Returning to the difficult area, I decided to try the east side by climb down to the slope of the canyon and coming back up the dirt and gravel talus. With the pack this proved safer, but more tiring. Again on White Mtn summit, because of the low haze, the vast wall of the Sierra stood out clearly. The final night was spent up here.
Going down the dirt road from the summit I could see a
wide variety of animal footprints including what I thought to be a cougar and a
coyote. Wildlife appeared p1entiful but not easy to see. I'd seen two Bighorn,
three separate pairs of deer, and a dozen vultures fiestaing on cattle
carcasses. Sagebrush chipmunks were numerous around my car, Mantled squirrels
were everyplace, and now and then I saw marmots. The commonest creature was a
small bird which could be encouraged to sing. Though the spring season occurs
up here at this time, an exceptionally dry year had made me miss it by several
weeks, save at watering places and some protected slopes. At one spot I counted
18 different kinds of tiny flowering plants.There were many birds I could not identify, and insects of many orders numerous. I had no shortage of water as melted snowpacks occurred in protected spots between White Mtn and the Jumpoff.
At the Research Station I found them loading the remains of their helicopter into a truck. A crash had injured 3 persons.
One interesting aspect was that during the whole 5-dayer and 6O-miler I had not seen a single other person. In this is developed a feeling of one-ness with the area and it was with reluctance I came on down to civilization again. The most perilous part of the journey was the drive home to Marin County dodging drivers with death-wishes. This required several hours of intense concentration to keep myself alive." Sincerely, D. G. (Thanks, a fine story-Ed.)
PLEASANT MTN Oct 8-9 -Don Minassian
Another season of Desert-Peaking got under way on Sat AM as a group of Pleasant Mtn-destined hikers marched away from the old town of Cerro Gordo, high up in the Inyo Range, and derivable by cars.
After skirting the first un-named peak north of town, we dropped packs and did the ascent of Pleasant in about 1-1/4 hrs, and encountered some poor scree along the route. Coming down the scree was more tolerable, making possible a 6-minute descent. We lunched and went northward past Mexican Spring, which runs at about 1 pint per minute. We continued on the crest trail to the Tramway crossing, old summit of the 13.8 mile salt tramway bucket line, where we camped under the pungent pinyons. Sun AM was spent exploring the area and a fine time was experienced by the 23 takers of the event, led by Hal Rosso and Bob Greenawalt. One person spotted a cougar at Mexican Springs, which is also frequented by cattle. Since the Inyos are generally dry upstairs, the presence of this little spring is one of the highlights of the area. Another spring, Cerro Gordo, was not visited, but appears to be a source of water due to the cattle paths leading to it.