Calico Hills South, Calico Hills I Peak, Red Book Peak, Calico Hills II Overlook, West Calico Tank Peak, Calico Tank Peak, Turtlehead Junior

 Calico Hills South - 1317M

43M Prominence

36.14660, -115.42464

February 22, 2025

After a few days of climbing in the desert, Tyler, Gabe Scott and I decided that we would change up the pace a bit and go for an extended hike. After looking and looking for a suitable adventure, I set my sights on a traverse of the entire Calico Hills and beyond. The day before we had been talking to a local man at one of the crags we were climbing at, and he suggested this traverse (among many other adventures). I took some time to look into it and found a GPX route on Fastest Known Time.com. I was quite unsure of how long and involved this traverse would be, as it is hard to gauge such criteria off of FKT, so we decided to just give it a shot and see how far we could make it. At 9:45 AM we parked the Car at Calico Basin and got going. We made our way over to the start of the ridge, trying to adhere to the route as best as possible. After half an hour we had made it to the first summit of Calico Hills South. so far the route was quite easy to follow, and we were only making marginal detours for large boulders that made more sense to just go around. 

Calico Hills I Peak - 1321M

31M Prominence

36.15011, -115.42929

February 22, 2025

Getting to Calico Hills I peak we continued along the ridge skirting around large boulders while still trying to maintain as much elevation as possible. A few moments in this segment proved to be some of the cruxes of the day once all was said and done. A few moments required attentiveness and concentration on footwork. Some of my favorite moments of the traverse lied on this section as well, such as an incredible key hole under a boulder to squeeze through. The key hole was not only fun but also crucial as this way the easiest way around avoiding some hairy scrambling. Accessing the final summit boulder was a bit of a bouldering puzzle, Tyler and I climbed our way up to the summit and spent a few minutes hiking around seeking an easier alternative. The alternative in the end was just to stay a bit lower and not bother coming up to the summit.

Red Book Peak - 1405M

57M Prominence

36.15600, -115.43374

February 22, 2025

After Calico Hills I, we began to make our way to Red book peak, we continued along the ridge, and decided to take a break in an incredible little canyon that lay directly in the middle of the ridge. It was quite spectacular to be sitting in the bottom of a small canyon with 15 meter walls on either side, while still being on top of a ridge. We enjoyed the shade for a bit and ate some snacks by and old fire pit. Eventually we made our way down the main notch that cuts through the traverse and we descended nearly 100 meters to a touristy trail. We crossed the trail, and immediately started making our way up a gulley under Red Book peak. We were then faced with a tough choice when we arrived at a steep headwall. It would have been possible to scramble up, however it was definitely low 5th class. As well as being low fifth class the main deterrent was the 4 foot gap to jump over with a deep deadly crack underneath. We looked around for a few minutes before I scoped out a way around to the right, it would deviate a bit from the GPX route, but it was a much safer alternative. We then gained a bit more elevation and made it up to Red Book peak. This summit is named after the classic climb that lies just below to the West. The Great Red book is a two pitch 5.8 trad climb that follows a very aesthetic 90 degree crack in the rock, and opens up like a book in front of you. A few days prior we climbed this route, but weren't bothered to reach the actual summit.

Calico Hills II Overlook - 1456M

17M Prominence

36.15856, -115.43811

February 22, 2025

As we continued along the ridge we kept our sights on the next objective. The rock slowly started to change color from the vibrant red to a more yellow sandstone. We looked across towards Calico Hills II overlook and scoped out our way up. A slightly vegetated gulley, with some steeper rock at the base. We found work arounds as usual, and enjoyed the shady gulley, it was cooler and even had a trickle of water, a teaser for good drinking water we would later find around the overlook. We spent a good bit of time on the overlook and refueled with some lunch and a quick rest. We then started working our way towards West Calico Tank peak, but stopped at a tarn to filter some water for the rest of the afternoon, it was quite hot and we were all running low on fluids.

West Calico Tank Peak - 1478M

51M Prominence

36.16022, -115.43900

February 22, 2025

We kept working our way up and down boulders and made our way up to West Calico Tank Peak, This opened up good views of the final two objectives. We didn't bother stopping on this one, and instead kept making our way towards the more Northern of the Tanks.

Calico Tank Peak - 1487M

24M Prominence

36.16202, -115.43752

February 22, 2025

After working our way down from The West Tank, we crossed yet another trail. This trail lead to a sort of semi dried up tarn with vegetation growing in it. On the other side of the trail we started finding our way up to the main Calico Tank Peak. On the summit we were joined by others for the first time in the day. Two young local men on army deployment who had made their way up following a different route completely. I had a quick look at the summit register that contained a tattered up notebook, a few pens, and the mandatory Joint.

Turtlehead Junior - 1500M

98M Prominence

36.16607, -115.44277

February 22, 2025

At last we began to make our way towards the last peak of the day, and the highest one. This section of the traverse offered yet more up and down and a few more dodgy bits of scrambling. Some exposed hiking on a slanted ledge with a large drop over the edge kept us on our toes. Looking ahead at the summit it was hard to understand what the easiest route might be. The summit was split in two but it was quite obvious that the West side was the true summit. We opted to aim for the shorter summit, go around the back of it, then drop in between the notch that split the summit. The notch offered us a way up in the form of a bit of steeper scrambling, leading to an incredible crystal clear tarn.  Just above the tarn there was a short little boulder that presented a bit of a cruxy move in order to get up to the top. After a few minutes on the summit, we downclimbed to the tarn and hydrated yet again. we were only at the half way point in terms of distance at this point, but the way back to Calico Basin would just be a quick hike on a maintained trail. We downclimbed the ledgy yellow sandstone, looking over bluffs and trying to find the easiest way down. After stemming down a few final gulleys we were back on a trail and flying past all the tourists, trying to make our way back to the car before too late. The trail passes by many popular crags and many of the vehicle pullouts on the loop. At one point there is even a varnished stone laying on the side of the trail with petroglyphs inscribed in it. After

The crew making their way up to Calico Hills South

Tyler standing on Calico Hills South summit

Scrambling my way up to Calico Hills I

A tricky bit of scrambling to access Calico Hills I Peak

Working my way through one of the keyholes to get to Red Book Peak

Nobody got stuck in the keyholes

Scott working his way down a gulley

Looking back at Calico Hills South and Calico Hills I

Tyler seated on the Red Book Peak summit

Enjoying a break on Calico Hills II Overlook

Calico Tank peak with a summit register

A section with some gnarly exposure between the last 2 peaks

The boys on the crux of Turtlehead Junior summit

Quick refuel after the last peak before the descent back to the trail

Working our way back down to the trail via a series of tight gulleys

Route