mountain in the White Mountains. The direct drive to Columbine Camp from Bishop was along Highway 6, then a series of two lane highways to Gabbs, NV. None of the small towns along the way had a gas station. That became a problem for me on the way out (see Gambling with Gas footnote below). From Gabbs, it was 30 miles of nicely graded dirt road on state route 844, then 11 miles of rougher road on NF-119. I missed a jog on NF-119 and went about 5 miles on the wrong road. This delayed my start. There was one stream crossing, about 2' deep. I was entertained on the drive in by a fast moving herd of pronghorn antelope, a pair of coyotes, and three wild horses in the sage.

The trail quickly split into east and west trails. The trails converge on the crest, but I took the west trail since it went through an aspen grove. There were a lot of downed trees across the trail and tall wet grass that soaked my legs from the knees down. After a mile, I passed through an open fence and was out of the forest. The rest of the hike was on immense, sweeping plains. It made the gain easier, but distances hard to eyeball. This section was along the Toiyabe Crest Trail (TCT). I didn't see Arc Dome until I was closer to the crest. The trail made a sharp turn east to avoid a 1500' drop into a canyon. There were two signs down at the TCT intersection with the Arc Dome trail. Rumor has it that wild horses knock these down. I continued toward Arc Dome and took a short side trip off trail to North Arc Dome where I discovered a register.

Pronghorn herd crossing the road, Arc Dome behind

Wild horses

Stream crossing

Toiyabe Crest Trail

First glimpse of Arc Dome

I angled down from North Arc Dome to the trail as it dropped 600' to the saddle. The last mile was a 1000' gain. Though not visible on the approach, the trail switchbacks were masterful and made the ascent easier than expected. Kudos to the trail builders. The summit had two reference marks (stamped Toiyabe Dome), but the benchmark was missing. The register was in a plastic jar and had ascents from earlier in July. It seemed quite popular. The views were chef's kiss, amazingly green. I hauled the drone up, but the wind was steady 20-25mph and I decided not to fly. After a brief stay for rituals, I started down. The trail gained 600' on the return. Back at the TCT intersection, I met the only other person I saw all day. He was headed for Arc Dome and had backpacking gear. I considered going for Cirque Peak and descending the east trail, but I had other concerns. I had been doing the mental math on my gas situation and knew I could not make it back to Bishop. So, I decided to save time and descended the way I came up. It was a tough and tiring day with the drive tacked on, but worth it. I don't know if there is a more beautiful area in Nevada.

Gambling with Gas

My MO was to fill up the truck before driving deep into the wilderness. It turned out the most direct route from Bishop to the trailhead had zero gas stations, so I couldn't do that. Based on how far Google Maps was showing Columbine Campground, I thought I had enough gas to get back to Bishop. Well, the driving route was not quite right, and I drove by a turn off, wasting time and precious gas. When I arrived at the trailhead, I saw that I could not make it back to Bishop without extra gas. There was none on the way, and several stretches of road had no cell service. I paid careful attention on the drive out to make sure I didn't make any wrong turns. I also turned off 4x4. When I got back to Gabbs, I had one bar of service. Google said the closest gas was in Middlegate, about 30 miles in the opposite direction of Bishop. On the map, it looked like another tiny town with few if any services. My other choice was Hawthorne, which looked bigger, but if I struck out there, I could not reach another town. I chose Middlegate, knowing I would have one last chance to find gas if it was a bust. I set my cruise at 60mph to squeeze a couple extra miles out of my tank. My heart sank when I pulled into Middlegate Station. There was a bar, but the two 1970s style gas pumps in the yard looked like relics. There was no self serve payment system and the gauge was analog. I walked inside and asked the bartender if they had gas. He said yes. I was instructed to fill up, then take a photo of the gauge and come back to pay. When the gauge dials started to spin, I felt suddenly elated. Now I had plenty of gas and no worries about loss of cell service. I stayed at the bar for a beer and dumped whatever cash I had on me into a donation jar for a local family. It was a bonus adrenaline rush I didn't need, but will never forget.

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Iron Mountain Mono County

Hiked: 7/15/2026
Distance: 5.8 miles round trip on dirt road and cross country
Summit Elevation: 9535'
Elevation Gain: 1187'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.7
Round trip time: 3 hours
Recommended water: 40 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Crooked Creek Road
Difficulty: Moderate (drive, scramble)

The second highest Iron Mountain in CA was in the eastern White Mountains, Mono County. This one was very remote and required about 20 miles of dirt road driving. The first 11 miles of the drive was on White Mountain Road, only six miles from the White Mountain trailhead. Then, another ~9 miles on Crooked Creek Road. The road followed the creek and there were a half dozen shallow stream crossings. The road was not too bad, but had some rough spots and a couple of boulders. 4x4 recommended. I stopped at a turnout about 1.7 miles from the end of the road. On the drive in, I managed to scrape a boulder at a bad angle and broke the weld on the rear passenger predator step. I'll probably just remove the steps since we don't use them much. (Update 7/28/2026: I considered replacing the steps with rock sliders, but decided to have a welder fix the step. If I break another one, I'll go with rock sliders for sure.)

Having driven in from SoCal, it was late afternoon when I started hiking. I continued to the end of the road, then started across open country and low scrub. This Iron Mountain was a rounded jumble of reddish-brown talus. The scramble was class 2 on mixed size rocks. I found the benchmark and some old wooden posts, but no register. Views in this part of the White Mountains were limited. As the afternoon waned, big clouds rolled in, some with dark centers. While driving out, a few fat raindrops pelted my windshield, but it never rained. I checked into the Best Western in Bishop and got prepared for a much bigger day on Arc Dome.

Spotlight on Lone Pine Peak driving north on 395

Iron Mountain

Looking east

Shadow of a giant cloud