2024 is the first year since I left full time work in 2013 that I didn’t take a multi-month trip, but the quality of this trip helped to make up for it. I first targeted Junction Peak (13888′) in the Sierra thinking I’d head home shortly after but things opened up for me to stay on the road a bit longer. Junction Peak was an important one. A good friend, Tom Waggoner, had tragically passed away early this year. He’d wanted to climb Junction Peak so I carried some of his ashes to the top. It was also my first tougher hike since developing an overuse injury the previous fall. I took the long way, a gorgeous four days over Kearsarge Pass and along the John Muir Trail to Forrester Pass before making the scramble to near Junction’s summit. I had to stop about 20 feet below the top due to ice, I let the wind take Tom’s ashes which carried straight over the top so it seemed meant to be.

After Junction Peak my girlfriend came out for a few fun days, then I worked my way up to the apex of my trip, Walker Lake in Nevada. Walker is an interesting place – a giant desert lake with few people around and the country’s largest weapons depot on the south end. Mt Grant is a high and prominent peak next to the lake, for which I got permission from Hawthorne Weapons Depot to make the long drive and short hike to the summit. After a few days around Walker I worked my way back south, tagging a handful of fun Nevada summits before crossing back into California for a few more before home. I finished with a day hike of Olancha Peak, at 24 miles and over 6000′ gain, the toughest hike I’ve done in several years. Here’s what I got to on this trip:

California: Junction Peak, Kearsarge Lake hike and Cerro Gordo (with Eris), Cloudripper, Wild Willy Hot Springs, Panum Crater and Mono Lake, Mt Dana

Nevada: Walker Lake, Mt Grant, Buckley Benchmark, Corey Peak, Garfield Hills, Pilot Peak and Belleville Mine, Fish Creek Valley Hot Springs, Lone Mountain, Alkali Hot Springs, Stonewall Mountain

Back in California: Pinto Peak (Death Valley), Coso Peak, Olancha Peak