From the top of Horn Toad Peak, we dropped down to a saddle and continued southward toward Little Pyramid Peak. There are some minor bumps along the ridge between Horn Toad Peak and Little Pyramid Peak, and while Dinah and Bob tried to avoid unnecessary elevation gain by traversing below the crests of these bumps, I chose to tag the tops of each one. For some reason, I suddenly felt very energetic, but in tagging all these extra bumps, I fell behind and did not catch up to Dinah and Bob until just below the true summit of Little Pyramid Peak. There is a short and mildly exposed Class 3 chute here, but we all climbed it without any trouble. After tagging the summit of Little Pyramid Peak, we essentially backtracked the way we came except I did not bother to re-climb all the bumps along the way this time. We returned to the trailhead without incident and made it back to Las Vegas with plenty of time to spare before dinner.
This concluded a fun week of hiking with Dinah and Bob in the Las Vegas area. I want to thank them both for their generous hospitality in accommodating me in their condo during the week, and I hope that we can do this again in the future.
Be sure to check out Bob's trip
report.
Dinah heads toward Horn Toad Peak
(left).
Bob and Dinah head into a gully which
grants easy access to Horn Toad Peak (right).
Further up the gully, the way to the
top of Horn Toad Peak becomes clearer.
Dinah and Bob hike up the steep slope.
A few cliff bands have to be negotiated just before the summit.
Sonny, Bob and Dinah stand on the
summit of Horn Toad Peak (994 metres).
The summit register was placed by a
couple other web authors. Unfortunately, their website has not
been updated for a few years.
Little Pyramid Peak to the south is
the second objective of the day.
Sentinel Peak is the colourful
mountain to the west.
Muddy Peak stands out on the horizon
to the northwest.
Echo Hills sit to the north across the
highway from the trailhead.
Overton Arm of Lake Mead is visible beyond the unnamed ridge in the
foreground. Virgin Peak is under clouds on the horizon.
Dinah and Bob hike under the south
face of Horn Toad Peak.
Dinah and Bob begin to traverse across
the face of an unnamed bump between Horn Toad Peak and Little Pyramid
Peak.
Here is the view of Little Pyramid
Peak (left) from the top of the unnamed bump.
This is the true summit of Little
Pyramid Peak as seen from its false summit.
Dinah scrambles up the short Class 3
chute just below the summit.
Bob, Dinah and Sonny stand beside a
huge cairn on the summit of Little Pyramid Peak (1027 metres).
Virgin Basin of Lake Mead is visible to the southeast
along with Bonelli Peak (far left).
Visible to the south are
Booth
Pinnacle (left) and
Pyramid Peak
(right).
Beyond colourful Sentinel Peak are
Boulder Basin of Lake Mead and
Hamblin Mountain
(right).
Muddy Peak (on horizon) is again the
most recognizable mountain to the northwest.
This is looking north to Horn Toad
Peak (left) and Overton Arm of Lake Mead.
A collared lizard relaxes in the shade
of some bushes.
Bob climbs on top of one of the
sandstone outcrops near the trailhead.
Total
Distance: 6.6 kilometres
Round-Trip Time: 4 hours 42 minutes
Total Elevation Gain: 555 metres