camera to record the event, Bill
Oliver and Barbee escorted Pat Jamison to her first DPS Peak, this only 3 weeks
after right knee surgery. George Pfeiffer awarded Judy 'with her pin, which, if
you haven't seen one, is the ass end of a Bighorn Sheep. A group picture of
list finishers included Edna Erspamer and Mark Adrian. Larry and Judy. The
group returned to the vehicles, and drove back to the meeting place, so that
all cars could proceed to the Saline valley Hot Springs. Channel 25 was the
preferred choice for the vehicles with CB,s and Bob Wyka, Julie Rush, Bill,
Larry and Scot bracketed the convoy. If more DPSers would use these, there
might be less confusion on some of the longer, more complicated drives to
trailheads and parties.
The drive into the hot springs was uneventful,
but the valley was crowded. We found Erik Siering and Annie Kramer near the
upper springs, and we spread out into a large camp, surrounded by mostly bare
residents. Brian Smith and Rhoda Gilson managed to get Rhoda's little Geo to
make it out there after leaving Brian's Honda in LA with a broken timing belt.
(They made it out, too!)
Nearly everyone joined in the Happy Hour(s)
and party, and we soon took the preliminary showers and foot bath before
crowding into the hot pools. More bubbly and wine and other goodies were
consumed well into the full moon-lit night Filling the pools and enjoying the
celebration were Greg and Mirna Roach, George Toby, Ron Young, Dave Welborn,
Terry Flood, Tom Sumner. Jim Fujimoto, all the previously mentioned hikers, and
several "long timers" who spend weeks at the hot springs.
Just after
Dusk, Pat noticed what appeared to be a car driving around Saline Peak to the
east. Since there is no road, we watched as a light rounded below the skyline,
then suddenly shot straight up and nestled into the Big Dipper Constellation.
Then it jerked left and right, moving quickly all around the dipper, and back
towards the east. Everyone eventually saw this light, as it wandered around the
sky for at least 3 hours. Finally, the wine won out, and we couldn't see it an'
longer.
Sunday morning Bill Oliver tackled Saline Peak, a large group
left to climb Pleasant in the snow, and Greg, Mirna, Larry, Barbee, Scot &
Pat drove the great 4WD road from Saline Valley to the Racetrack in Death
Valley. The wandering rocks are still there! Maybe the UFOs slide them around
when they aren't entertaining partying hikers in. |
Easter in Death Valley (or
Dry on a Sleepless Beer) DRY MTN AND TIN MTN April 2-3, 1994 Erik
Siering & Bob Sumner |
The rabbit lived. It would have been a bad scene to
flatten a bunny first thing Easter morning. As Bob and I were racing past
Ubehebe Crater towards the Tin Mtn trailhead on Sunday, the suicidal hare flung
himself amidst Toy's wheels, with a resonating thump to the underchassis.
Remarkably, it must have merely left him a ringing headache, as he loped off
into the darkness.
The weekend had started in darkness early Saturday
morning. We planned on 'shadowing' the Asher Waxman/Dan Richter DPS outing to
the two classic northern Death Valley peak climbs. Reaching Stovepipe Wells
considerably past midnight, we figured on a couple hours of slumber before
continuing to the trailhead. Recommendation: do not try to camp on the
airstrip! As the campground/tarmac (it really used to be the airstrip) was
fully occupied by RV hordes, we pulled down the road a bit. A partial moon was
all that the patrol ranger needed to ferret us out within the hour in a glare
of headlights, forcing us to grumpily head north; as a result, we gathered a
grand total of a half hour of sleep before setting out for Dry Mtn at
daybreak.
The DPS caravan wound its way up the 'washboard road as Bob
and I started across the flats. Dry went quickly by the standard route, capped
by the pleasant discovery/consumption of a cool Pabst in the register canister
(emergency provisions?). We had an excellent view westward of the Saline Valley
Warm Springs (I could almost make out Fred's teepee...), Inyos and snow-laden
Sierra. The large group of determined and friendly DPS'ers were encountered
descending the ridge below the saddle. It was good to see several new faces in
the crowd. Out just past midday, we swung by Scotty's Castle for gas and fries,
where we viewed the sights and otherwise admired the lithesome foreign tourists
disembarking from the tour buses. The afternoon was spent lazily at Mesquite
Springs listening to DV Ranger Dan D 's stories of tracking down errant burros,
drug runners, pipe-bomb builders, and terrorist wannabes near Hunter Mtn. The
DPS'ers arrived at sundown for a rousing, well-deserved happy hour.
Departing early from camp with some sleep, we set out hiking for Tin at
daybreak under cool, cloudy skies. Parking at the standard trailhead was
limited and later made it tight for the group. The solid ridge route up was
a |