| GRANITE #2 & PALEN MTN. | OLIVER/TIDBALL | MARCH 9-10-91 |
We climbed these 2 peaks from the West approaching both off of the Palen Pass Road East of highway #177. There were 12 of us for the climb of Granite #2 on Saturday, and we used 4WD's to drive to the starting point shown in the Peak Guide 3/4 mile East of Packard Well. We angled up to the ridge near point 3928' and then followed the ridge up to the summit. We took a variation on the way back, heading down off the ridge a little sooner. The hike took about 6 hours, this is 2 hours longer than indicated in the Peak Guide, and I don't think we were slower than an average group.
Diane Trosino and Don Guido joined us on their first Desert Peak trip.
We camped on a flat spot with Patton's Tank Tracks just off of Palen Pass Road in section 17.
Some folks already had Palen, so we were only 8 for the hike on Sunday. We followed the West hiking route in the Peak Guide. All went well, and we were a little quicker than the listed time of 4 hours round trip, so we were able to get an early start on the drive home. By the way; on the West side drive for Palen, after you turn off of Palen Pass Road, the next 1 mile is very sandy & 4WD recommended).
| SHEEP & MARTINEZ | May 4-5, 1991 | Ron Jones & Maris Valkass |
The success of this trip was due to my wife, Leora, being able to help set up the car shuttle on Friday and then to meet the group on Sunday afternoon. Friday afternoon in Coachella we met Fred Johnson, an early Desert Peaks Section member dating from its founding in 1941 (the oldest hiking Section in the Angeles Chapter). Fred had driven down from Berkeley for the OPS banquet and decided to get a couple of peaks on the same trip. We drove 8 miles south on Highway 86 and left Fred's car at Valerie Jean's Date Shop and then Leora took us up to Pinyon Flats Campground on the Palms to Pines Highway.
Back in 1963 I read in the DPS SAGE about this trip. Trudie Hunt, former Section Chair, led the hike. It sounded like a wonderful desert exploratory, walking over old Indian trails looking for desert springs and I was sorry I hadn't gone on the trip. But I kept it in the back of my mind and finally decided to go for it this year.
It was 32° at 6am Saturday when we met for the backpack in on the Cactus Spring Trai1. In addition to Fred we had long-time Sierra C1ubber, George Toby, Wendy Reuss and her husband John McCully, desert rat Jim Conley, HPSer Rosina Mueller, Anna L Valkass and her husband Maris, who assisted on this trip. Shouldering our heavy packs, each with at least 16 pounds of water, We hiked the road to the Dolomite mine and then the obvious trail down to Horsethief Creek, which had a good rush of water. At the start of the trail there is a log book maintained by the San Gorgonio Chapter of the Club.