Experience the Best Mountain Hikes of Californias Mojave Desert With a total protected area of 9.1 million acres, the Mojave Desert is one of the best-preserved ecosystems in the United States and a formidable playground for hiking, mountaineering, and backpacking. Mojave Desert Peaks describes 130 peak climbs selected among 41 mountain ranges to celebrate this regions remarkable geological, botanical, and historical diversity, and its breathtaking landscapes. The hikes range from easy to strenuous and appeal to both beginners and seasoned hikers. Each description emphasizes the areas scenic beauty and provides information on road access, navigational directions, distances and elevations to key waypoints, and natural and human history. This guidebook also gives valuable tips on desert hiking. Illustrated with 100 computer-generated topographic maps, five general maps for regional orientation, and 160 photographs, it covers Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave National Preserve, Mojave Trails National Monument, Castle Mountains National Monument, and 12 designated wilderness areas. Michel Digonnet  is a professor of Applied Physics at Stanford University. He has spent most of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area and has dedicated a good fraction of his spare time to exploring the deserts of California and the Southwest. He has authored three outdoors books on the California Desert. He lives in Palo Alto, California. LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN Lookout Mountain is the site of the Modoc Mine, one of the richest historic silver mining centers in the region. The short climb to its flat summit on the trail used by miners well over a century ago, past cavernous tunnels, the ruins of the Modoc smelters, and the ghost town of 1880s Lookout, is a rare experience. It gives a glimpse of the life of the men who toiled here to harvest nearly $2,500,000 of silver from the mountain. The view of the Panamint Range is spectacular. General Information Jurisdiction: Private claims on BLM land - Road status: Climbing on trails and cross-country; graded access road - The climb: 1.7 mi, 1,350 ft up one way/moderate - Main attractions: Historic silver mine, ghost town, trail climb - USGS 7.5' topo maps: Panamint Springs, Revenue Canyon* - Maps: pp. 523*, 499 Location and Access Lookout Mountain is a colorful, steep-sided promontory of folded Devonian limestone and dolomite, in the northern Argus Range. With a strong high-clearance four-while-drive vehicle, one can drive a rough stony road right up to its summit, but to climb it on foot all you need is a standard-clearance vehicle. First work your way on Highway 190 to Panamint Springs, 45.2 miles east of Olancha, then to the Panamint Valley Road 2.5 miles east of it. Drive this road 7.4 miles southeast to the signed Minnietta Road on the right. Take this wide graded road 3.6 miles east, over Ash Hill, until it veers north and merges with the Nadeau Trail, signed P 105, coming in from the left. Lookout Mountain rises just to the west. Continue north 0.4 mile to a fork. Angle left on the Nadeau Trail Cutoff, and go 0.35 mile to a junction. The left fork is the way to the summit. It gets rapidly rough, so park at this junction. Route Description Lookout Mountain was made famous by a large silver lode discovered near its summit in April 1875. The discovery attracted Senator George Hearst―his son would later build Hearst Castle―who promptly bought into the claims and formed the Modoc Consolidated Mining Company. The area was so rich that after a few veins had been opened, it was incorporated into a new mining district. Inspired by the open views from the mine, the mountain and the town that grew near the mine were named Lookout. The ore was initially teamed to Panamint City for smelting. In 1876, desert freighter Remi Nadeau delivered to Lookout two 30-ton smelting furnaces. First fired up in October, they produced around 10 tons of silver-lead bullion daily. The charcoal needed to reduce the ore was at first made from pinyon pine logged on this range. By the end of 1876, this scant wood supply was nearly depleted, and Hearst turned to the extensive forest in Wildrose Canyon, across Panamint Valley. Up in the canyon the company erected ten large kilns, which were activated in the spring of 1877. In May, Lookout boasted 30 or 40 houses and stone buildings, three saloons, two general stores, and a bank. Three times a week, a stagecoach connected it to Darwin and Panamint City. By the summer of 1878, the furnaces had churned out over $1,000,000 worth of bullion. For reasons not well understood, the kilns and furnaces were shut down a year later. But there was still plenty of ore, and mining continued. By 1890, the Modoc Mine had produced about $1,900,000, and joined the hall of fame as one of the richest silver mines in the Death Valley region. In its early history, two shortcuts gave quick access to the mine. The Pack Trail was built for pack animals; the C