Trip report
Jan 9, 2021 — Sawtooth Mountain is a somewhat big peak northwest of Beatty, NV. It hovers over the ghost town called Rhyolite, for which I included photos at the bottom, taken during a visit a few years ago (hence why there's snow in those photos). You can navigate directly to Rhyolite here: 36.9028879,-116.8282423, where you can see the iconic casino and other old buildings preserved by the NPS.
Getting to the trailhead I marked for Sawtooth Mountain can be done by any vehicle. To get there, navigate here (36.89080150313249, -116.86399436442724) and head north on the good dirt road. Better vehicles could make it to just below the summit of Sawtooth Mountain, but the road gets very steep so 4WD would be an excellent idea if attempting to drive all the way up.
I followed the road to the saddle separating West Sawtooth Mountain from Sawtooth Mountain, then heading east along the road toward some radio towers. I continued north toward the pinnacles guarding the summit. I kept to the left of the pinnacles, gaining a little elevation on the loose slope until I located a nice Class 3 crack on my right. Once above the crack, a Class 3 section with some light exposure led to the summit block. I normally don't write trip reports from drive-up peaks, but I was surprised at how fun (though short) the peak and its scramble ended up being.
To add some more fun to this too-short of a hike, I headed back to the saddle and continued west to the summit of West Sawtooth Mountain. The ridge crest has one impassable cliff, so I recommend keeping to the left on the sandy slope, only ascending to the ridge just before the base of the peak. From here, a steep slope leads to a Class 2 summit block.