Winnedumah Paiute Monument - if you know where to look you can see this granite monolith on the Inyo Mountain crest from both the Owen's Valley and Saline Valley. Thanks to our friends Chris and Rosie for pointing this out and providing the inspiration for this hike.
There are several legends about Winnedumah which you can look at here: Winnedumah .
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| Winnedumah |
A little internet searching turned up a number of routes and most told us to bring a 60' rope if we wanted to get to the top. No thanks to the second part, it is classified as a 5.5 route (mountain climber classification system). Susan refuses to do anything with a number greater than 3 as it could involve falling to your death. Most routes follow old roads for most of the way, but one followed an old miner's trail. Now that is interesting. Bob took the vague descriptions Susan found and plotted it on a map. If we could find the trail on the ground, it would be an interesting outing. If we couldn't find it, then ...
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What we would have to get trough without a trail. The sign says danger as there was a large deep open mine shaft.
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| Coming down the trail |
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| The view as we start our hike |
Armed with this half vast knowledge, we invited our friend Hikin' Bill along. He was game; thought it sounded like an adventure.
And it was. A glorious adventure. We meandered up a lovely flower studded hillside and then lo and behold, there was the trail. That was a very good thing as without it, we would have been hard pressed to make our way through this rough country.
We passed several prospects on the way and spent time looking for something on the map labeled Susan Number 1 Prospect. We could not find a thing of any interest in that area. Oh well, Susan was disappointed, as she wanted her picture taken by some exotic mine relic, but that wasn't to be.
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| Horned lizard |
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| A room with a view and a chair to view the room. Hmmm |
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| A piece of old water pipe |
Winnedumah on the other hand did not disappoint. It was impressive, as were the views in all directions.
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| Taking selfies??? |
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| Mazourka Peak |
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| The view back down to our car |
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| Looking out into Saline Valley |
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| Bill providing perspective on how tall Winnedumah is |
