Distance: 3 miles round trip cross country
Summit Elevation: 2582'
Elevation Gain: 1450'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.1
Round trip time: 3 hours 10 minutes
Recommended water: 48 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free in Quartz Vein Wash
Difficulty: Easy (but chossy dirt and rock)
Quartz Vein Peak, aka Peak 2582, is a sub-peak of Sunset Mountain. The easiest approach is probably from Pinyon Wash to the south. However, I wanted to explore Quartz Vein Wash, so I started from the north just off Highway 78. There were a few camping spots along the dirt road in the wash. I chose the widest wash, which might not be Quartz Vein proper, but it was on a more direct line to the peak. It narrowed in places, then grew wide again. Granite rocks filled the bed and the walls were mostly dried mud. I never saw a large quartz vein, other than within individual boulders. Many smaller gullies fed into the main one. Some were quite substantial. I knew I would need to take one of the side washes to reach the ridge line. I picked one that looked good and started up. It grew steep. Just before the ridge, it was class 2 on crumbly dirt and poor rock. This was not the ideal line. I reached a false summit and noted a better drainage I planned to take down. Out of the protection of the wash, the wind hit hard. Steady 20mph and gusts up to 45mph were expected. The summit was broad and it was hard to find the high point. I checked a few different boulders, eventually finding one with a cairn on top. GPS later confirmed it was the high point. I found a register in a red can below the summit boulder. I climbed on top and took in the nice views, including the bulk of Sunset Mountain next door. Because of the wind, I didn't linger. I descended far enough to get out of the wind before grabbing some calories. I descended down the parallel gully and it was better. Still crumbly and steep, but better angles. I recommend it for ascent as well. When the mud walls got smaller, I went up and over to get back into the ascent gully. I struggled to rate the difficulty of the hike. One one hand, the stats and physical effort were pretty low. On the other, the terrain and chossy dirt make the steep sections hard. So, it fell somewhere between easy and moderate. I decided to go with easy. Lots of bighorn scat, no bighorns.
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