BIG MARIA MOUNTAIN April 7, 1973				Steve Smith
Past issues of the DPS Newsletter (#79, #94, #103, #111) provide good route finding information for climbing Big Maria. All also mention the controversy over which one of the three points shown by 3,350' contour circles on the Big Maria quadrangle is the highest point in the range. Armed with this information, Howard Rogers and I had no difficulty in arriving at the starting point. Driving northwest from Blythe on Midland Road (Lovekin Blvd.) for 13.6 miles and then driving north along a dirt power line road for eight miles and stopping at pole #45-1 are perfect directions as written in Newsletter #111. At this point, the South summit and Middle summit (sometimes called South summit) are both visible on the ridgeline towards the south while North summit is just out of sight behind the high point with brown banding on the ridgeline towards the north. We decided to do North summit first by heading east up the major wash for 1-1/2 miles and attained a saddle on the ridgeline between North and Middle summits. Then following the ridgeline north for 1/2 mile and doing some class 2 climbing over the high point with banding, the North summit was quickly reached by going east a short distance to a visible rock cairn. This summit affords a good view of the meandering Colorado River to the east, the rugged east side of the Big Maria range, and Middle and South summits on the ridgeline to the south. Following the ridgeline south, we next climbed Middle and South summits. All three summits have registers that have been signed by DPS members. Howard and I felt that North summit appeared highest and since most of the more recent recorded climbs have been to the North summit, perhaps that prominent point should be considered the official DPS high point.
TIN AND DRY April 1973				Doris Golden
It wasn't that we wanted to make a feminist assault on Tin and Dry in Death Valley National Monument or that we wanted to be a small elite unit. But, "elite" we were, in a sense. (For, who ever goes on a desert trip, even a carcamp, with a full-size boxspring and mattress? Gerry Berns has so equipped her GMC Rallywagon.) The two of us couldn't find an experienced man to go! There was one man...his initial enthusiasm on the telephone dove like a glissading SPSer as I unfolded the "plans" and he suddenly recalled that on our first day out he would have to be in LA to collect his unemployment check. That was really better because the booboos would have driven him right up a wall. All this took place during the past Easter vacation. Leaving LA at 9:00 Thursday night (the first crazy move), we didn't arrive at the roadhead until 3:00 am. The next foul-up resulted from that: embarking on the Dry Mountain hike at 9:00 am, instead of very early as we had been advised. Gerry didn't cotton much to the hand-over-hand rock route I picked to reach the ridge. But, for the most part, we were appropriately challenged and enjoying good conversation. Halfway up the ridge, we stopped for lunch and a 45-minute nap. Attaining the top of the main northsouth ridge early in the afternoon, we faced a frustrating situation. We could turn around and get down before dark without getting the peak at all or we could bivouac and bag the peak Saturday. Gerry had just completed BMTC and knew all about bivouacking, so we spent the last rays of daylight setting up housekeeping, far from the

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