Spectre Point, Granite Mountain #2

27-Jan-74

By: John Backus

none

Fourteen people joined the leaders at the appointed meeting place. We then caravaned in toward Spectre, parking on the plateau and hiking the last mi1e or two rather than chancing the sandy wash at the end of the road. We followed the usual route up the mountain, arriving at the summit at lunch time. After some discussion, it appeared that half the group wanted to do Tensor and the other half wanted Dyadic, so we spilt into two groups and climbed them. We were out by the middle of the afternoon. We then headed for the gravel pit which is the roadhead for Granite. This involves crossing a rather nasty wash; after some anxious moments all the cars made it through, and we congregated at the gravel pit. Unfortunately, the weather had worsened, and it appeared to be pouring rain all around us, so it was decided to get out before the wash became impassable if it should rain. Of course, the last car became stuck on the way out, so by the time we got everyone across it was dark. We camped near the aqueduct crossing, visited by strong winds, and an hour after we got there the stars were out and the threat of rain had vanished.

Next day we drove back to the wash (not wanting to cross it again) and started hiking from there. After an interminable hike across the desert, we reached the mountain. The canyon your leader chose to go up turned out not to be the best way, having a waterfall part way up that discouraged three people into quitting at this point. The rest of us made it past the waterfall, after which the going got easier, and we were on the summit by 12:30. As frequently happens, we found a better route down which we should have taken up. Off the mountain, we started the interminable hike across the desert hack to the cars, arriving about 5 PM, ready for supper.


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