Distance: 5.1 miles round trip on dirt road, use trail, and cross country
Summit Elevation: 3620'
Prominence: 1740'
Elevation Gain: 1788'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.4
Round trip time: 3 hours 45 minutes
Recommended water: 54 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on BLM Road MT9622
Difficulty: Moderate
I discovered Cave Mountain from Madison Christian aka Uncle Rico. It's a prominent desert pear along I-15 on the way to Vegas. I was looking for a desert peak that was drivable and Cave fit the bill. I drove up I-15 and took the exit for Afton Canyon, a washboarded but easy dirt road. Then, I took BLM Road MT9622 (second dirt road on the left) to get closer. MT9622 had some washes, sand, and ruts. 4x4 recommended, high clearance mandatory. I parked at the same location as Brian Richardson in his peakbagger report. The sand got very deep after that and it might have been difficult to turn around. I brought my La Sportiva approach shoes which had caused blisters on my right foot when I had worn them before. I tried to stretch them out and used this hike as an experiment to see if they still caused problems. Hiking on the road was very much like hiking on a beach with extra rocks. After about 1.5 miles, the dirt road split in two. I took the steeper road on the left, which was correct, but didn't see the continuation and walked over to the other road to see if I had missed it. Then, I spotted Cave rising up from the way I came. I left the road and followed the ridge picking up a use trail that faded in and out. As I approached steeper terrain, I could see the giant cairn that I knew was close to, but not the actual summit. My instinct was to head for the large gully, but when I got near, I saw it would not be easy to reach. Instead, I started up the steep shoulder.
Once past the shoulder, I took a more or less direct line to the cairn with more class 2 at the end. I added a rock to the cairn, then walked a couple of hundred feet to the summit block, also class 2. Views were great in all directions. A stream of tiny vehicles flowed along I-15. I found two benchmarks, one stamped "El Frio 1929" on a rock below the summit block. El Frio translates to The Cold. The other was on top of the summit block and unmarked. The register was in an ammo box. It was open to the page with Madison's signature from February. Only a couple of other parties had signed since then. I took some photos and noted that my La Sportivas were still comfortable. That changed on the way down. I got down all the steep terrain and could feel the friction on my right toes. I diverted into a sandy gully so I could plunge step to the road. Plunge stepping was the highlight of the hike. As I continued back along the road, the pain built up on my right foot and I had to stop. I took off my sock and saw several layers of skin had been peeled back on top of my third and fourth toes. A bandaid and loosening the laces in the shoe did not help. I resigned myself to finish the last 0.7 miles with just a sock on my right foot. The road had enough deep sand to allow me to walk at almost normal speed. I stepped on a few sharp rocks, but it was far better than letting the cursed La Sportivas shred my foot. They got tossed as soon as I got home and I am now in the market for some new approach shoes.
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