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Hunter Mountain
CM4. Location/Access:(36o 33.241’N, 117o 29.948’W) Hunter Mountain can be reached from the Ubehebe area via 37 miles of gravel road or it can be accessed from CA 190 via 20 miles of semi-paved and gravel road. The route in from CA 190 is far easier and in winter may be the only route as the north slopes are often covered in snow. The location coordinates given above are just east of the summit coming in from South Pass (CM7) and is a good camp/picnic/rest spot.
Best Time: Any time, all year.
Geology: The broad summit of Hunter Mountain is probably an uplifted Tertiary erosion surface cut into the Jurassic pluton that makes up the mass of the mountain. The rolling upland surface is dotted with pinyon-juniper woodland and weathered boulders. While most of the pluton is granitic, there are some rocks from the contact aureole on the northeast side of the pluton which are visually unique leucomonzogabbro. Boulders from this part of the pluton can be found in northern Chicago Valley east of Shoshone. Even allowing for significant fluvial/mudflow transport, much of this current separation must have been accomplished by Neogene extension. Places of interest on the upland area include an old abandoned log cabin located off a side road 5.2 miles from South Pass to the south just east of the western summit and a great view of central Death Valley and the isolated Sand Flat bolson can be seen from a hill at 7.3 miles from South Pass. This is just where the road drops off steeply down to Goldbelt.
