Eureka County High Point Trip Report

Diamond Peak (10,614 ft)

Date: May 16, 2002
Author: Scott Surgent

I drove to the first main saddle at 8,400 feet, after plowing through (in low 4WD) a snow patch to get there.

The hike is a long ridge walk. It's tempting to want to contour around the intervening bumps via game trails (as Mike Coltrin reported), and I did so once or twice, but ultimately the wisest approach is to stay high on the ridge as often as possible. Plenty of good use trails to follow, too.

The only obstacle I had was a large patch of snow at about 10,000 feet sitting right on the use-trail. Going up, I bypassed it by scaling some rocky outcrops, requiring easy class-3 scrambling. I made the top at about 10:00 am. A nice large cairn with a horse-shoe is at the summit. I looked for a log but after mashing my finger moving some rocks I gave up.

Coming down was easy. The large snow patch blocked me, so this time I went to the other side, down some very loose scree. When the snow melts, this part will be easy, as the faint but obvious use trail goes right through it. I was back to my vehicle at 12:30. Gorgeous views in all directions.