Eagle Mountains #1, Pinto Mountain

2-Feb-91

By: Dale van Dalsem

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Reserved Group Campsite #1 at Cottonwood Campground, couple of phone calls & $10 credit charge through Ticketron, 7 vehicle, 15 person limit. Several got their own campsites ($6, 2 car, 4 person limit). Friday night some of us crashed on one of the dirt roads S of 1-10 on the Riverside County AAA map, & a few of us had breakfast at Chiriaco Summit, open 24 hrs. Beats standing at the tailgate in the cold.

20 of us met at the Cottonwood Visitor's Center at 7:30, signed in & drove to park in the campground at Group Site #1. We hiked directly from the campground, on a bearing of 82 degrees, for the notch (5040'+ at UTM 159348) just north of the apparent high point (5160'+ at UTM 158346). We veered north into the Porcupine Wash 7.5 topo & took the right hand gully up to the aforementioned notch, & into the Hayfield topo, then ESE, losing a little gain before the summit ridge & the peak. All 20 signed in & Leader placed a new register can with flaming lavender top! Pleasant 30 minute lunch on top & back to the campground by 2:30: 6 hrs r.t. plus lunch, 9 mi. r.t., 2400 gain incl up & down. Long happy hour & pleasant campfire, which featured a new topic: Can-you-top-this flat tire stories. Paul Freiman's 3-flat story outdid my 2-blowout & no tire-lowering-tool story. From Sat to Sun, we lost 3 & gained 5 as 22 started for Pinto.

We parked at the bend in the road at UTM 079516, about 8 A.M., tried the obvious gully, tired quickly of the jumble of Maytag-sized boulders, & took the ridge just to the east. Ridge goes fine, despite a bit of up & down. Back to the cars by 1:45, after a 30-minute lunch on top. Placed another flaming lavender-topped register can (98¢ at Pic & Save). 9 miles r.t., 5:15 plus lunch, about 2400' gain counting the up & down. Pleasant weekend with moderately easy peaks, good weather, great people, & pretty landscapes!

Participants were: Dale & Steve, Jerry Boggs, Dave Jurasevich, En Lee Lin, Peter Kinman, Bill Gray, Keats Hayden, Susan Feuerbach, Bill & Gisela Kluwin, Rob Talbert, Karen Leonard, John McCully, Wendy Ruess, Paul Backer, Ron Lanyi, Julie King, Carolyn West, Dave Petzold, Anni Johansen, Ed Lubin, Amparo Szielenski, Jacque Bernier, & Paul Freiman, as the group had 7 list finishers & 5 first-time DPS hikers, & 2 second-time DPS hikers.


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