The Saturday night campfire session was a lively affair. Don Levy and his banjo accompanied the singing. During the course of the evening, Ranger Bob Simmons told us about the desert research project being conducted in the Providence Mountains by John F. Gaines and Richard F. Logan, assistant professors of Geography at UCLA, under the sponsorship of the Army Quartermaster Corps. This range was chosen as being typical of desert mountain ranges in many parts of the world. The purpose of the project was to learn more about the climate, vegetation and topography of a typical area such as this. This involved placing instruments for recording temperatures at various elevations from the desert floor to the top of the mountain. Simmons stated that one of these instruments was placed on the highest point on the range, housed in a small weather station. When we told Simmons that we had climbed the highest point in sight and found no trace of a weather station, he was convinced that we had not reached the top after all. This touched off a hot debate that went on far into the night. It was still going strong when I finally crawled into the sack for the night. Subsequent investigation on the part of Warren Flock, who contacted Prof. Logan, brought out the fact that the weather station was not placed on the highest point, but on a convenient, easily accessible high point some distance south of the actual summit. Since the summit peak (el. about 7,200 ft.) appears to have no name, the suggestion was made that it be called Mitchell Peak.
Sunday morning was devoted to a leisurely tour of the Caverns under the guidance of Ranger Simmons. The Caverns are reached by a short hike along the Mary Beal nature trail and plants and cacti are identified along the way. When this area is officially opened as a State Park it will comprise some 20,000 acres including the entire Providence Range, thus preserving a fine bit of unspoiled desert mountain wilderness. We are grateful to Ranger Bob Simmons for the friendly and helpful way in which he made our visit here an enjoyable occasion.
The party in the "Red" bus left at 1:00 p.m., traveling via Twentynine Palms. Near Amboy Crater we saw a wonderful example of a desert mirage. We arrived at Guasti Inn at 6:00 p.m. where Mrs. Remassi had a wonderful chicken dinner waiting for us. The "Blue" bus followed two hours later, in order to avoid congestion at the Inn. Everybody arrived home on schedule.
SNEAK PREVIEW
Here's a peek ahead at the forthcoming DPS schedule of events:
June 18-19, Winnedumah (Paiute Monument); July 2-3-4, Charleston, Peak; Aug. 13-14, Mt. Tyndall; Sept. 3-4-5, Toiyabe (Arc) Dome, Nevada
Don't forget there's another good trip coming up May 28-30 (White Mountains).
Sincerely,
Parker Severson, Chairman