Boundary - The Great 48

Boundary Peak, NV (HP #7)

Having finished 6 of the hardest state highpoints in less than 6 days we were all pumped to have a 10 hour drive from Utah to Nevada to rest and then "only" an 8 mile hike up Boundary Peak.  Our hopes of the journey getting a brief moment of "easy" were quickly dashed.  Our minivan was unable to get up the Queen Mine Rd. and we would have to walk an extra mile and half each way with an elevation gain of close to 1000 extra feet.  Further complicating the matter was the need to be at the Eastern Sierra Visitors Center before 8am to get our permits for Mt. Whitney the next morning.  Lindsay and I had no choice but to turn on the burners and try to hike and climb Boundary as hard as we could.  The total trip ended up being over 12 miles due to how much of the road we had to walk and I've never hiked that hard in my life.  We ended up making the round trip ascent in just over 6 hours.  We were so pumped to have pushed this hike so hard and overcome the road problems... except for as soon as we tried to drive we realized we had blown a tire.  We frantically read the owners manual and managed to get the spare "donut" tire installed in about 15 minutes.  After gingerly driving 3-4 mph down the remaining 4 miles of eroded gravel mine road we somehow managed to make it Lone Pine, CA and get our permits by 8:15am.  Hard work pays off!