Trip report
Feb 17, 2020 — Old Dad Mountain is a really fun route out in the Mojave National Preserve. To reach the trailhead, turn-off from Kelbaker Road (the paved road) here (35.1551666,-115.7905489). The sandy Powerline Road was in overall good shape, though the sandiness calls for 4WD, and once we entered Jackass Canyon's, mid-clearance to not bottom out on the mound separating the tire tracks. Most people seem to drive farther south in Jackass Canyon to get to the mouth of the approach wash, but we didn't see the point to only save a quarter mile of hiking (Whiley and I would both rather walk), instead choosing to park at a junction with another dirt road that led west earlier on. This side road led right into the main approach wash that runs along the east side of Old Dad Mountain. We continued northwest along this wash until we located a cairn leading up a minor drainage on Old Dad Mountain's southeast slope. The route is hard to describe, but it was well-cairned and for the first half was consistently fun Class 2/Class 2+ on solid rock. There was a short break in the vertical gain as the route traversed north to avoid heavy cliff bands on the left, and then it started gaining more steeply. I'd recommend making a note of where the traverse ends and the vertical gain begins, because on the way back down it could be easy to miss this turn-off.
Once past the traverse section, we continued scrambling on fun, sticky, slabby limestone. I'd almost argue there is maybe a Class 3 move in there somewhere, but probably nothing someone attempting this hike couldn't handle. The route for the last few hundred feet was a little convoluted, but there are many possible routes up. It's just a steep slope mixed in with some grassy patches. The summit views were nice, but really the scrambling was what made this peak a good one.