This formation was known as Red Cap back in the sixties. The Mescalito name was given by Red Rock pioneer Jeff Lansing (who coincidentally did the first ascent of the formation's east face). It looks like a cute little summit, dwarfed by much larger mountains on both sides. But do not be fooled; climbing to the summit involves ten or twelve pitches and a noticeable descent effort.
There is quite a wide spectrum of climbing. Cat in the Hat and Dark Shadows are probably the two most popular routes with visiting climbers, and they well deserve their "classic" status. Lots of other climbs are of similar quality; Risky Business, Y2K, Cookie Monster, and a bunch more.
Getting There
Hike west on the main Pine Creek trail. A short distance beyond the mouth of the canyon the streambed forks. Stay to the right for routes from Y2K around toward Dark Shadows. Cross the streambed and work up the south fork for routes from Cookie Monster and left toward Cat in the Hat.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Mescalito:
This route is probably the most popular multi-pitch route in Red Rocks, and always seems to be swarming with parties. For many years I avoided the route because it always seemed mobbed. Then, on a day when the wind was screaming down the canyon we figured nobody would be on it. Wrong! Another party at the base. We still had a fun time and everyone was very friendly and nobody was in a rush. Good to adopt this attitude on this route - if it'...[more]Browse More Classics in NV
Quite a few different routes have been found to get off the summit of Mescalito. Figuring out and forging your own route can be part of the adventure.
One approach has been to reverse/head down the upper pitches of Cat in the Hat, involving a rappel near the summit (bolted anchor), lots of down-climbing, and rappelling the 'regular' route. This probably isn't a good option unless you've come up this way once, and you are comfortable on third/fourth class terrain without a rope. But if you have the route wired, it may well be the fastest way down.
A second approach, perhaps the oldest and most traditional approach, is to head west from the summit and drop into Fern Canyon (the N Fork of Pine Creek). Most reports indicate you can expect a lot of route finding and a rappel or two to get down the final bit, although there is at least one report of a descent to the North that required no rappels. This is probably a good option if you summit during the hot months, as the north facing descent is vegetated and may have some shade. Allow a couple of hours of daylight for route finding to the bottom of the canyon if this is your first time down here. Bring some spare rap slings if, like me, you often find yourself off-route, or if you just want to rap.
The third approach is to head west from the summit and follow the 'hiking route' down the south side into Mescalito Canyon (one branch of the S Fork of Pine Creek). There are several variations on the southern descent, some of which involve rappels, and some that I've heard described as "brushy", but if you stick to the 'hiking route' there is very little brush or exposed scrambling -you can do it in sneakers- and there are lots of cairns to mark the way.
From the summit, the hiking route heads west, contouring around the south side of the summit on broad red ledges, picking up cairns almost immediately. As you come around to the notch west of the summit, you scramble and downclimb the last section into the gap, and then begin immediately climbing up to the next summit west. Stay near the ridgeline as you scramble up (there are lots of cairns). Cross over the very top of the next summit (higher than Mescalito's summit) and continue west along the ridge into an indistinct gap marked by a long-leaf pine, a tiny manzanita in the very gap, a cairn, and a pinyon pine. Head down to the south for the big broad ledge system below. Follow this west, watching for cairns. As you near the west end of this ledge system, you have to scramble down some rocky steps following the cairns toward some more big pinyon pines. The final bit to the creek bed scrambles 100-200 feet down a loose dirty gully. The hike back east along the creek bed is very easy with only a couple of drop-offs to bypass.
The whole hike from summit to car took me an easy 2.5 hours, having just hiked up this route, and about the same on another day with partners and a pack full of climbing gear.
The 'hiking route' follows the black,teal and light green lines on this map from H.W. Stockman:
And Jerry Handren has a nice photo of the first part of the descent on his web site, RedRocksGuidebook.com
I would recommend starting the descent to the notch on the South side of the ridge, rather than the North side as Handren indicates, but obviously both work.
Any of the routes that join "Cat in the Hat" offer the opportunity to summit Mescalito. Going to the summit adds at least 1 quality star to any route you do on the SE side of Mescalito.
From the "summit" of "Cat in the Hat" you scramble up to the red summit block and, after crossing a notch in the ridge (either side works), enter the Big Red Chimney. There are at least 3 ways to climb this final pitch: (1) stay in the chimney, mostly easy with a few burly 5.7 moves, take a couple of pieces to 5" (hexes work well), (2) exit the chimney to a brushy ledge on the left, continue up the featured face to the left (5.6/5.7 r/x ?? one of my partner TR'd this), or (3) from the brushy ledge continue straight up the worn dihedral (no pro, we didn't test this route).
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