Saturday morning in Swauger Canyon while heating water for breakfast, the leader managed to kick over the pot of boiling water onto his foot (Mike Manchester take note). After soaking it in cold water and bandaging it, we met the rest of the group for the climb of Patterson. The best part of this mountain is the scenic lower canyon through which a plentiful supply of water flowed. Four people signed out at timberline inasmuch as they felt they were slowing the group down. The views of the White Mountains, the Sierra, and Glass Mountain were very scenic. The four who had signed out appeared at the summit about 45 minutes after we arrived and so we all enjoyed lunch.
Saturday night was spent among the pine trees on what we thought was the Sawmill Meadow Rd. (1SO1). We went back to check for additional participants on Hwy. 120 and then found that 1SO1 turns off to the right sharply. For Sunday's climb we had only five, but it was a good group and we went up the steep obsidian scree at a good pace. Gaining the plateau it's just a nice stroll to the summit(s). Again the views were great. Boundary, Montgomery, and the Jump-off were in plain view, as well as Patterson to the north. The only disturbing note was a voice coming out of a repeater station on the north summit.
We had one good scree run coming off the mountain and were back at the cars by lunchtime.
On 16 October 1981 Kim Walch (San Diego) and I climbed Moapa. As we reached the summit area from the knife-edge route, perhaps 50-75 feet from the register cairn, we startled four mature desert sheep that had "bedded down" next to the cairn. They started, ran single file, and disappeared over the west end of the summit. Magnificent animals that thought they were safe from intruders on that precipitous, delightful fortress! We did not follow them beyond the cairn since we did not want to molest or corner them on some dead-end ledge or cliff. Sheep had cleared many resting spots on the summit and on the area east of the knife-edge ridge. Droppings indicated that they cross the knife edge.