Distance: 4.2 miles round trip cross country and use trail
Summit Elevation: 7906'
Prominence: 4232'
Elevation Gain: 2535'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.0
Round trip time: 5 hours
Recommended water: 64 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Clark Mountain Camp (picnic tables)
Difficulty: Moderate
Ben Baumann and I planned to meet up for Clark Mountain, the highest peak in the Mojave. With more than 4000' of prominence, it was visible 25 miles away on the drive up I-15. I exited Bailey Road, crossed under the interstate and turned on Clark Mountain Road. It was paved for a half mile or so before it turned to dirt. I went around a plant to where the road was gated. It was signed Public Access and not locked. I took the second left onto BLM NN120 and that went all the way to the camp with picnic tables. I recommend using a track for the drive in since there are so many criss-crossed roads. Ben had spent the night and was getting ready when I arrived. We talked about bringing a rope, but decided to leave it.
The path behind the picnic tables ended in the ascent gully. Ben spotted a use trail above the gully on the right and we followed for a while before dropping back into it. Further up, we exited on the left and made our way up to the cliff band that blocked further upward progress. Near the top, we looked around for the right place to climb. We spotted a long orange sling someone had left on the cliff tied to a bush. We thought that was the right way, but we quickly learned otherwise. The sling could not be reached from the ground. I went first and climbed a 20' class 4 section to a ledge. From there, I scrambled to the top of the cliff. Ben climbed up behind me. The cliff edge was about 2' wide with a 40' drop on one side and 100' drop on the other. It was clear we were off route and started down. Getting down was scary. Instead of trying to down climb where we came up, we dropped onto an exposed ledge with poor quality rock. We were able to use the sling on the top part of the ledge and that was enough to get us safely back on the ground.
The correct route was only 80' downhill from where we backed off. A climbing rope had been tied around a tree above and reached the dirt. The class 3 was easier here, and the limestone was solid, though the formation was at a down sloping angle. I wrapped the rope around my left arm as a backup. Once I got to the tree, Ben followed. The route above was class 2 and marked with cairns. We dropped 100' before the final ascent. The 360 views over the jagged spines of Clark were fantastic. The original register book from 1995 was in good shape and full. We signed another register with more recent visitors. The benchmark was in good shape and I found one reference mark. We had planned to make the hike a loop and come down the less demanding west ridge. We expected more class 2 on the descent, but there were only a couple of places. The use trail on the west ridge was better defined and also marked with cairns. We stayed high on the ridge line and dropped off onto the road below where we started. A short hop up the road got us back. Clark turned out to be quite exciting, with added spice due to our initial bad route. Very fun mountain.
