For years I have been telling my friends Jorge and Diana that we should climb Red Hill, an obvious “bump” along Highway 395, north of Red Rock Canyon. After my return from my 6-month trip to New Zealand, and Australia, I asked Jorge if we could do some hikes in the Sierras, and he was glad to oblige!
Early in the morning Teresa drove me to Jorge’s house where we obviously were a little too excited seeing Jorge after such a long time when some of the neighbors came outside to find out what all the commotion was about… After saying goodbye to Teresa, Jorge and I drove to Coco’s of Highway 14, for breakfast. An hour later, we were back on the road, towards Lone Pine.
When we got to Red Hill, Jorge turned off the Highway, and drove to the backside of the “Hill”, which give you a totally different view of the landscape, with colors ranging from pure white to black, to red. It felt like we were on Mars! We decided to walk a little towards to the bottom of Red Hill, which ranged from hard white dirt, to soft black sand which caused your feet to sink several inches with every step, to where the red hill starts to climb steeply.
Looking straight up to the top of the “hill”, I decided that I “had” to climb it, and told Jorge to lead the way. The climb was steep, but fortunately not too long, and soon after we reached the rocky section just below the summit. From the summit plateau we had great views of the surrounding area and the mining operation on the south side of red Hill. Getting back down to the truck was quick work, and soon after we were back to the 395 towards Lone Pine.
