Our second trip to the Diamond Mountains is more successful than our first, but we still don’t quite make it to the summit we’re aiming for. We do make it to the slightly lower southern summit of Adams peak, and get a good feel for the area. We even find some snow on the north side to posthole through, which is a little comforting in the current drought conditions.

We do a fair amount of bushwhacking through manzanita on the ascent.

Ann bushwhacking

A golden eagle soars over as we approach the summit.

Golden eagle soaring

The afternoon wears on, and we declare the south summit good enough.

South summit

Our return trip includes an old road that has nearly disappeared.

Recovering road

The north approach to the peak is probably best when free of snow. In the current conditions our route was not entirely intentional but worked out well. We could have started earlier or driven further to improve our timing.