Outlaw Trip
CERRO DE LA ENCANTADA,"BIG PICACHO" - 10,126 ft	RON JONES	11/22-25/79
Sixteen years ago in November I made my first attempt on the DPS peak requiring the most mountaineering skill - Big Picacho. That trip, which five of us extended to six days, failed to gain the peak because we couldn't find the route to the summit from cedaroak camp. We did climb peaks 9100, 9600 and most of the Pinnacle Ridge. Three months later I took a group of seven and we made the first of my current 7 successful climbs. It had been several years since my last venture into Canon Diablo and now the DPS can no longer sponsor trips into Mexico. This year I set up a private trip for a small group over Thanksgiving. There were three persons who earned their DPS emblems on the summit: Krista Knute, Jim Murphy and Steve Langley. Jim and I contributed champagne to the celebration on top, Krista brought up a box of Oreo cookies and Steve offered several of his ubiquitous Granola Bars. The backpack up Canon Diablo was routine and strenuous. It is certainly more rocky now than in the 14 years before the hurricane of 1978. Some spots are perhaps 6 to 8 feet deeper than before. On our visit there was a hunting camp of Mexicans set up at the mouth of Diablito Canyon. I asked what they were hunting and the reply was, "Borregos". They reported having killed two. The road through the Laguna de San Felipe is now best reached from a turn-off on the Valle de Trinidad road about 17 miles west of the Mexicali-San Felipe Highway. This is posted with a sign which reads , "Rancho del Sol", a government sponsored attempt at a ranching community at the north end of the dry lake. SILVER MOUNTAIN (7,495) EXPLORATORY & NELSON (7,701')   12/8-9/79  Ron Jones Eleven desert climbers met me on highway 190 near Lower Centennial Flat on Saturday morning. We turned south from the highway at point 4878, opposite from the road to Santa Rosa Flats, and drove about five miles on a good dirt road to Lower Centennial Springs (5600').' There is a nice little miners camp located here. We hiked up Centennial Canyon to about 6160 feet where we followed the west fork in the drainage. We soon intercepted the dirt road leading from Centennial Springs. It was not passable to a pickup at this point and in any event approached no closer to Silver Mountain. We hiked another 41/2 miles across easy high-desert flats and enroute had a close look at two wild horses. The ground in the area was frequently littered with obsidian chips. There is an easy 600 foot class one slope at the foot of the mountain. The country is interesting but the route from Thorndyke Canyon on the west is more interesting and shorter. I do not recommend the peak for inclusion to the DPS list although it is as good as some others we have. That night we drove to 6200 feet on BLM road 1393 in Lee Flat west of the Saline Valley Road. Our campfire developed into, an outstanding social activity. I'm not sure it was because Steve Langley and Suzanne offered refreshments of tortilla chips, hot sauce and wine (a welcome change from Granola Bars) or whether it was the ecology cleanup of a truck tire which we popped onto the fire. The next morning nine of us made the easy climb to Nelson. Visibility was outstanding with views over the Inyos to the Sierra, down Saline Valley and across to the Racetrack and Dry Mountain (which I will lead with Saline in the Spring). Tammy Moore made both climbs for her first desert outing. On our return to the cars we stopped at several of the mines and cabins on the slopes of Nelson.

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