Orocopia - Granite #2 - Palen - Big Maria - Sheephole - Pinto Oct 7-13,1992 Private/solo trip - Mark Adrian

Since I don't solo many peaks, it was with some anxiety I undertook this adventure. Nevertheless, the allure of the desert motivated me to bag these "needed" peaks. Orocopia : From the N, the drive in goes well, except for several sandy areas that could trap a 2WD. Near the end of the first 3.8 miles I forked right instead of left and continued for 0.2 miles up a deep sand wash. Finding a "hard' spot, I parked and walked up the wash and discovered a parked truck. To make my presence known, I shouted HELLO. From behind several rocks emerged a rather scroungy looking man about 35 years old. I apologized for disturbing him. He assured me this wasn't the Orocopia trailhead, and that I'd missed a fork 0.25 miles down the wash. I eventually found the correct road and proceeded to the trailhead, requiring 4WD to tackle the steep hill. Later that evening, I heard numerous gun blasts that I concluded were from his camp. Anyway, the camping here is good and the route goes well. The round trip took me about three hours. Register and canister are in good condition. Onto Chiriaco summit for a piece of pie, then Desert Center for gas. Granite #2 : From the W, the drive in is a challenge as P172 is loaded with stretches of deep sand that WILL trap 2WDs. And if the sand doesn't stop them, then ruts/rocks will. Additionally, there was one point (about ten miles in) where the road had been completely washed out and a 'use-detour' had been created. At the end of the 9.2 mile "pitch", I scouted for the route B spur road which I didn't immediately find. I had to drive to about 9.4, where I discovered a sharp E-N-E "S" bend in the road that had some bad ruts/rocks on its far E side. This better correlated with the guide's 90-degree bend description. The "S" bend passes through a wash which could be driven up to access drive B, except for big rocks. Just as you drive out of the "S" bend is the guide's poor dirt road turnoff. Unfortunately, it is washed out just after it leaves P172 and several jutting rock fins deterred me from attempting to cross the wash out over to the otherwise good-looking dirt road. Also at the "S" bend is a "derelict" car frame (no body panels or engine) with attached steering column, steering wheel and gear shift lever. I don't think this is the "derelict" car indicated on the guide's 4.10/11 map - which I never did see. So, it was onto route A's drive in. The guide's description is very accurate for this 2.3 mile spur, with the addition that there are two particularly bad spots about 0.2 miles before you reach the parking area. The first has a deep rut and high bank forcing an unnerving tilt, and the second has numerous loose rocks - I needed a running start to get out since I got stuck twice trying to creep in low-range. As I was to later discover, the peak is closer to the parking area than I first realized (read as : I got off route). I mistakenly walked two washes too far N due to a map misreading of where I though hill 733 was. As the guide mentions, the peak is visible at 3-degrees. However, I though the barely-visible peak was further NE, behind what I though I was looking at 3-degrees. Furthermore, I was mislead by several ducks I encountered and also found an old aluminum canteen en mis-route. Finally realizing I had overshot the peak, I traversed Granite's ridge S for about 30 minutes to the true summit. I returned via route B's ridge line. Round trip was 6.5 hours. Register in good condition, canister is old and rusty -

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