September 5-6, 2008
Report and Photos by Joel Brewster

From our campsite, Morey Peak was basically to the south, so being the wise leader that I am, I led our group north. In my defense, it was early so I wasn't thinking too clearly. Also, Morey is so remote that it is nearly impossible to find a good route description. I had the book, Hiking the Great Basin by Hart, and it vaguely described a route, including taking the right fork of the old road we were hiking. The right fork (obviously not the correct one) we took petered out soon and led us to the north, in the opposite direction of our goal. After crossing numerous drainages and negotiating some tough terrain, Josh, Dave Luttman and I finally gained a ridgeline and surveyed our position.

Much to our chagrin, we realized that the summit was still quite distant. As it was approaching noon and we were pretty tired from the hike up until this point, we decided to call it a day and head back. As we descended down to the road (the one we should have been on), we spotted Brett, Erika, and four-month old Lucas. They had camped in a different spot and had hiked up from their campsite and located the correct route. We informed them that the peak was still quite far, so they decided to hike back together with us.

We all chatted as we headed back to our camp to see how Kim, two-year old Nick, Amy, six-year old Toby, and two-year old Sierra were getting along. Actually, since we had radio contact with them most of the day, we knew they were doing well, but were a little warm. Our campsite was not bad, but was lacking in large trees to provide shade. Amy and Kim rigged a small tarp between the cars to provide some shade, but of course the kids were constantly moving, and spent little time in the shade!

Our campsite was located about 100 yards past the ghosttown of Morey. Morey was settled in 1869 as gold and silver ore was discovered nearby, and grew to the point where a post office was built in 1872. The post office closed in 1905 as Morey became deserted. A landslide destroyed much of the town in the 1950's, but there are the remains of four small buildings there now. There is also a good-sized apple tree with good-tasting fruit according to Dave.

Once we all returned to camp, Brett and Toby hiked back to Brett and Erika's camp to get their car. Toby enjoyed the two-mile hike and did a fine job radioing us to give us reports on their progress. We broke camp and packed up, as we planned to drive home that night.

From what I understand, Josh and Kim prepared one of their legendary camping feasts that we were sad to miss. However, we did have a good dinner at the Little AleInn in Rachel, which I would highly recommend. Brett, Erika, Lucas, Dave, Josh, Kim, and Nick drove back the next day through Tonopah as they were low on gas. All in all, it was a fun trip to a beautiful, remote area, despite our missing our goal. As Dave pointed out, now we have a reason to come back!

Toby exploring the ghosttown (under the apple tree)

 

Camping is tiring!

 

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