Mount Waas: TR

[Mtnman1830]

Mount Waas
12,331'
Highpoint of Grand County

We got a slow start on the peak bagging this year, and wanted, no, needed to get some elevation.

Our plans were to hit Delano and Mine Camp, but seeing how easily Mine Camp would be, we opted to take the kids on this one, and hit Waas and Peale instead.

We headed out on a tuesday afternoon and made goog time to Moab. Here we topped off the gastank, and backtracked to Highway 128 following directions from SummitPost.org.

We were driving along the highway, when I saw something out of place in the river. I just caught a glimpse of it, but it sure didn't look like a boat. As we got a better look, it was a bus. We pulled off in the pakking lot for the loading ramp and took some pics and watched for a bit.



The road took us through Castle Valley. What a neat place. We soon left pavement and followed a dirt road a ways then the road got pretty rough. It was probably the roughest road we have traveled yet chasing highpoints.

We took this road until it nearly peetered out in Beaver Basin. We found a nice place to camp, but the only bad thing about it is it was a Bear Lure Station. Okay, so its not a good place to stay for too long. We took a bit of a look, and in the middleof the camp there was a pile of sticks with a piece of carpet suspended above it with wire. The lure kinda reminded me of black licorise. Good think I don't like it, and don't take it camping with me. Barbed wire was strung along the ground at about knee-height. Wonder if they are looking for hair for DNA samples??? We headed up a bit furter and found a pretty good place, hoping we wouldn't have company.



We set up camp, and wandered around for a bit. We came across an old miner's cabin and some mines. AFter our little stroll, we went back to camp, fixed dinner, and went to bed.





We got out of bed at 06:00 and after a quick breakfast, and started for the summit at 06:30. There is no trail to the saddle, but it is within view, and can easily be reached, even though it looks rough. The view from the saddle down the other side is awesome! I couldn't wait to see what the view from the peak is like.



From the saddle, there are faint switchbacks up to the peak. It sure makes the going a lot easier through all the talus.



At the summit, there is a rock shelter, which offers a nice place to kick back and take in the view.





(another old cabin on the way in)


Stats:
Total hike time : 3hrs
Elevation Gain: 1,731' in 1.4 miles
Total Time: 3 hours, round trip

[rwpontius]

Nice TR. I started to do Waas several years ago but had weather issues and haven't been back. Looks like a worthwhile hike.
RP

[James_B_Wads2000]

Thanks for the TR Mtnman1830, I have added it to the Utah High Pointing Index .

Waas was one of my favorite climbs. The views of Moab, the river and of Castle Valley were awesome! When I did it we started in Miners Basin at the end of a side road off the La Sal Loop Road. The road ends at about 10,000 ft at a trailhead with a pit toilet. This TH is an access point for the Trans La Sal Trail (TLST) that runs north-south along the western flank of the range crossing many drainages.

From the TH we went up the valley and along the TLST until and old mining track broke off and headed straight up the drainage. The track continued on all the way to the ridgeline to a saddle between the peak to the west of Waas and the next peak south. From there we ridgewalked to the western peak then down to the same saddle Mtnman1830 climbed up to. The ridge before that saddle is grassy and easy to hike, but at the saddle it becomes rocky and talus covered. There even is a little knife sharp section with cliffs to the north of the saddle. We followed the same switchbacks thru the talus from the saddle to the summit. When we approached the saddle we saw a group who had started in Beaver Basin and just walked up to the ridge. Everyone in my group agreed that the Beaver route would be the easiest.



James

[Mtnman1830]

Here are some more goodies.

[accadacca]

Very cool stuff. Nice report!

[sportsman]

pretty cool