TALES FORM THE TRAILS

One of the best parts of our desert experience is telling our favorite stories or tall-tales around the campfire, or at the tailgate party, or when you have enough breath while hiking on the trail or even when we meet a friend in town. We also enjoy hearing someone else's story. Many of these are too good to be lost from our memory with the passage of time. You submit a story! It could be from a DPS hike, maybe on a private camping trip, maybe recently or manybe a long time ago, whatever, only that the theme be the DESERT. This may end up being an informal history of DPS desert events. I'll edit them as little as possible and include one or two in every SAGE. -- Ed.

CLIMBING BIG PICACHO, A HIGH POINT!

Cold, clear-----beautiful! This bright May day - and the day to follow - would see the fulfillment of dream!. The small level clearing on the 8000 foot plateau was surrounded by 100 foot tall Yellow Pine trees. The wild, little stream bisecting our campsite at what we named Will's Camp was gentle; the water clear. Some treated or strained it, others drank it "straight". Neither group suffered any ill effects afterward as a result. The slopes of the canyon rose gently on either side and the trail we were shortly to take followed the little stream eastward. Our little party - seven in all - completed our morning chores in the brisk air and shouldered our 5-day packs. We headed East, climbing up, up, up; over, around and beside boulders ranging up to the size of Volkswagons. A couple of miles away arose the Aspen-covered summit of Botella Azul (Blue-Bottle) Peak. We would climb it and then renew our interrupted search for the ghostly Gorin's Gulch. Gorin pioneered the easy route Into Canon Diablo many years ago, but descriptions proved difficult to follow. During a previous attempt Botella Azul had been covered with snow and ice and we had failed to discover the proper route. This time the trail was plainly visible and the reason for missing it became apparent. It led away from the canyon's depths, to the South, toward the awesome headwall (Pinnacle Ridge) of Canon Diablo, before beginning a steep descent into the Canyon proper. Campo Noche! A picturesque name for a picturesque spot in the bottom of Canon Diablo. It is the staging area---jump-off spot---for the ascent of Big Picacho. Though the mountain is known by several other names, it is still the high point of the Sierra San Pedro Martirs and Baja California. Tall trees make a good shade to camp and rest beneath and the cold stream flowing down the center of the canyon provide water for drinking, as well as ablutions. Several of our party made use of it for both purposes. The bare dirt made good sleeping sites for tired bodies. Ron, our leader and guide, aroused us at daylight and we were under way before sunrise. We went steeply up "Nightwash" into "Slotwash" and into "Wall Street". On the way we passed the rocky grave of Joe Darrow in Slot Wash. Joe died of a heart attack there - Thanksgiving of 1967. The climbing was easy but exciting. The peak is visible for most of the way and adds to the anticipation. Big Picacho is the sort of mountain which gnaws at a person. It is always there---waiting, yet it is somehow unatainable. It is in Mexico. There are logistical problems if one climbs up the canyon from the low desert and only slightly fewer if one uses our approach across the top of the plateau. There, a person is days away from medical aid. Water is not plentiful. Many people have yearned to attain that rough, granite summit and have failed.

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