After lunch the support party turned back and a full view of the peak showed no difficulties. Continuing to its base we camped near a cave that should have had artifacts but didn’t. Evidently the Indians didn’t favor the south side. We found no grinding holes or petroglyphs but only a few shards and worked obsidian. Early morning was a prime time to climb the mountain. In the direction of Cowcamp the fog had wiped out all of the landmarks except for the ruins of San Juan de Dios. The vegetation changed to tough grasses, sumac, vetch, and succulents. A couple of swifts dive—bombed us, probably protecting a nest. We scrambled to the top over an avalanche slope of volcanic chuncks. Sure enough, the Mexican government had been there ahead of us, placing bench marks in 1957. We found no other indication of ascents. On all sides were shelving plateaus cut by canyons. Bob recognized Matomi Canyon, curving down to the San Filipe Desert and the Gulf of California. Far beyond it to the north loomed El Picacho del, Diablo. To the west and south a large canyon with many palms conjured up dreams of exploration. From the climax of the area that is Matomi, we were more than satisfied with the way in which everything fell into place.

Auto Log Mileage 00.0 El Rosario, B.C. Tremendous desert gardens 06.0 Fork right off main Baja road   18.7 Aguajito Mine   26.1 Sauzalito sign, turn left Glympses of Matomi on the left  28.3 Sauzalito Mine   30.0 Arroyo with water   31.7 Fork right   32.8 Fork right (indistinct) Road disappeared in a sandy wash 34.2 Road disappeared in sandy wash and had to be rebuilt in spots 41.2 Mission San Juan de Dios ruins   42.4 Fork left (faint)   46.8 Fork left   49.7 Low pass (2100)   51.2 Cowcamp

EL PICACHO DEL DIABLO - Ron Jones During Easter of last year, Art de Goede, Frank Riseley, and I left for an attempt on Big Picacho by the route of first ascent. Donald McLain is credited with making the first ascent in a solo climb during March 1911. John Robinson has written an interesting account of this early climb in his book Camping and Climbing in Baja. It is believed that no one else has scaled the peak via this route. Early Saturday morning we passed our packs over Diablo Falls and continued up the canyon keeping on the look out for McLain’s Wash. We found its intersection at 4600 feet in a spectaculzr stretch of the main canyon. The entrance is not large, but it opens into a significant side canyon as its slight trickle is followed. After passing a waterfall and some steep pitches we came to a sixty foot waterfall that looked like it might give us some difficulty. We spent the night on a sandy bench below the fall.

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