MATURANGO PEAK (8839') AND PETROGLYPHS (18-19 NOV 1978)......Fred Camphausen This past year's visit to the Naval Weapons Center's north range attracted 27 DPS members and Vagmarken Mountaineering Club peakbaggers. The prehistoric Indian rock carvings of Renegade Canyon were examined on Saturday. Its sunlit walls displayed thousands of figures of leaping bighorn sheep, heads with horns, medicine men, at1atls (spear-throwing sticks), and other, unknown symbols or doodles. The oldest figures, the ones that are engraved the deepest, date back several thousand years. I had mentioned before we continued on our drive to Etcheron Valley that we could become lucky and see some of the wild horses that roam the area and are occasionally sighted on a distant hilltop. As it turned out, we had stallions running alongside our vehicles! We thought we had seen it all until we came to some of the elusive Coso deer leaping along at the head of the pack. A quick stop was mad. to look over the Conejo Mine, with its headframe, shacks, Ingersol-Rand compressor, and shaft that goes down 60 feet into worthless rock. This "mine" was never more than an early 1930s stock swindle operation, where potential investors were brought up by car and shown the property, along with essay reports made on "salted" quartz samples. We reached Junction Ranch in the early afternoon. Our camp offered the luxury of propane-heated sleeping quarters and kitchen. Included also was entertainment in the form of a low fence made of train rails, which lured out of the closet some of the group's better-balanced rail-walkers. Leaping a four-foot gap in the rail proved to be less challenging for someone like "Legs" Ranachau than for June Lane (for example). Two energetic climbers hiked up nearby Pinyon Point (8366') while the rest of us lazed around or went hunting for Indian arrowpoints behind the ranch. The evening campfire activities were held at an OSHA approved stone campfire circle built by Naval Reserve Seabees. A cruelly set alarm clock assured the early Sunday departure of our high- clearance vehicles for the short but rough drive to House Spring. An old prospector'. trail follows the canyon bottom east of the spring. After taking this trail for about a mile, we ascended a broad gully leading north to the summit plateau of Maturango Peak (8839'). The climb to the summit was about 2 miles and 2700 feet. A fast group of 9 people soon left in order to cross the saddle and climb Burl Parkinson Peak (8724'). Its north ridge was thinly coated with snow left over from an early October storm. Descending by separate feeder canyons, the two groups arrived nearly together in the main canyon for the hike out. We cleared the NWC main gate at 4:30 pm and had a chuckwagon style dinner at the Two Sisters + One in Inyokern. A weekend in May has been set aside for this year's Maturango/Petroglyph event. It will be 19-20 May, and Junction Ranch will again be our headquarters. If interested in this, send an SASE to Campy and include names and vehicle data, i.e., year, make, and license number.
MAY 19-20	SAT-SUN	MATURANGO PK AND PETROGLYPHS	1979
This year's trip to the Naval Wëapons Center's north range will be during the wildflower season. Sat we will examine Indian rock carvings in Renegade Cyn, and hopefully cross tracks again with the wild horse herd and Coso deer. Our camp will be at Junction Ranch in Etcheron Val. Sunday will be climbs of Maturango Pk and possibly Burl Parkinson Pk. SASE soon to Campy, 824 W Graaf, Ridgecrest, CA 93555. Include names, vehicle yr, make, model, and lic. no. (for NWC authorities).

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