| Bill noted that
explosives wouldn't be necessary for this. The area of the spring has been
protected from armored vehicles by a formidable series of ditches, concertina
wire, and hedgehog tank traps. A short distance away is the discovery site of
an ice age Wooly Mammoth skeleton and other remains. For Jefferson Hunt's party with just 7 wagons remaining, the trail from Bitter Spring was the longest without water. Because of Indian militancy, the Old Spanish Trail through Las Vegas bypassed the springs along the more southern Mojave River route. Leaving Bitter Spring in late afternoon to avoid the heat, the 49ers led their oxen to Impossible Pass, then down to the river near the future Fort Cady, a distance of 27 miles. ("Impossible Pass" was named by an investigator who first published the name in 1922. The "Old Spanish Trail" was neither old, dating somewhat recently from 1821, nor Spanish, since it was originally made by New Mexicans.) We continued driving E along Los Angeles' power line easement. As we skirted the Soda Mts, they appeared to be higher and more vegetated on this side. |
I saw a dirt road which, after first being
checked for VW-ability might be used during a scheduled October climb. With regard to the Ft Irwin land acquisition, it will be a very painful decision for the BLM and Congress. On the one hand, there is riparian habitat to be preserved along with the desert tortoise of the western boundary option. Such cultural features as the historic Old Spanish Trail reside within the central option. Even in the eastern Wilderness Study Proposal area, which appears to be almost as barren as a desert can get, there is an endangered bird specie. If a desert area is rich with wildlife It must be preserved for the wildlife. If the area is so barren as to appear devoid of wildlife, then surely there will be some specie there needing to be protected because it's endangered! |
Campy |
| Boundary, Montgomery | July 22-23, 1989 | Bill T
Russell George Smith |
We drove north Saturday morning and met at the junction of the Trail Cyn and Middle Cyn roads. From here, we caravaned to the meadow about 1/4 mi from the end of the Trail Cyn road. The road is Ok; two Honda CVCC' s made it with only moderate protest. we started our hike at 3:15 pm, each with four or more liters of water. Our route was up the ridge that goes through UTM 840909. (The new 71/2' map "Boundary Peak" has the UTM gridlines printed on the map). Early on, George had breathing difficulty and turned back and Pat was appointed Vice Leader.
We spent the night at 10800' at a flat area where two ridges join. Some large rocks furnished protection from the wind that was blowing. During the night, we had five episodes of rain, each short but long enough to turn on the adrenaline of the light sleepers. Sunday at 0630 we started on up the hill, went over pt 12045, and west to Boundary which we reached at 0915. It was then over to Montgomery for lunch, phase I, and back to Boundary for lunch, phase II. As we cleared pt 12045 on our descent, a thunder storm moved into the area we had just left. The time between lightning flash and thunder clap got as short as three seconds. Just as we reached our bivouac site, the heavens opened with a downpour of rain and hail. It lasted perhaps ten minutes and some of us got quite damp as we made up our backpacks and started on down. We had a few more squalls but we reached the roadhead in good spirits at 6:00pm. Our trip was scheduled to Dubois on Monday but no one was very keen for it so we scrubbed it. We had a good trip and some weather excitement to add spice.
Boundary has an original Sierra Club rectangular register box with broken hinges and one full book and one half full small spiral bound book. Montgomery has three register books dating from 1967 that are cramped in the small nesting tin cans. It deserves a bigger container. Participants were:
| Barbara Reber Bill T Russell Pat Russell |
Evan Samuels Hoda Shalaby |
George Smith Bill Tryon David Verner |
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