| pine needles.
Fortunately the wind had died. After 3-1/2 hours of intense work, we determined
that, barring a high wind, the fire was under control. Although there were
several hot spots where large stumps or logs were burning, they were mostly
well within the perimeter. Thanks go largely to Milt Macauley and his
"Marauders" (six teenagers) who did splendid work in containing the blaze. Milt
was the only one of us who had previous fire fighting experience. We left the
fire scene shortly after 4 p.m. and moving rapidly, reached our La Encantada
campsite just before dark, weary and foot sore. I determined that the entire group should return to the scene of the fire the next day (Tuesday), rather than continue the planned loop around the plateau. So Tuesday morning we headed back in four groups. We were relieved to find the fire almost out with only a handful of hot spots still smouldering. These were smothered with sand and soil. About half the group continued out to Vallecitos that afternoon. The rest remained at Los Llanitos one more night just to make certain that the fire was out. The next morning we made one more careful cheek of the burned area, buried several warm spots, and hiked back to the vehicles. Before leaving the mountains, several of us drove up to the Observatorio which is perched on the 9000 foot eastern escarpment with tremendous views of El Picacho, the desert, and the distant Sea of Cortez. I would like to make the following observations regarding the fire. (1) The fire was obviously caused by our party, as no one else was in the area. Its probable causes were the strong wind and the closeness of some of the cooking fires to forested and brushy areas. (2) I, as trip leader, accept the main responsibility for the fire because I allowed too many cooking fires, some of them in locations too close to combustible materials, and failed to personally check out each fire the following morning to ensure that each was completely extinguished. (3) Fires such as this are likely to occur on other club trips under similar conditions, as we have no concrete and enforced rules concerning the number and locations of cooking fires, and leaders as a rule do not personally check each fire before leaving. (4) We need to study this problem and come up with fire policies that will insure that this never again happens on a club trip. (5) The episode was highly embarrasing to the leader, the party, and to the Sierra Club as a whole. The DPS has now twice scheduled Blue Bottle Peak (1969 and 1971) and once led Tres Palomas (1968), both prominent and interesting summits in the San Pedro Martir Range of Baja California. Both of these peaks would be worthy additions to the qualifying list and as such should be nominated for addition next spring. PEAK 6612 and GRANITE #1 - John Vitz A surprisingly small turn out of five cars met at the appointed hour in Essex for the start of a caravan over "questionable" dirt roads (according to the schedule) to the east of Peak 6612 in the Providence Range. "Unquestionable" would have been a better term. After a below average number of U turns for missed roads we started at the peak. A short distance along the steadily deteriorating road Harry Melts decided that since he had already climbed the peak he would forego the trip. Next we left two American cars and doubled up. I asked Jim Sinnett to take two passengers and he said that he would be alright. (in his Opel station wagon) as long as the road didn't get much worse. It not only got worse - it went away altogether. The entire roadway was washed out so we followed tracks in the sage brush crossing the road (?) numerous times. We were doing alright in our 4 wheel drive Toyota, but Jim was having troubles in the Opel - |
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