Meeting at the border
town of Lukeville, Ariz. at 7AM MST on Friday morning, our group of 8 prepared
to cross the border and "bag" Cerro Pinacate. Those in attendance were Bill
Stevens, Barbara Reber, Terry Flood, Cathy Hanchett, Bill Tryon, Marta Flares,
Ron Young and myself. The border station is now open daily from 6AM to
midnight, so an early start is possible. Unfortunately, the Lukeville Cafe
doesn't open until 7:30AM, so those wanting breakfast (like myself) had to
forgo that luxury for the sake of schedule. Also, since it was the St.
Patrick's Day weekend, every high school and college kid from Phoenix and
Tuscon was lined up at the border for a weekend of drunken debauchery and
lustful enterprise in Puerto Penasco. Sounds kinda like some DPS trips. Anyway,
we all skated through the entry formalities with little or no ID required(a
driver's license at worst). That is not to say that you shouldn't have a birth
certificate or US Passport with you as proof of identity; you really should.
One thing we learned was to tell the Mexican official responsible for stamping
the tourist cards that our destination was Puerto Penesco, not Cerro Pinacate.
He seemed to be a bit concerned or suspicious of anyone wanting to do something
stupid like climb Pinacate. The drive down Mex Hwy 8 and dirt road
approach to Pinacate are detailed on the map accompanying this writeup. Instead
of parking near the "reddish butte" described in the DPS Peaks Guide, Ed. 2, we
continued on the dirt road for another 5.6 mi., driving to within about 1 mi.
of the peak. Although this road is bad, an experienced 4WD'er can do it OK. The
most difficult portion of this drive is a steep, loose, rocky 50 foot section
of road just past the "reddish butte" parking area. Bill Stevens had his 4WD
Toyota truck airborne for an instant while attempting this crux move. Pinacate
by this approach turned out to be a 39 minute ascent and 15 minute descent with
900 ft. elev. gain, 2 mi. RT. We celebrated a magnificent view from the summit
with sightings of the Gulf, Big Picacho, Ajo, Volcan El Elegante and, what we
suspected to be Baboquivari in the far distance. The Southern Arizona Hiking
Club did a great job of photostating and professiona1ly binding the old
register. It includes a 1970's entry by Edward Abbey, who climbed the peak from
Tule Tank and recalled the adventure in a short story entitled "The Ancient
Dust" in his book Beyond The Wall. We drove out and back across the
border that afternoon, proceeding to the Baboquivari Campground for a climb of
that peak on Saturday. Instead of cooking out that evening, we stopped at the
new Basha's supermarket in Sells, which includes a full-service Deli. This
market is on Indian Hwy 19(which doesn't appear to be signed), 1/4 mi. south of
Hwy 85, right on the way to Babo. Included in this writeup is a map showing the
Drive/Approach to Baboquivari Campground, adding a few more details to the one
in the current Peaks Guide.
On Saturday morning we were joined by Paul
Freiman who drove in from San Diego on Friday night. The climb of Babo went
well, with the group reaching the top at 2PM. Snow and ice lingering in shady
places from the 4th class pitch to the summit made for challenging and slow
climbing. Bill Stevens had to duck on the 4th class wall when a large sheet of
ice broke off from above and came crashing down on the climbing route, pelting
him with fist-sized chunks. Further up some of the 3rd class moves were coated
with ice, making it a bit tedious. Proper timing can be important in scheduling
a climb of Babo. The climb turned out to be the culmination of many years of
desert peakbagging for Barbara Reber, who became the 1st |