Hike Mopah Point and Umpah Peak Turtle Mountains Wilderness Area BLM, CA

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Mopah Point and Umpah Peak are two of the more interesting-looking peaks in the Turtle Mountains and are the primary goals of anyone who knows about this area. The little peaklets surrounding them are lesser-summited, and would increase the day's fun, so Chris Kerth and I set out to get them all. It made for a nice loop of the area. Chris and I have been talking for a long time and I was happy to finally get to go on a hike with this prolific CA peakbagger. Great day out, friend! The road leading to our starting point was somewhat rocky, but 2WD could make it driving slowly. We parked before a burly wash and walked along the road to a metal boundary fence. From here, we followed the deteriorated road past the boundary until we entered a wash, Peak 2673 visible ahead and the first on our to-do list. From its base, we headed up on Class 2 which led to a Class 2+ section to get over the broken cliff band. The wide summit of this minor peak gave us lovely morning views toward Mopah/Umpah.

We continued to the opposite side of Peak 2673, locating a Class 2 weakness in the cliff band on its southwestern side. Not locating this weakness would mean having to do some backtracking, so we were thrilled there was an option through the cliffs. We dropped down the loose slope and headed through the desert to the base of Mopah Point. The cliffs are sheer-looking and I can't image there's another non-technical route up Mopah Point aside from the standard route we'd be taking. We worked our way up the steep Class 2 southeastern slope. Many options would work, all leading to a significant, wide gully. Once in this gully, I recommend staying to the right side, where there are fewer obstacles and a cairned route. We followed this gully on Class 2 stuff to its head and wrapped to the right at the base of the cliffs, continuing along a wide ledge with great views of the desert below. We came across the first Class 3 set of moves, sustained but not difficult or too exposed. This led to a Class 2 slope, and finally to a significant Class 3 crack. The crack was fun, and we found ourselves stemming up to its top, where a tight notch led to some giggling from my stuck backpack. Just past the notch is a nice flat area where we dropped our gear and inspected the crux of the day. Previous trip reports painted this section as having very bad exposure and hard moves. Chris and I thought it was a perfectly reasonable Class 4 section, and while a fall wouldn't be fun, it would only mean about a 15-foot drop. The moves were facilitated by a couple of big, solid hand holds and an important right foot. Once above the crux, we wrapped around on a somewhat exposed Class 2 unlikely ledge and continued on easy scrambling to the summit of Mopah Point.

We backtracked, but once back in the significant gully we used on our ascent, we trended south. Our next peak was Mopah Peaks West (a minor summit to the west of Mopah Point), but we decided the best course of action would be to fully descend from Mopah and wrap around its base rather than attempt to route-find through the lower cliffs. This meant losing singificant gain that we'd have to get back on the ascent. We headed up to toward Mopah Peaks West and noted a potentially serious cliff band. Forutnately, a nice break in the cliff offered some easy Class 3. I don't think there's any other spot that would have gotten us up with as little difficulty. Mopah Peaks West wasn't particularly amazing, but we did get to stare up at Mopah Point from a unique angle. We dropped down the same way we came up and continued south-ish toward Umpah Peak, our next objective.

I really enjoyed Umpah Peak. It's not necessarily cryptic, but attaining its summit does take significantly more work than you'd think. The route requires wrapping around the peak in a spiral, starting on the north side and ending on the south. We started by traversing on somewhat loose slopes, a bit below the nutty-looking cliffs fortifying the peak. Our side-hilling brought us to the standard route, a rocky Class 2 slope that would lead us up a good distance of vertical gain. With a short Class 3 move, we got over one of the more minor cliffs at a spot that felt friendly and headed up this standard slope to a ridge above. We hopped over to the other side of the ridge and into the sunlight and made an ascending traverse on Umpah Peak's southeast side. We encountered a bit of Class 2/3 on fairly solid rock, but it was all quite steep and a little unnerving. We could see the final set of cliff bands that protected Umpah Peak, requiring us to wrap around farther to its south side. Here, the cliff band was broken up a bit and provided some step-stone-like Class 2/3, with a single Class 3 move in a minor notch to gain the summit.

On the way down from Umpah Peak, we got back into the Class 2 slope, thinking it might lead all the way down to the base. However, a dryfall below would seem to prevent this. Instead, we hopped over a rock rib and descended a different slope. I recommend just paying attention as you descend to scope out a reasonable route. There are likely more than a couple of ways down. We were able to keep the descent Class 2. Our final objective ahead was Peak 2553. After a significant walk through the desert, some fun Class 2 led to the summit ridge of Peak 2553. We were happy and surprised to find some fun Class 3 on interesting slabs of rock along the ridgeline, some of which looked like they were ready to slide off at any minute, but of course they didn't. After summitting, we started back down along the ridge and found a nice descent route off the ridge. This led down Class 2 loose stuff down and eventually into the major wash that would bring us back to the car. This wash felt long.

PEAKS ON HIKE
Elevation (ft) / Prominence (ft)

Peaks on hike

Elevation

Prominence

Peak 2673

2673 ft

590 rise

Mopah Point

3530 ft

960 rise

Mopah Peaks, West

3067 ft

361 rise

Umpah Peak

3553 ft

1080 rise

Peak 2553

2553 ft

433 rise

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Metal boundary. Mopah Point peeking out left of center, Umpah Peak poking out far left. We started past this boundary on a deteriorated road.

Along the old road, before entering into the wash ahead.

Within the wash, Peak 2673 ahead.

Class 2 stuff as we work up to Peak 2673. We headed toward the cliff-free slope in the center of this photo.

Looking back into the wash we came up, Chris starting up the Class 2/3 scramble to get above the cliff bands.

Summit of Peak 2673 ahead.

Mopah Point (right) and Umpah Peak (left).

We found a Class 2 descent to get through the cliff band surrounding Peak 2673.

Mopah Point ahead. You can see the vital slope/gully that everyone uses as the standard route up Mopah (the dark shadowy section in the center).

Looking back toward Peak 2673 as we start up the slopes to Mopah Point.

Our chosen ascent route. The vital slope/gully is blocked by the rock outcroppings. Head up to the cliff face above and cairns will start to mark the route.

Looking back down the ascent slope/gully standard route. We came up from the left in this photo.

Class 2 up the gully and up to the base of the cliffs above.

Looking back.

Looking back as we followed the base of the cliffs.

Class 2 wide ledge with nice views.

Class 3 section. Sustained, not hard or too exposed.

Looking down at the Class 3 section. We ascended from the base of the cliffs visible here.

After the Class 3 stuff in the previous photo, then a Class 2 slope, and now we were at the base of a cool crack. There's a tight notch at the top of the crack.

Looking back down the crack toward Chris.

Chris coming through the notch at the top of the crack, far more majestically than I.

Me coming through the crack. MY backpack got stuck so I cried. Photo by Chris Kerth.

Just past the notch, we had a nice spot to drop our gear. Pictured is Chris playing around on the crux of the hike. You can see the 15-foot drop in the unlikely chance he falls. Some trip reports read that they rappelled later, but we didn't like any of the anchor options, all loose. Down-climbing it would be on the descent.

Close-up of Chris on the crux. Just above his right hand is a big, important hold.

Shot of Chris on the crux from above, his right hand on the important hold mentioned in the previous caption. The exposure is clear on the left here, but it's still less bad than we thought it would be.

A nice Class 2 ledge leads around the cliffs and into the bright gully visible ahead of Chris.

Looking back down, the ledge we came in on marked by the green stuff.

Easy scramble to the summit of Mopah Point.

Mopah Point summit, view toward Umpah Peak.

Mopah Point summit, view north.

I snagged a shot of Chris navigating the Class 2 ledge on the way back.

We headed back down from Mopah Point and then descended to the south. You can see the main slope/gully above Chris to the right.

At the base of Mopah Point. Umpah Peak visible on the left. First we headed around Mopah on the right to go for Mopah Peaks West.

Wrapping around Mopah Point.

Heading up to Mopah Peaks West. There was a serious-looking cliff band ahead, but there was a weakness (left of center).

But we found a nice Class 2/3 weakness to get through the band.

Heading to the summit of Mopah Peaks West. Mopah Point visible top right.

Mopah Peaks West summit, view toward Umpah Point. We would traverse the ridge visible left of center.

Along the ridge to Umpah Peak.

Looking back toward Mopah Peaks West and its cliff band (left of center), and Mopah Point (top right).

Side-hilling below the cliffs of Umpah Peak's northeast slope as we tried to locate the standard Class 2 ascent slope.

Within the standard Class 2 slope.

Looking back as we ascend the slope, Mopah Point visible center.

Toward the top of the Class 2 slope a we near the ridge.

We hopped over the ridge and headed around the southeast side of Umpah Peak.

Class 3 section on the southeast side.

Continuing along the southeast side, significant cliffs visible. We continued wrapping around the peak on the left.

We got to the south side of Umpah Peak where there were a bunch of nice step-stone-like rocks forming a weakness in the cliff band.

Looking back at Chris as we ascend the south side of Umpah Peak.

Shot of me on the step-stone-like scramble. Photo by Chris Kerth.

Looking back down the Class 3 move in a minor notch as we near the summit of Umpah Peak.

Umpah Peak summit, view toward Mopah Point (right) and Mopah Peaks West (left).

We backtracked and continued down the standard Class 2 gully we ascended on. Mopah visible ahead. Staying in the main slope gully would have resulted in a dryfall, so we hopped over a rock rib on the right and headed down another Class 2 gully. There are a few gully options to get down.

Heading through the desert toward Peak 2553.

Looking back toward Umpah Peak (left) and Mopah Point (right).

Class 2 scramable up to the ridge of Peak 2553.

Looking back along the summit ridge of Peak 2553. Mopah and Umpah visible back there.

Fun Class 3 moves along the ridgeline of Peak 2553.

Looking back along the Peak 2553 summit ridgeline and the interesting slabs of rock that looked like they might slide off.

We dropped down off Peak 2553 and headed down into the wash that would bring us back to the car.

Within the wash, looking back.

Heading back via the wash for a few miles.

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Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!