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Dale van Dalsem needs White Mountain to finish the DPS list a second time. The original idea was to finish by April 13, 1991. These days he is shooting for next fall. Last February, when Dale was still pursuing the original plan, we decided to keep him company while he did White Mountain. The idea was to drive up Millner canyon on a road that runs South of the creek to a mine at 7300 feet. Starting at 4:30 AM we would climb South out of Milliner Canyon and then go East up a smooth ridge that parallels Millner Canyon toward Mt. Barcroft. From there the normal road leads up to White Mountain. The first thing that went wrong was that Dale and Annie Johansen didn't show up. Dale's fuel pump broke in the San Fernando Valley and he had to go back to the Marina to get his second car. The road up Millner Canyon is four wheel drive after about 6200 feet and Dale's back up car didn't have a chance. After waiting till 5 AM Wendy and I decided to try it without our leader. It was pitch dark and we chose to head Southwest through some cliffs. It took an hour to go the first 600 feet with flashlights and considerable back tracking. Later, in the daylight, we could see a clear way through the cliff. Once we got to 7900 feet all was smooth going until we got over 12,000 feet when a storm came up and it got quite cold. I got one of those little white patches on my face and the water bottles inside our packs started to freeze. At 10 AM we decided to turn back and got to the car about 1PM. Coming down off the smooth ridge we followed a steep gully that goes Southeast from the end of the mine. It would appear that doing White Mountain from this direction would involve about 7000 feet of gain and about 20 miles of walking. Would make nice summertime day hike. -- John McCully |
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My tackling Nelson on Monday was really something! I got over to Lee Flat and about a mile out on the old mine road, as described in the Guide. Yep, it is some road! I found a fire circle just at dusk and parked there. Had a normal meal and good night. Rain started about 5AM and abated a while later. Drove to the hike start at your 5 mph pace and proceeded to climb Galena. Chose the mid-summit--a false alarm, then chose the south one--again no register. About then a heavy fog rolled in to almost a white-out and there were liberal snow patches on the northern slopes. Then the rain came with high velocity chilling winds. I had my new $22 poncho but the snaps kept flying apart with the wind and I got drenched. I finally turned north and made the right summit--pretty well spent. It was not an easy peak at all, with all my lost motion in not having the guide page with me--only notes. Did not get any Saline views from Galena, though I did on the first bump. Just beautiful looking over onto the Racetrack). Coming down I miscalculated, due to the heavy fog, and came down a rough rocky slope too far to the west, so had to ascend one shoulder to get the right canyon where I had left the car. Luckily, in the car I had dry long |
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