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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 8, 2007 - 05:37pm PT
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I only went there a few times, once with Paul Glason and was amazed at that time by the possibilities. Action was stiff in this area in the last 60s and up to about 1972. Nothing since then that I know of and the many routes that were establishd are virtually lost in time.
Anyone have photos or old guidebooks or descriptions or stories about this place, a mystery crag if ever there was one, asleep for going on 35 years.
JL
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Mick K
climber
Northern Sierra
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sssshhhhhh.......
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L
climber
NoName City and It Don't Look Pretty
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I don't understand it, John--Amboy is such a mecca for adventurists of every sort and any sport, and with all the modern amenities of any desert city: Roy's for dinette eating at its finest; Roy's for gasoline at its cheapest; Roy's for the ultimate in chic-minimalist lodging. And awesome climbing right down the road!
Why the climbing community isn't all over this hot spot is beyond me...
...what do you mean "Roy's is closed"?
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Brutus of Wyde
climber
Old Climbers' Home, Oakland CA
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I spent a summer as a seasonal park employee at Mitchell Caverns in the late 70s. Even then, the area (Granite Moumntain) was closed and occasionally heavily patrolled as a UCR environmental/ecological study area.
Saw some wild looking bolted routes there, including a line near the roof visible from Highway 40, but a lot of the activity seemed to have concentrated on the backside of the formations (more shady.)
Spent some time at the Bunny Club, but never established any routes of my own, tried to limit my impact to the few visits I made.
With so much unclimbed rock in the world, I never saw the reason to intrude on this pristine area just to establish routes that we shouldn't be climbing anyways.
edited to add: I wonder if access can still be had through UCR geology classes?
Brutus
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Didn't realize the university could impose a closure?
Or do you mean just felt awkward climbing there with the enviros watching youz?
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cragnshag
Social climber
san joser
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The signs that are posted all around the perimeter of the area are pretty strongly worded. I thought about dressing in all black and sneaking in under the cover of darkness....But I chickened out. If they started to chase you, it would be easy to esacape deeper into the mountain- except for the fact that your car is the only one in the entire area- all they would need to do is take down your plate #.
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Peanut
Big Wall climber
Fresno
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There are several routes outside the closed area, tall boulder stuff with bolts. Great camping area also. For the bolder people out there, the potential for "full moon clinbing" is huge!
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5150
Trad climber
JOSHUA TREE
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A large portion of "the Granites" definitely off limits to the public. Owned by U C Santa Barbara. The largest piece off rock is The White Fang. There's a ton of routes in that area. I saw a hand written guide to the area about ten years ago. It consisted of several pages of route desriptions and topos, covering the Granites and Mid-Hills. I'm pretty sure I know someone with a copy of that "guide". I'll check.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2007 - 06:45pm PT
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I'd really like to hear from anyone who knows the early history of the place, like Phil Gleason. These were the guys just before my generation and I suspect that miost of their hardest routes were done here. It's amazing how quickly the activity died off at this place. It's far more impressive than New Jack or Echo or the little nickle and dime joints we settle for now. The White Fang really has some size to it.
JL
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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I went by the posted signs many years ago perhaps in the early '90s when I went out there to explore with my wife. Very neat area. I love the Kelso Dunes area also. We were in the back of our Toyota pick-up sleeping at the Kelso Dunes early in the morning when the Landers or Baker Earthquake came rolling through. Thought some grazing cows bumped up against our truck. Woke us up all startled. Then more after shocks came through. Nope not cows! Hey, they were startled to. You could hear the cows mooing in the distance, and getting all upset at the moving Earth in the quiet early morning.
The crags look awesome from a distance, however, when I got right up to the base and put my hands on the rock it felt very decomposed --- decomposed granite. The crystals were just rubbing off as I dragged my hand across the face. Maybe it was just it the area I was at, I don't know. It sure does look really good from a distance. It's good to know there are some routes out there.
In the Providence Mtns there are caves and caverns. Caverns mean limestone. I'm sure there are some really good limestone crags up there just waiting to be discovered. I have yet to go in the developed caverns yet. Need to do that with my family sometime. Lots to do out there, including really good rock, mineral, and fossil sites!
I would hate to be out there today. Damn, even coastal San Diego is burning hot today!!
Ok, that's it. It's after work. I need to crack open a cold one right now . . .
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jstan
climber
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A neighbor in JT took us on a tour of the East Mojave. I liked it because it was not crowded like big cities such as JT. Really nice not running into people everywhere.
Mitchell Caverns was actually a little dusty. Unusual for a cave. Not huge, but pretty nice.
A story everyone knows already. A couple of railroaders were conversing in East Mojave. One said, "It is hot here." The other replied, "Sure Am Boy." And that is how Amboy got it's name. When we were out there the town was for sale for a million. The whole thing.
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Brutus of Wyde
climber
Old Climbers' Home, Oakland CA
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"The crags look awesome from a distance, however, when I got right up to the base and put my hands on the rock it felt very decomposed --- decomposed granite. The crystals were just rubbing off as I dragged my hand across the face. Maybe it was just it the area I was at, I don't know. It sure does look really good from a distance. It's good to know there are some routes out there."
Lots of the rock in Josh used to be of similar character. most of the popular routes cleaned up quickly. And it used to be that climbs like Damper felt like they were lined with broken glass. Now that climb is almost smooth inside from cams being pushed along.
"In the Providence Mtns there are caves and caverns. Caverns mean limestone. I'm sure there are some really good limestone crags up there just waiting to be discovered."
East Ridge of Fountain Peak is as wild a third class climb as I've ever seen... Hand traversing a knife-edge ridge that would be serious 5th class except that the friction of the limestone makes it incredibly sticky. Pat Brennan put up a few awesome 5th class routes in the Providence Range. But I'm no longer sure of the locations.
"I have yet to go in the developed caverns yet. Need to do that with my family sometime. Lots to do out there, including really good rock, mineral, and fossil sites!"
Cave of the Winding Stair is worth a look too. Wild cave, gated entrance, 4x4 approach. Vertical drops up to 150 feet to get to the Register Room.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Johnny,
Until you mentioned it here, I had not thought about our early adventure on the Amboy "Lighting Crack" with Richard, you and I for an age.That was a pretty unique route. We must have been climbing for all of about year and a half and we had our hands full.
Rick
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Largo:
I'd be more than happy to share what I know of the early climbing history of The Granite Mountains. That was such a wild and wonderful place. Lee Harrell was the one who told us about the place. He was turned on to it by a dentist he used to see out in one of the desert towns (Amboy?). Together they climbed the largest formation after some dental procedure which Lee then named The White Fang Revenge Tower (commonly called The White Fang Tower).
Paul, Keith and I started going out there on a regular bases because the The White Fang seemed to offer good training for wall routes, which was what we aspired to climb. Because of bolting, aid climbing, and because we didn't know what we were doing, a couple of the routes took two days. I remember Keith getting way wigged out on some thin, rotten face climing, unable to down climb, climbing on to finally fall, the tip of a lost arrow preventing his fifty+ foot fall from decking.
Later when I was a "full time" climbing bum I would go out to GM for weeks at a time, basicly because I had no where else to go.
I went out there with a variety of partners. Jim Donini, Al Givler, and Barry Bates were a few of the Yosemite climbers I was able to talk into leaving the Valley for some first ascents.
I remember Barry did some cracks out there that were very hard.
But you know, your right, most of the climbs are lost and forgotten.
Phil
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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I've climbed out there a few times myself;...with D. Evans, Angione, etc... we did some cool routes;...but last time we went there ( YEARS ago..) we got pooted out by U. C. Researchers....so haven't been back.....beautiful place.......
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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Might go there tomorrow....
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paulj
climber
utah
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I climbed there in the early 80's, as Jeff Dean and I were returning to the Red rocks from JT. We climbed one of the slanting cracks on the RHS of the major buttress in the picture above. the next day was spent behind that buttress, wehere we did a three pitch climb, topping out with a view down the other side of the formations in the photo (the east side?). We saw a crack headed straight down, so we wandered over to the base and saw it come all the way to the ground. Our third day was spent on this 3-4 pitch climb, the bulk of which was spent following a gorgeous hand crack for a little over two pitches (think "The Line" at Lover's, only much better). Along the way we clipped a couple of old pins--and these were old back in 1981 or 1982!
Later than summer we ran into some of the Stonemasters (Mari and Mike), who denied any knowledge of the area!
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Moquah
Trad climber
Carson City Nevada
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I climbed there in the early 90's a time or two on my way to or from Red Rocks, but really couldn't see it as a destination unless you live in amboy. Heh! Then you have other problems. By the way I hope nobody takes seriously the story of how Amboy got it's name. It was the original terminus of the rail line and part of the effort to name the stops in alphabetical order. Amboy, Bagdad, Cima, Danby, Essex, Goffs.....I don't have a map in front of me, but you get the idea.
DJR
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Jan 21, 2008 - 01:15am PT
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This place is way cool. Cary Gaynor and I climbed there a bit in the early/mid 90s. I had seen the crags from I-40, on my way to and from Flagstaff. We drove for nine hours from the Bay Area, only to find signs that said NO TRESPASSING all along the fence. It appeared that there was no one around. So we went climbing. I started working on soloing a new aid line on a south-facing wall to the right of the tallest dome (White Fang Tower) in Russ’ picture while Cary worked on a free line on White Fang Tower, which we called “Big Fatty Dome.” There were a few existing routes that we saw in the area – the ones that I remember were some sick looking thin aid lines next to the line that I had started. Anyone know who might have put up these aid pitches – they looked pretty hard?
Anyways, a few days of great climbing went by and we were having some serious fun. We topped out on White Fang Tower, which has a big chimney running through it – pretty neat to check out! I remember seeing some OLD star-dryvns. While we were up there, we heard a voice yelling at us. The person didn’t sound too happy… Turns out it was one of the UC biologists and they had spotted us! He kept yelling for us to come down and that we were interfering with eagle nesting sites. He then yelled that he was calling the sheriff! Uh oh, we thought…
After several rappels and a scramble through the approach boulders, we met the person behind the voice… and the not-so-local sheriff who had to get up from watching the Super Bowl to drive an hour from Needles. Yup. Mr. Sheriff wrote us each a citation and was pretty cool, unlike Mr. foaming-at-the-mouth biologist… They told us that we could climb to the north, outside of their study area, and we did. But the climbing there was nothing like the big formations…
Months went by and Cary and I figured that they had dropped the charges. Then one day, nine months later, we got a letter in the mail… a letter to appear. So we drove back down to Needles to go to court, plead guilty (the judge was like.. “You were… rock climbing?” with a puzzled look on his face…), paid something like 200 bucks each, and then drove back to the Granites where we climbed some more in the “permitted” area. Great place, good solid rock, tons of new potential……… but it’s under LOCKDOWN!!!! Bitches…….
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Jan 21, 2008 - 02:00am PT
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Interesting story, Minerals. I think we put up three or four aid routes up the main south face of the White Fang, and quite a few climbs in the back canyons. Also one or two on the north face which, interestingly enough had a belay at a large eagle's nest.
I also remember great fun bouldering by Coleman lamp during the long winter's night after hours around the campfire.
Truly a wonderful place. Perhaps it will be an "unknown" place for some future generation of climbers.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jan 21, 2008 - 09:01am PT
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Back in 1971, early spring or maybe more like winter still, Royal and I took a week off from Mountain Paraphernalia to try to find a secret granite climbing area in the desert near Needles. There was not enough information so that we could just arrive there, but instead began searching. This also included climbing at JT for a day or two, wandering around the backside of Palm Springs to look at that canyon, and trying to get some climbing hours at Tahquitz in 50 ft visibility with 2 feet of snow at its base, ice rattling down The Open Book. And just generally, and nonspecifically driving. Weather changing constantly.
I remember having lunch in Kelso at a hotel/dinner, immaculately preserved in time, no patrons other than us; it was frozen in time along railroad tracks, big shade trees lining the street. A freakish warm wind blowing steadily.
He had heard that Chouinard had been climbing somewhere down there. And Bates too. We knew about Needles, but not Granite Mountain.
We never found it, but kept driving, just traveling really for the sake of traveling, which was interesting though I had the damned flu. Eventually we passed through Lake Isabel and the Needles there, up behind Bakersfield. It was raining and not really climbing weather but we were completely amazed. I never went back, although obviously we should have, since it was practically unclimbed. I think Fred Beckey had already been doing some basic routes there.
Mostly it was about RR on kind of a nearly solo quest for peace and understanding; Liz was just now pregnant with their first child, and it frankly was not a decision they had made together among other things.... To make matters much stranger, RR was really afraid of the birth act; he was having nightmares about blood and goo and death; he had seen a sex ed movie when he was a teenager that apparently was way too graphic and somehow he was stuck with this fear and image. And I guess he was quietly angry to be out of control.
I remember waking up with a start in the middle of the night at JT, probably from a dream, and RR was wide awake next to me, head propped up in his hand, staring at me from three feet away. Perhaps I was talking in my sleep, or perhaps he was still silently agonizing about his situation as we lay on the desert floor. Later that night it snowed an inch or so and in an hour after sunrise, it all vanished.
So we drove most of the time and talked and surveyed the desert and Royal kept churning away inside. We put a Matileja Poppy cut from the desert floor, on the dash of the VW bus.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 21, 2008 - 11:06am PT
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Scott Baxter wrote an article about the "Syndicato Stronghold" in climbing way back. I recall a photo of a stylee Scott on Wilkinson Sword and a couple of others. Rumor had it that the rock was pretty grainy ala JT and the Flagstaff boys never really focused their efforts there again for the abundance of primo stone elsewhere in AZ. Always looked inviting rolling by though!
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Loomis
climber
Praha 6, Ceska Republika
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Jan 21, 2008 - 11:24am PT
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Put up several routes there 1979-82 era. I believe U C Bezerkely managed the environmental study at that time.
It was difficult to work with them. Being young and not caring about the consequences, we would hop the fence and climb there anyway.
Told Mari and Mike about it, don't know what happened, if they went there or not.
Also did routes at the "Hole in the wall" and Mid Hills campground areas.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 21, 2008 - 12:03pm PT
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Hey, Phill G.,
Didn't Phill Haney put up a few really hard face routes up on the White Fang? I seem to remember one called the Wandering Jew.
I know he and your bro. Paul (who I went to GM with the first time) did some hard stuff out there.
JL
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TrundleBum
Trad climber
Las Vegas
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Jan 21, 2008 - 12:16pm PT
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Wasn't there an old paper back guide book ?
It had a picture of the white fang on the cover.
I asked (can't find the thread now)...
Any body ever been in that cave on the north side of thr range ?
(equipped with lounge chairs, kitchen and giant, brass, ship's ventilator.
As I recall this cave (as big as my living room) was pretty close to the top of the pass.
One of the coolest (forgive the pun) I have ever been in.
I was taken there by a UCSC Nat. history student.
The little bit of hiking and climbing I did (early 80's) in the Granites, left an indelible memory.
To bad it's closed but then again....
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Jan 21, 2008 - 05:58pm PT
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Too funny Dr. F!!
"To the right of the main face is a cool canyon with like this 3 pitch overhanging wall with all kinds of bigwall like routes "
Yeah, that's where the aid routes are that I was referring to. Neat wall.
Phil, did you guys put up those routes? Lots of thin nailing?
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Jan 21, 2008 - 10:20pm PT
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Largo and Minerals:
Excuse the late reply to your posts but the internet has been down in our area most of the day (must be th cold tempts: 5 F).
Minerals, I'm not sure what climbs you are referring to, but we did the obvious lines on the south face of The White Fang Tower, and we did that great huge roof which we called "Purple Haze."
Largo: Phil Haney did some amazing climbs out there (as elsewhere). That guy was sure pulling down on some hard stuff before many other people were.
One story about Phil Haney and I (non-climbing). We went out to GM one weekend in my old beater pick-up truck. Along the way we pick up some hitch hikers, who I noticed retrieved something from the road embankment when we stopped. They road in the back and we gave them a ride to Amboy where we turned off for the crags. When we got to the camping site and unloaded our gear we discovered a milk carton that had a plastic bag full of an assortment of different colored pills. Phil recognized the purple ones.
Needless to say we didn't do much climbing that weekend.
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Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
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Jan 21, 2008 - 11:10pm PT
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I have solo camped there a couple of times in the past year. I saw no signs next to the White Fang regarding keep out. The keep out signs were further down the road. The camp sites are very cool.
I did a scramble up the mountain in front of the white fang. The rock was very granular. By the time I returned to the car my hands were bleeding.
What is the climb up the central crack system?
The New York mountains are a fun visit as well.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Jan 21, 2008 - 11:24pm PT
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Tobin talked me into going out there in 70-71 (somewhere in there). He'd been out there with who ever first took him climbing. I think it was a guide hired by his dad. I'd taken him up a couple of routes at Tahquitz and he was hot to show me this place, sort of as repayment as he termed it describing what he called a Disneyland Matterhorn.
I was a little reluctant. I did remember seeing it from the highway on some family vacation and rockhounding trips. Still, gas was $0.65 a gallon and it was a long way out there.
It's all a long age blured memory but I remember,
a huge firewood stash near a cave that we made liberal use of,
a route that involved a long diagonaling crack with grass hummocs and a wide chiminey that spit the summit,
an oasis of sorts on the back side, (A pristine version of the Bighorn Mating Grotto).
And a stroll down a cool perfectly flat sandy bottomed slot with towering walls and bolted lines that stretched up out of sight.
I went back a couple of years later and it was all fenced off and posted.
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Keith Leaman
Trad climber
Seattle
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I was surprised to find this thread while mining the depths of ST. Phil G has just sent some 45 year old photos from a climb we did here with his brother Paul around 1967. I thought some of you may be interested. As Phil mentioned above, we did several routes on this (approximately 600') face. The place did seem magical, and I often had re-occurring dreams of wandering around the canyons after the area was closed. Phil took most, if not all these photos.
This particular route was one of the first we did here, and we called it the Dihedral Route. It ascended the right/center of the face along the right leaning shadowed dihedral, and exited the right fork of the "Y" shaped chimneys at the summit. We figured it was about 5.9 A4.
There is an easy 5th class route on the left skyline, and the 5.4 "White Fangs Revenge" route on the right skyline.
Paul lead the first pitch-a moderate undercling on sometimes friable rock. One of the main obstacles was entering a bombay slot-seen in the upper right corner.
Another view of Paul on P1.
I was able to get past the slot first by face climbing on thin edges, then wrestling with the off-width above.
Phil lead P2 above the slot, and we found a nice ledge about 300' up the wall.
Paul lead P3, a traverse to a shallow seam disguised as a crack. Some of his pin placements on this pitch were very "creative"!
As I recall, there was some A4 on this desert varnish.
P4 required some downclimbing to easier pitches above.
The rappel route on the East face is also Lee Harrell's first route (5.4) up the Fang.
Lots of memories here. I think paulj (as mentioned above) may have come across the pitons left by Lee Harrell when he, John Gosling and I did the excellent 3 pitch (5.9, 5.7, 5.9) hand crack on the north side of the "Fang". I remember wondering why Lee didn't remove the pins-one was a 3/4 angle I think. Funny how we remember such details from something so long ago.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Keith; thanks for posting those!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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cool, thx Keith
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Keith Leaman
Trad climber
Seattle
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Thanks guys, on one of our last visits there, we came upon a man waving a rifle. He began explaining about how all the formations there were built by the "Indians". Questioning his sanity, we politely listened while he proceeded to indicate precises examples of his theoretical nonsense by pointing the weapon at various rock formations and shooting at them. "No, not that one", he would say, continuing to blast away until finally hitting the intended target. What a character.
The place is beautiful though. Cheers all.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Great post!
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Great thread. Keith's post made it.
I've climbed out there a couple of times. Almost exclusively in the legal area. One time I was out there by myself and hiked all around the illegal area, the whole place is very beautiful and the rock back in those corridors looks excellant. I think I saw the hidden (Big Horn Mating Grotto like)oasis.
In the late '80s we camped out there during Thanksgiving and Todd's brother Scott brought out their family motor home. We cooked up a full on Thanksgiving feast and did a bunch of good climbing.
While wandering around Marge found a fox caught in a trap. The trap was one of those gnarly spring loaded steel jaws. She ran back to camp and got me and we returned to free the fox. We put a jacket over the fox's head and she held it while I pried the trap off it's (probably broken) leg. We released him and he ran off. I kept the trap for many years and then destroyed it.
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slayton
Trad climber
Here and There
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And this, folks, is why I love the Taco. Thanks for the history all!! Driving through the area I've often looked at those formations and wondered. Now I know. Kind of.
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R.B.
Trad climber
47N 122W
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I remember making a few trips from Flagstaff to Yosemite via I-40 and seeing this big desert granite area north of the Interstate about 30 miles (or so)west of Needles, CA.
After driving north along the dirt road from the Interstate, we found the fence marking the boundary and the posted No Trespassing. Since it was on the way home after doing the Captian, we just blew it off and bailed.
My question though is under what authority is the area closed under?? In other words, who closed it, why, under what law or act? Was there a specific law enacted by the legislature and signed by the Governor? Was it a federal decision. Who is the land agency responsible?
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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USC or UCLA can't remember which.
It's an academic's private playground.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Climbed there in 1970 with Phil and Paul Gleason- awesome place.
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Greg Barnes
climber
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My question though is under what authority is the area closed under?? In other words, who closed it, why, under what law or act? Was there a specific law enacted by the legislature and signed by the Governor? Was it a federal decision. Who is the land agency responsible? Looks like it's actually semi-private land purchased by the UC system in 1978:
"The 9000 acre GMDRC was established in 1978, the lands purchased by donated funds, and later designated by U.S. Congress for the purposes of supporting academic research, teaching, as well as public outreach."
from: http://granites.ucnrs.org/
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Gary
climber
That Long Black Cloud Is Coming Down
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They are actually pretty cool people. You'd be surprised what happens when you ask rather than just barge in.
They are doing some studies on certain plots of land out there that they would prefer to not have stomped on. We met one of the biologists out there, he clued us in on where not to go and then we were on our own.
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Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
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nice to see those crags have had activity. stopped there many a time when visiting my parents in arizona and did a little climbing--there's a nice unverboten 25-foot boulder made of the same stuff, plus an interesting basalt canyon to the southeast--while drooling over the great granite behind the no-no signs.
i wonder if "public outreach" might include you-know-what. what are they doing there anyway?
i guess you answered my question, gary--sounds reasonable.
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R.B.
Trad climber
47N 122W
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Thanks, I remember something about it being a study area (back there in 1987 myself).
I think they need to work a little bit on their "public outreach".
RB
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Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
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Spent one day on a long scramble there. By the end of the day the palms of my hands were bloody. The rock is cheese grater corse.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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The wife and I climbed the peak behind Mitchel Caverns a few years ago.
Talk about a view! Way up there in a wee col we found the remains of a
WWII Army Signal Corps station. It looked like it had been a small enclosure.
Kind of strange but way cool. Probably training for N Africa.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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A few years back for a geezer desert peak bagging trip we hiked Granite Mountain. (not off limits and the highest peak in the little range)
From the top we could see well into the depths of Ft Irwin. There was a large exercise going with the dust from armor way in the distance and artillery firing with the shells exploding seconds later and many miles from the firing point. It was like watching an aerial view.
From the register the peak sees regular, but not frequent visits. Approach is way around the back side and past the ranch.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 8, 2012 - 11:41pm PT
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Blast from the past! Thanks Keith!
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