July 15, 2006

Let's meet for breakfast at the Outdoor Inn in the town of Jarbidge between 8 and 9 am Pacific Daylight Time on Sunday, July 23. (Jarbidge is on Mountain Time, but I see no point in resetting our watches just to match the clocks in Jarbidge: all times below should be taken as PDT.) The Outdoor Inn serves an excellent breakfast. We'll aim to leave around 9:30 for the trailhead, which is about four miles outside of town.

To get to Jarbidge, take Interstate 80 to Elko, then take 225 north for about 53 miles to the junction with the unpaved road signed to Charleston and Jarbidge. This is a good road, but slow going at the end. At about Mile 28 there is a good roadside campsite. I plan to camp there. It's less than 20 miles from there to Jarbidge, but the road becomes steep and winding and occasionally rough, so allow at least 45 minutes for the final drive. When you get down the steep grade from Bear Creek Summit, the road forks, the left branch going into Jarbidge and the right branch to our trailhead at Pine Creek campground. There is a campground (Jarbidge Campground) on the way into town and three campsites (Lower Buster, Upper Buster, and Pine Creek) on the road to the trailhead. The Outdoor Inn has an attached motel, but only a few units, so if you decide you want to stay there you should make a reservation (775-488-2311).

It took me 12 hours driving time to get from Jarbidge to San Jose, staying within the speed limit all the way.

The important 7 1/2 minute USGS maps are Jarbidge South and Gods Pocket Peak. A small part of the trip will be on the Goat Creek quad. The 1:100000 Jarbidge Mtns map gives the big picture.

We'll camp the first night at Jarbidge Lake. The second campsite will be on the East Fork of the Jarbidge River a little past the junction with Cougar Creek, the third at Humming Bird Spring, and the fourth on the Gods Pocket trail near Gods Pocket Peak. This will be a dry camp and a short day, with the option of a side trip to Gods Pocket Peak.

I have revised the plans for the last two days based on my experience scouting. The hike along the ridge across Cougar Peak, Matterhorn, Square Top, and Jumbo is way too hard, at least for me. I did just Cougar and Matterhorn and contoured via a convenient trail around Square Top and part of Jumbo, and it was still an 11-hour day.

The fifth day in my original itinerary was also very long, with a killer 1800-foot climb to Emerald Lake at the end. By eliminating the ridge walk, we can shorten Day 5 and camp along the river, leaving the final climb for the hike out.

Here's a rough trip profile:

Day 1, trailhead to Jarbidge Lake: 8 miles, 2800 feet

Day 2, to E. Fork Jarbidge River: 9 miles, 1000 feet

Day 3: to Hummingbird Spring: 15 miles, 3200 feet

Day 4: to camp below Gods Pocket Peak: 5 miles, 1100 feet

(dayhike to Gods Pocket Peak is about 1000 feet)

Day 5: to East Fork Jarbidge River: 10 miles, 1800 feet

Day 6: to trailhead: 10 miles, 2300 feet

You should have the capacity to carry three or four liters of water. The longest waterless stretch is the five miles or so between Slide Creek trailhead and Hummingbird Spring. We do have a dry camp, but water is only ten or fifteen minutes away. When we leave the dry camp, we will find water within a half hour. I drink all the water unfiltered, but I leave it to you to decide whether or not you want to filter or treat it.

There are a bunch of wet stream crossings on the first day, mostly along the former road leading to the old trailhead. There is one crossing of the East Fork on Day 2, one of Slide Creek on day 3, another of the East Fork on Day 5, and of course the same crossings on Day 6 as on Day 1. None of these are at all difficult. Again, I leave it to you to decide whether you want to bring stream-crossing footwear.

A possible complication is that there is ongoing road work by the Forest Service both on the road the trailhead and on the road out to Bear Creek Summit. My impression is that the work on the road to the trailhead will be finished by the time we get there. There is no work scheduled on the main road for July 22-23, but there might be on July 28-29. The roads being worked on are supposed to be open between 7 pm and 6 am, so presumably you could just wait until 7 pm to drive out if necessary. I plan to call the Forest Service on Monday to try for some clarification.

Please let me know if I have left anything out that you need to know.

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