It had been a busy week and we needed a "low key" hike for our Saturday getaway. So, we decided to head towards Panaca, Nevada and hike Vada Benchmark, which is near the Nevada/Utah border. Tom had found the BM earlier in the year and the pictures he sent intrigued us to go and see it for ourselves. Although we traveled nearly 100 miles (one-way) for a three mile hike, it was good for us to explore an area that we hadn't been to in many years.
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We don't have a trail, just a destination in mind . . . Vada Benchmark
(This isn't Vada BM . . . it's two more bumps, on the ridgeline, past this one) |
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Yikes! A rattlesnake skin shed . . .
This is why we only hike in Southern Utah during the colder months! |
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| Up on the ridgeline we followed wild horse trails through the unique boulders |
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This is what we were expecting to find . . . a survey tripod from 1944!
In March 2021, our friend Tom found it tossed over the cliff edge. He repaired it & put it
back in its' proper place over the benchmark for others to see. |
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Today, eight months later, we found the tripod laying in shambles . . .
Not sure if it was done by wind or humans (probably the latter)
Such a shame! |
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| The Vada Benchmark |
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| We are in Nevada looking southwest toward Panaca |
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| Reference marker #2 is pointing to the benchmark |
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| Reference marker #1 was a little harder to locate |
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We should have done our homework before hiking up Vada . . .
After we got home we discovered that the Panaca charcoal kilns are
in the valley below, to the left of the rock formations . . . we shall return! |
This was a short hike . . . only about three miles round-trip, but with 900 ft of elevation gain. If you'd like a topo map and GPS tracks of our hike you can click
here for a link to Tom's Peakbagger.com post. We had a different starting point, thus the difference in mileage. Best advice . . . find a place to access the ridge and check each of the major bumps as you work your way up. The third obvious bump has the Vada BM.
