Distance: 9.8 miles round trip cross country
Summit Elevation: 2940'
Elevation Gain: 1600'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.2
Round trip time: 7 hours
Recommended water: 80 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Forest Road NS254
Difficulty: Moderate (route finding, scramble)
Sean Green and I made the long drive to the trailhead for Stepladder Mountains (DPS #94) on Friday and camped. Well, Sean set up a tent and I slept in the truck. From highway 95, there were 17 miles of good, then bad dirt roads. The powerline road was smooth, the pipeline road not as good, and NS254 was poor. The sharp 270 degree turn onto NS254 was confusing since it looked like it turned into a wash, but made a quick right turn south. The last 5 miles on the bad road left us in the middle of the a desert landscape where everything in a 25 square mile area around the trailhead looked identical. It was a factor at the end of the day. On the drive in, Sean spotted a witness post and a benchmark just off the road (west) marked "11 FMK". On the drive out, we found another one on the other side of the road (east) marked "10 FMK". Strange places for marks. It was cold overnight, 41F, but we stayed warm enough. Shockingly, we both had 2 bars of cell service in the middle of nowhere. We started the long flat march toward Stepladder after breakfast.
We followed a long wash between some lower peaks, then reached an ascent gully. Even up close, Stepladder looked improbable. We could make out the natural ledge system, but it wasn't clear how to reach it. We climbed up the gully a little, then continued up the ridge with some class 2 scrambling. Higher up, we could see a notch that was the start of the first ledge. There was short class 3 section to reach the notch. The rock was conglomerate, hardened mud that glued a mix of volcanic and other rock together. Holds had to be tested. Once we hit the first ledge, cairns marked the way, including bend points. The ledges were fun and we scrambled under a giant horn before we reached the top. There were no marks on the summit, but as a DPS peak, it had an ammo register box. The summit block was a 10' fin, easy class 3 with good holds. We took turns climbing it. The register was placed in 1999 and had fewer entries that expected. We took a long break to enjoy the geological wonders.
Getting off the ledges was uneventful. I tried a different route descending from the notch, and it was notably worse. Loose rock and side-hilling got me back on route. We decided to stay in the main wash a little longer on the way back to avoid some of the deeper washes that braided the plain. After a bit, I veered to follow my GPS track, while Sean continued down the wash looking for a smoother path. As the distance between us grew, I occasionally looked back to make sure I could see him moving along 500' or so south of me. I guessed he had his own track back to the truck. When I was a mile from the truck, it struck me that I could not see it and that everything looked the same in all directions. We were too far from any landmarks to do any dead reckoning or triangulation. I realized that it might have been impossible to find the truck without GPS, even with a map and compass. I finally spotted the truck from 0.2 miles away, but had lost sight of Sean. I noted the time and started packing up my gear. 15 minutes later, I climbed up on the bed to look for Sean with no luck. I honked the horn a dozen times and shouted his name into the empty desert. Nothing. I decided that if he didn't show up after 30 minutes, I would head out slightly south to look for him. With less than 2 hours of daylight left, I wondered if his phone had died. I texted him and also left a voice mail. No response. Just as I had started reloading water into my pack, Sean texted and said he could not find me. He was not using a GPS app, but he did send his location via Google maps. I sent my location to him both via maps and with raw coordinates. He had ended up a little more than a mile north of the truck, having crossed behind me at some point. Had we not had cell service, it would have ended in a bit of a predicament. I would have been searching for him and would have directed any rescue team in the wrong direction. An hour later, he rolled up from the north. We had a chuckle and discussed various strategies one could use if lost in a desert Bermuda Triangle. It didn't detract from the experience and we had a safe drive back.
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