WE GET LETTERS ! ! !
March28, 1993
Dear friend and Editor, Ron,In my mind BAJA desert peak bagging is the ONLY real desert climbing left in North America. Does the Border present some sort of mental block to DPS climbers? Many of your climbs you already do privately with guide book in-hand. When, or if, the California Desert Bill passes, all of the California desert will be under National Park Service control complete with viewpoint signs and RV camper corrals. The Desert Bill is an effort to turn the California Desert into a giant, neatly groomed, signed golf course where you must stay on the trails.
Baja peak bagging is the only true desert adventure left... Few or no signs, poor maps, no guides, teal route finding experience and golly, the climber may even have to go back a 2nd time to find the peak and gee, the DPS may even have to backpack!
You'd think that Graham Makintosh would INSPIRE the ___ ___ Los Angeles desert people to at least propose a few Baja peaks to the list. But oh no! All they climb, and are so proud of, is their adventure in climbing peaks they have done many times before, that several hundred of them have climbed all the peaks on the list, some over and over during twenty or thirty years by safe, well known, routes. These routes are not even trail-less any longer but have easy to follow, well packed, ducked use trails to the top. Let's go back to the spirit of ADVENTURE that Chester Versteeg had in mind and built into an enthusiastic Section of pioneer climbers. Let's get out from under our California security blanket and do some teal desert peaking!!
I propose the creation of a BAJA peak list, official or Informal as follows:
Northern Baja California
| Sierra Juarez - | Cerro Risco Cerro del Borrego Cerro Capriote Cerro Colorado Cerro San Matias |
4690 ft 6658 ft (the high point) |
 |
| Sierra San Pedro Martir - |
Picacho Diablo Cerro Kino Cerro Donaldo Cerro Curcavado Cerro Matomi Cerro San Fermin Cerro Cuillermo |
(both summits) 4290 ft ] ] near San Felipe 4500 ft 3431 ft near Puertecitos 4573 ft |
|
| Sierra de Calamajue - y San Jose |
Cerro Dos Picachos Cerro Francisco Pico Fernando Volcan San Evita Cerro Rudolfo Cerro Ordaz Pico Echeverna Pico Vera Cruz Monte Azul Pico Lowry |
near Catavina near Bahia del L.A. 5297 ft 6258 ft ] ] ] near Guerro Negro |
|
| Isla Cedros Sierra Vizcaino |
Cerro de Cedros Pico Reifer Pico Bartlett Monte Halsey |
3950 ft Island
west of G.
Negro ] ] ] west of San Ignacio |
|