"Parked at the Cottonwood Springs TH and hiked towards the corral. Made the mistake of following the wash instead of the old mining/jeep road (right and north of the corral). Navigated back to the mining road/jeep road and took this to the sub-summit area of Silver Peak. Did not see a use trail to the top (there probably is one on the north side), so decided to climb from the east ridge up along some Bighorn sheep trails and finally XC. Got to top, signed the register, admired the view, and headed down along part of the use trail, but quickly lost it and just decided to go straight down the mountain until I found the road, and took this back. After looking up the elevation gain and trying to find the prominence, there is some controversy over whether or not this trail should be closed due to its proximity to the University of California Granite Mountains Desert Research Center. I saw no signs about the UCGMDRC (reportedly there are signs), so perhaps it has to do with which road you take to get to the TH. Avoid the southern roads which come very close to their property (if they don't actually go in). The approach to Granite Peak may actually be more impacted by the UCHGMDRC ..." — srphilip • Feb 23, 2017