Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

May 24th, 2023 at 7:28 AMInyo Mountains Wilderness, CA

Info

Distance9.3 mi

Elevation gain4,900 ft

CruxClass 2

Route typeLoop

Duration6 hr

Quality6/10

Protected areaInyo Mountains Wilderness, Bureau of Land Management

EcoregionCentral Basin and Range

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Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — I parked along this dirt road about 0.2 miles from Saline Valley Road.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Making my way cross country through the pinyon-juniper woodland.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Veering north toward the base of Wünüpü Peak.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Starting up Wünüpü Peak's east slope. The first 1,500 vertical feet is very steep.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — A particularly loose section.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Stumbling over talus to gain the ridge.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Along the ridge, a fallen bristlecone pine trunk.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — The grade lessens about halfway up the ridge.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — View back.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — A treeless section. The summit of Wünüpü Peak is somewhere in the shadows on the top-right.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — View back toward the northernmost reaches of Death Valley National Park.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — View of Waucoba Mountain to the south, some 1,000 feet higher from this point.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Entering a small wooded section below the summit.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Heading north toward the high point.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Nearing the high point, the small hill just past the trees.

Wünüpü Peak summit — Wünüpü Peak summit.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Views from the summit were mostly obscured by the trees, but there was a nice window facing the Sierra.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Starting the traverse to Waucoba Mountain.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — View back. There were some easily avoidable patches of snow.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Continuing south, descending 700 feet to the saddle between the two peaks.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Scattered light on Waucoba Mountain's north slope.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — More views at the Sierra across Owens Valley.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — View back up Wünüpü Peak's south slope.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Approaching the saddle between Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Starting up Waucoba Mountain's north slope.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — View back toward Wünüpü Peak.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Brushy at times, though I was able to avoid any major bushwhacking.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — View back. Snow patches started to appear.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — I avoided much of the snow by climbing on top of large granite boulders like these.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Reaching a plateau about half way up.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — A short downhill section. Waucoba Mountain comes into view.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — About 500 vertical feet from the summit.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — At this point the snow was unavoidable. It was quite soft and I was post-holing up to my shins.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Above the tree line, nearing the summit.

Waucoba Mountain summit — Waucoba Mountain summit. View southeast.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — View north. White Mountain is visible in the distance.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Starting my descent of Waucoba Mountain's east ridge.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — View north toward Wünüpü Peak. You can get a sense of the steepness of the terrain.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — Finally at the base of the mountain.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — View back.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — More cross country back to my car.

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop

Wünüpü Peak and Waucoba Mountain Loop — One last look back at Waucoba Mountain and Wünüpü Peak poking out from behind the trees.