Both these
mountains, not exactly small in their extent, are composed of rough lavitic
rock very similar to Old Dad Mtn. We did Lil Cowhole from the south-a short
climb, but enlivened by a beautiful downhill "sand run". Cowhole is a
precipitous craggy mtn which we approached from the north. Almost until the
summit was reached were we sure that the route would "go", so steep and cliffy
was this route. However as it turned out most of the climb was class 2 although
we deliberately went up a couple of class 3 pitches. There are several summits
to this peak, actually a small range in itself, it is really an impressive
piece of rock and is worthy for addition to the DPS list.
We camped near a
pile of huge boulders just west of the Black Canyon road at the west end of
Round Valley, southeast of Cima. Some of these granite boulders were 25' by 30'
by 50' in size and reminded us of those giants in Joshua Tree National
Monument. It is a frequently used campsite, attested by plastic-covered
man-made johns located in the rocks. Bill and I climbed to the top of the class
3 pile, but there are plenty of first ascents to be made up to class 6 with
overhangs.
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