Nye County High Point Trip Report

Mount Jefferson

Date: July 1999
Author: Edward Earl

I approached Jefferson from Monitor Valley on the east side. My hike began after 70 miles of driving from Tonopah; the last 20 miles are on dirt roads. A good but little-used trail leads up Pine Creek Canyon amid cottonwood from the obscure Pine Creek Campground. This is a nice hike - lots of solitude amid an alpine setting reminiscent of Colorado. At about 10,800' is a junction with the trail that traverses the broad, sprawling summit plateau. You can go either north or south here; I went south and returned from the north. The topo maps shows another trail branching off to within 250' of the summit, but I found no such trail and climbed the last 1000' on easy class 1 talus and alpine tundra.