| Those of us not
previously exposed to it. For such "old hats" as Greg Vernon and Cuno Ranchau,
it was just "routine stuff". Most of us were dog-tired and as we fixed our dinners and watched darkness close in, and noting the quick drop in temperature, maybe- - we were secretely hoping the rangers wouldn't ask us to return to that cholla garden in the dark - even to locate our friends. Nevertheless we certainly speculated aloud on what might have happened--did they get lost in a cave? Fall down an open shaft? Break a leg or worse? Maybe they just remained in the solitude on a ridge to watch the big beautiful, full moon rise? Then, just before we would have been put to the test - by being confronted by the Rangers - someone looked up and said, "There they are! Over there by their car". What a relief! I'm sure the Rangers were just as happy not to have to go on a search and rescue mission. It seems that they had, indeed, remained on a ridge to watch the moon rise, then peacefully sauntered back to camp - - wondering why all the commotion. Copious quantities of the fruit of the vine contributed to the joviality of the campfire and dawn came too early. We caravaned to the Bonanza King mine on a passably good (for DPS Peaks) road and hiked up the obvious canyon to the Northwest approximately 1 mile to a major intersection, where we took the left hand fork, ascending a 20 foot dirt bank and following a "trail" a half mile to a second canyon intersection. Here Greg and Igor signed out and went up the easier sloping left fork, while Larry led the main group into the right hand gulch. Soon we came to a stack of well-seasoned wood stacked in the bottom of the canyon and shortly thereafter, an impassable 50 foot waterfall, which we bypassed on the right. The steep rocky slope quickly became low 3rd class cliffs which we negotiated to the main ridge where Greg and Igor had just arrived. From that point we picked our way carefully across steep friction and along a very narrow, crumbling ridge with long drops (exposure) to the Northeast. MITCHELL is a very respectable mountain; not technical, but challenging nevertheless. We enjoyed lunch in the brisk, cool breeze, under increasingly cloudy skies and then picked our way back down to the cars and started home but alas, John McCully's Rabbit wouldn't start - not even one hop - even though we pleaded, prodded and threatened. Eventually, Jim Hinkley agreed to tow him to help, which proved to be the VW dealer in Barstow. All that way with a nylon clothesline - in pouring rain. John was so grateful that he and Ed Lubin, his passenger, bought dinner for Jim and all his passengers at a nice Mexican restaurant in Barstow. Somewhere in the midst of all the foregoing, most of the group found time to take the guided tour of the interesting Mitchell Caverns - 50¢ per head. Lou Brecheen |
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