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Services, Getting There Getting there: From Bishop, California, head north on US 6 along the west base of the White Mountains. Beyond the summit at Montgomery Pass, SR 360 heads north. About 5 miles past this junction, turn right on paved road signed to Dyer, NV. In 6 miles, this joins SR 264. Exactly 6 miles south of this junction, turn west on dirt road signed Middle Creek, Trail Canyon. If driving west on US 6, turn south onto SR 264 6 miles west of Coaldale and go 14 miles south to Trail Creek turnoff. If from the south, look for Trail Creek turnoff 27 miles north of Oasis, a cluster of ranches near junction of CA SR 168 and 266. Main season: June - October. Hikes & Trails Boundary Peak Wilderness Trails Related Areas Inyo National Forest Map Information USGS topo: Mariposa, Benton, Mt. Barcroft, White Mountain Peak |
Wilderness Area Status Designated Wilderness Area Management Managing Agency: Forest Service Area Description In 1989, the United States Congress designated the Nevada portion of the Boundary Peak Wilderness protecting an area of about 10,000 acres, most of which lies above timberline. At the north end of the White Mountains, Boundary Peak rises to 13,147 feet, the highest point in Nevada. While it is the highest point in Nevada, the considerably taller Montgomery Peak (13,441 feet) is less than 1 mile to the west, across the state line in California. By most definitions, Boundary Peak, which has a prominence of only 253 ft, is considered to be a sub-peak of Montgomery Peak. South, across the California state line, the immense granite crest of the White Mountains sweeps the vista. This dry, cold wilderness exists within the nation's highest desert mountain range, and is the fortress home to bighorn sheep and bristlecone pines. The Nevada portion of Boundary Peak Wilderness covers an area of about 10,000 acres, most of which lies above timberline. From the high summits, alternate vistas of valleys and Great Basin ranges recede toward the east. Looking west, you feel as if you could reach out and touch the Sierra Crest. Winter brings dense snow to the northern part of the White Mountains, and these lingering snows prolong spring through August on the fragile expanses of alpine tundra on Pelasier Flats below the peaks. This high, exposed country can be inhospitable: in the summer, surface water is generally absent and gale-force winds and frequent lightning may create dangerous situations. Natural Resources: Among the many unique natural wonders Nevada has to offer, the Boundary Peak Wilderness ancient bristlecone pine forests one of the most remarkable and worthwhile to visit. These trees are the oldest known living things on Earth, having witnessed between 105,000 and 175,000 generations of indigenous peoples living and worshiping the area, their transition from the atlatl to the bow and arrow, the coming and going of the first European white settlers and prospectors, and eventually their congressional protection within the boundary of this wilderness. These ancient trees begin their lives densely clad with glistening needle-covered branches that sway like foxtail grass florescence in the wind. The sapling trees’ youthful bristled cones drip fresh pitch onto their shale surroundings during the fleeting warm sunny days of late summer. Through the ensuing centuries, the wind and winter conditions contort and sculpt these trees into naturally crafted gargoyles standing silent vigil over both their coveted wilderness and time itself. As many centuries come and go, these ancient trees’ survival is reduced to a thin ribbon of living bark, which, after another few centuries is brought to a tragic, though natural end and their sculpted wooden trunks remain as elegant ghosts, wind-blown, and resolute for a few more centuries until time and exposure erode them back into the dry, shale-clad earth from which they sprouted 5,000 years prior. At the lower elevations of this wilderness, you might be lucky to witness the echoing calls of the pinion jay. The boisterous cacophony of calls from flocks of these birds drift on the wind from distant canyons announcing the care they have for their young. When these large flocks are spotted, you may now that they typically are almost all young birds which are accompanied by adult babysitters. Their constant calls are to inform their foraging parents of their location and well-being. As these large ball-like flocks of young jays, like a mobile splash of blue in the silver-green of pinions, pinion mice (Peromyscus truei) make fast work of short days in a fleeting summer to forage for berries, pine nuts, grass seeds, insects and small spiders, and to raise and tend their own offspring. As one travels into higher elevations of this wilderness, they might encounter the robust, aggressive Accipiter, the Northern Goshawk. Like a silent, gunmetal blue-grey ghost, they stalk through canyons low to the ground in search of birds, reptiles and small mammals. Golden eagles ride thermals below, and above, they hang silently on forceful, perpetual winds washing over the rocky craig bastion homes of regal bighorn sheep rams and sculpting the wilderness’s oldest citizens, the bristlecone pines. Additionally, one may encounter Blue Grouse, Wolverine (which are most likely locally extirpated, though they appear to be currently expanding to reclaim their historical habitats), Western Pipistrelle bats, Mountain Bluebirds, Western Spotted Skunks, Coyotes, mountain lions, Desert Horned Lizards, Cassin's Finches, Peregrine and Prairie Falcons, Golden Eagles and multiple species of owls. |
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