Old Woman Mountains, Providence Mountains

20-Jan-68

By: Leon Pimple

At 7:10 Sat morn the group left Amboy on a caravan toward Danby. At this place several cars were left and the party continued up on the sandy road to the Florence Mine. The climbers, consisting of 23 eagers, began the trek up the slope to Old Woman Mtn. The ascent was a direct ascent to the ridge. Once atop, the ridge was followed directly to the summit. The pace to the destination was slow and only one person turned back enroute. Our bunch spent over an hour relaxing at the top in the warm desert sunshine. This time was also utilized by comedian Bob Bowen, who explained the beauty of the desert.

The down haul came directly thru a north side wash. Once at the cars, another drive was made to Mitchell Caverns State Park, where we camped just outside its boundaries, specifically at the Mexican Mines as shown on the topo sheet. Here we were met by Ted Lewis of the San Diego Chapter.

At 7:30 Sun morn the bunch was seen leaving camp for Providence Mtn. Unfortunately the "dum-dum" leader, being this writer, had not scouted the peak and had asked the Park Ranger for directions. As a Result, we climbed Fountain Peak!

All was not a loss however, since Jack Bradford, Bill Schuler, and Horace Ory did make a diehard traverse and caught the right peak. The Sunday event was enjoyed by eighteen participants. Thanks goes to Ben Neffson for volunteering as Assistant Leader.