Clark Mountains, New York Mountains

23-Mar-74

By: Roy Ward

Twenty-one people in 11 cars met at the north side of I 5 and Mountain Pass Road. We caravaned up to the BLM campground at the foot of Clark Mtn., where we picked up four more hikers. We started climbing at 0830. Footing was a little loose with a small bit of 3rd class climbing necessary to gain the summit ridge. Then we went along the ridge and were on the summit at 10:22, The weather was cool and clear. After an early lunch and an hour of laying around, we headed down and at 1300 we were back at the cars. We gassed up at Mountain Pass, created a minor boom in the small store and then caravaned on to Carruthers Canyon. Four people left the group because they had other things to do. We arrived early and spent the afternoon practicing rock climbing, sleeping, reading and tossing the Frisbee, A nice leisurely afternoon topped off with a campfire, made it a perfect day.

Sunday we were up at 0750 and hiked up the canyon on the road to the Giant Ledge Mine. Here we left the road and went cross country up to the peak, through some brush and a few boulders. A couple of class 3 moves and 21 of us were on top of the peak by 1030. The weather was nice and the top was covered with ladybugs. They seemed to take a special liking to Elliott Snyder, he was having trouble keeping them removed from his pants. "Should be better than ants though". An early lunch and a short rest, then on back down to the cars. We caravaned to our campsite, picked up the other cars, this was the end of a very smooth trip.