11/5 Hiking Fletcher Peak, Mt Charleston, NV

Next on our hiking list was tackling Fletcher Peak. We were at an advantage since Fletcher Peak and the Raintree trail are the same trail until a fork near the end. When we did Raintree trail last time, we took a right at the fork. This time, we just needed to take a left and we would be on the slightly longer and more uphill Fletcher Peak trail. So, Winston and I packed our bag, grabbed a few snacks and headed out to start up. This would be our first ascent of a 10,000-foot peak and I was excited. 

Not long up the trail, we discovered that the recent rain that Vegas received was snow up here at the higher altitude. Winston loves snow and he ate snow every chance he had. He chose to walk in snow whenever there was an opportunity. 

However, the snow was limited to patches on the backside of the ridge so as we continued, we broke out of that and back into the sun. The trail was well marked so Winston as our pathfinder and scout had no problem following the correct path as we climbed up the switchbacks towards the ridgeline. 

Once we were on the ridgeline, the trail opened up into sweeping overlooks of the surrounding areas. Thankfully, there was very little wind otherwise it would have been chilly on top of the ridgeline without any trees or scrubs for cover.

Once we passed that, it was back up the next ridge towards Raintree. A few tenths of a mile short of Raintree was the fork to Fletcher Peak. This crossroads was not labeled, and the Fletcher Peak trail was much smaller and harder to see than the well-traveled Raintree trail. Thankfully, we had the Gaia tracks downloaded otherwise I think we may have walked right by it. 

Once we made the left, it was only 0.7 miles to the peak but it was a tough 0.7. It was steep instead of switchbacks that we were used to. Additionally, the terrain was all scree rock combined with some snow which made it very slippery. Once we pushed through that, we broke into a large landing that was obviously the peak. That meant it was lunch time! I had a Clif bar and Winston had his two cups of puppy chow. Winston also had some of my Clif bar if we are being honest. After we had our lunch, I made Winston pose for a pic at the summit. He wasn't impressed but he sat for it like a good boy. After our photo, we made a journal entry in the journal stored at the top of the summit. It was pretty cool to see all the other individuals who made the trek to the top. 

After that, we took another good look at the views before heading back down the way we came up. Going down is always faster than going up but we had to be careful with our foot placement as the slippery scree was still a problem. Once we reached the fork, the scree wasn't a big deal anymore and we scurried on back to the car in record time. Winston slept in the car ride back and was fully energized when we returned to the house like it never even happened. All in all, the hike was 7.4 miles with 2,130 feet of climb taking us 3+58 hours. This was our first 10k peak and we have big plans to take on some other peaks with our new found confidence! 

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Fletcher Peak