Sandy Point, Last Chance Mountain

10-Oct-86

By: Maris Valkass

We met at the intersection of the Death Valley road, and the road going to Last Chance roadhead. This is also known as the Crankshaft Junction because of the crankshaft located there. We had 22 participants, two of who elected not to hike the first day.

Since Sandy is the longest distance away, we did it first. The starting point is a little difficult to find, because you can not see the peak. You drive up the road which crosses the Last Chance Range to a large flat saddle area located on the midwest part of section 36 of the Last Chance topo. The best way to do it is to head directly for bump 5870, and circumambulate it to the east. Then follow a long ridge with minor ups and downs to the summit. While this is not a spectacular hike, everyone found it very enjoyable. The view of the sand dune, is great. Two of the participants did not have enough steam to make it to the top, so they stayed along the route and waited for our return.

Saturday night we drove to Last Chance Spring and enjoyed a fine party in the tin shack. Gisela Kluvin entertained us by showing her pictures of her trip to India.

Sunday morning nineteen of us climbed Last Chance. You can take either of the two ridges from the spring and go to the summit. This peak qualifies as one of the more scenic ones. The climb is colorful and also geologically quite interesting. View of the Sierras is also superb.

Participants:

Anna Valkass
Marti Washburn
Donn Cook
Steven Crooks
Peter Severynen
Vivian Goltsos
Karen Leonard
Gisela Kluvin
Paul Freiman
Ross Ritari
Terri Walsh
Maris Valkass
Teri Sutor
Anne Scott
Gail Hanna
Bill Stevens
Helvia Miller
Tom Jeter
Chris Jeter
Bob Wyka
Harry Forry
Barbara Raab

My thanks to Tom Jeter who assisted me on this trip, and all the people who contributed to the good time that we all had. I would also like to mention that we had a large contingent of DPS'ers from San Diego. It just goes to show that no peak is too far!