Mount Tipton, Spirit Mountain

29-Mar-97

By: Patty Kline, Bill Bradley

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19 people met at 7 am California Time or 8am Arizona Time at the intersection of Dolan Springs Road and US Highway 93. This is 30 miles north of Kingman, Arizona, a long way to drive. This is why Tipton was peak #90 for me. I have been putting off the drive. Well on to the road head for Tipton at 375 miles from Los Angeles, which isn't really all that far considering some of our longer drives.

The weather was perfect. No wind and sunny weather was ours this Saturday. We left for the peak about 8:45am with Bill Bradley leading and me sweeping. It is a good idea to bring clippers because the brush, which was loosely covering most of the peak was just enough to be in the way and poking our legs. A few places would have gone better clipped. The claret cup cactus were just opening their crimson buds.

There was a leisurely lunch on top and the last of us were back down to the cars about 4:30pm. It was about 7 miles and 3000 feet of gain on mostly class 1 terrain. There was a band of class 2 rock about two-thirds of the way up and a little class 2 on the summit ridge.

Phil Reher sprained his ankle one-third of the way up and kept on going. At the end of the day it was hurting a lot. With a polyethylene bag filled with ice on either side of his ankle strapped-on with an ace bandage he left for home.

Graham Breakwell, originally from England, administered the first aid and polyethylene is a British word for plastic. I love British words. Evelyn, Phil's wife, drove Phil home, but the rest of us drove over to Christmas Tree Pass near Laughlin. There we spent the night and had a great community dinner and campfire. Tom Sumner served his famous chili. Ellen Senior and Linda McDermott made tacos and quesadillas. I made Caesar salad. At ll:45pm when I left the campfire, Graham Breakwell and Richard Whitcomb were still deep in conversation.

The group dwindled down to 8 for Spirit. We left at 8:25am. This is a tricky peak to navigate since there are many more gullies than you think. The top had a spectacular view. This was another nice day for weather. We had a good 45 minute lunch before heading back, the last of us reaching the cars about 3pm for salsa and chips. Spirit was 3 miles round trip and 2000 feet of gain.

The trip was great. Thank you Bill for leading the trip with me. The trips that I led with him are always so much fun. The participants were Barbara Reber, Richard Whitcomb, Howard Eyerly, Barb Eyerly, Mars Bonfire, Linda McDermott. Tom Sumner, Neal Scott, Graham Breakwell, Jim Hinkley, Ron Grau, Ellen Senior, Randy Ragland, Ted Brasket, Judy Hummerich, Phil Reher, and Evelyn Reher.


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