Waucoba Mountain, Pleasant Point, Nelson Range

10-May-75

By: Henry Heusinkveld

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The trip went as scheduled. The weather was good, but interest proved light. Ten persons, including the Settles-Le Clerq party of eight in their camper showed up at road-head for Waucoba. The camper people were wan and draggy, so six did an early fade on the lower slopes, leaving only four of us to get the peak. One of these was resolute six-year old Mathew Settles, who floundered through crotch-deep snow, while wearing tennies. And cheerfully !

The camper party bade adieu after the Saturday non-event, leaving only the leader and ass't. We slept in the alkali dust at Keeler, and early Sunday scooted up the very steep dirt road to the Cerro Gordo mines. Pleasant Mtn was bagged by 9 am after which we zoomed down the opposite side of the mtn from which we arrived. This side was likewise very steep, although the road surface very good. A long trek over desert roads brought us to the foot of Nelson, which we climbed within the hour. All three peaks afforded brilliant views of the snow laden Sierras.

From Waucoba we looked directly across at Split and Tinemaha. From Pleasant we looked across at Olancha, and wondered how the BMTC party was hacking the deep snow. From Nelson we viewed Dry and Tin Mtns in Death Valley and also got a look at the famous Race Track.


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