Lincoln County High Point Trip Report
one mile south of Mount Grafton (10,640+ ft)
Date: September 12-13, 1998
Author: Andy Martin
We drove to Geyser Ranch NV, just south of the White Pine county line, and headed west on a dirt road
leading to Mill Creek Spring. Up to the abandoned ruins shown at 7,600 feet the road is ok for pick-ups,
but would be very slow or impossible in a passenger car. At 7,600 feet we went into 4wd and drove to a
cramped camp site at 8,100 feet, near the top of a mining cable tramway. The jeep road is not too bad, but
has several sharp turns.
Next morning we proceeded to the road end at 8,300 feet, and started hiking. Dinesh Desai had reported
Grafton to be brushy, but it was not too bad till we got a bit past knoll 9,695. A side-hill slog through small
aspen brought us to the main ridge crest at 10,300 feet. Just south of this is a knoll at 10,562 which may be
the highest hill in Lincoln county, though it does not quite get the magic 300-foot shoulder drop. We
proceeded north and somewhere (~10,640+) crossed the unmarked Lincoln county line. On our return we
built a cairn at the approximate county HP location, about 200 feet horizontally south of a huge round cairn
that is wrapped in wire. Our cairn is just up-slope from a windblown tree, the first tree on the ridge
as you descend from the big round cairn.
We took a break at summit 10,802, just into White Pine County, and heard some Elk bugling.
Mt. Grafton had a register with signers from the Las Vegas mountaineering club.
Our descent and drive out was uneventful. We probably bushwhacked a total of ~3,200 vertical feet on this
one, and it was one of our tougher days. We drove on to Wheeler Peak campground, and got in some good
acclimatization at 9,800 feet.
High Clearance parking
4wd parking
Brushy side hill