White Mountain Peak

6-Jul-96

By: John McCully

none

There must have been a dozen really fat marmots watching the cars when we arrived at the trailhead for White Mtn, no doubt getting ready to chow down on the hoses in our vehicles once we left for the peak. We foxed em using Bill Gray's trick of spraying the hoses with Ant and Roach killer. Our dog Mandy is not one to pass up a chance to chase a marmot so we chained her to a folding chair. Next time I'I1 chain her to the truck, and set the parking brake. Once Mandy and the chair had chased a marmot down a hole she realized she was the one being chased, by the chair. Eventually Janet grabbed Mandy as she went by. It's a good thing there aren't any any cliffs near the White Mtn trailhead. When I was growing up I was told that some little boys were so nasty that they tied tin cans to a dog's tail. No sissy little tin cans for me, a chair's the thing.

Janet spent some time chatting up the a guy at the Barcroft laboratory and found out what's going on with all those sheep up there. They're preggers. It's the third year of the experiment and preliminary results indicate the 12,000 foot fetuses have larger lungs and a blood chemistry better adapted to the altitude than in the control group down below. A couple hoping to produce a world class mountaineer should head for La Pat. Perhaps only a few weeks are critical for producing a super-climber so a bit of trekking in Nepal at just the right moment might do the trick.

Janet also learned that the bio hazard signs near the lab have to do with a hanta virus and deer mice experiment. Next time I go by the lab I'm going to keep as far to the East as possible.

We left the gate just after eight and got back to the cars about 4:30. Tom made enough delicious chili to feed everyone. Participants were Marilyn Tomsha, Tom Sumner, Steve Gustavson, Janet Strom and Don Miller. Don wound up walking separately from the rest of us and Janet had a touch of altitude sickness and didn't get the peak. Leaders were John and Carol McCully.


Detailed information for visiting one or more peaks mentioned in this article can be found in the
Desert Peak Section Road and Peak Guides

DPS Archives Index | Desert Peaks Section