Finally, the Desert Peaks season has arrived!
As the cold and snow begin to overtake the Sierras, our deserts cool and their mountains become wonderful environments for exploring and climbing. Thanks so much to all our leaders and Audrey for organizing the many trips our section has to offer this season. We are blessed to have experienced leaders volunteering their time to take out us out for adventures in our beautiful southwestern deserts.
I love to check the Death Valley Morning Report and see how the area is doing with rain. So far, Death Valley has about 3/4 of an inch since July which is pretty good considering the area can receive no rain whatsoever during the winter season. With a little luck and some well-timed storms, the desert will bloom and become a colorful backdrop for our peakbagging. I love to botanize in our deserts. Even though they seem so stark, there are over 2000 species in the California deserts, not to mention Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Mexico.
I hope to see everyone at our 15th Annual Chili Cookoff and Pumpkin Carving Contest October 27th and 28th at Anza Borrego State Park. I will be a taster and I'm trying to talk my wife Julia into being a cook. Contact Yvonne Jamison if you plan on tasting or cooking and Scot Jamison along with the Tidball's will be leading a hike up to Sombrero. Other hikes are possible depending on what people would like to do. Wilson Peak on the Lower Peaks list is a wonderful hike in Anza Borrego.
At our last meeting, the management committee decided on a Desert Peaks Photo Contest with the winning photos and perhaps a few runner-up shots to be published in the Sage. There will be prizes of $100 for 1st, $50 for 2nd and S25 for 3rd place. I'm sure Audrey will have more details later in this issue.
Unfortunately, there is some bad news from Organ Pipe National Monument. Several of our members were turned back from Kino Peak by park rangers. They were told the area around the peak is closed due to drug trafficking dangers. We temporarily suspended the peak until we could find out more information about the dangers. We definitely do not want to put our members into harm's way. If you were planning on climbing Kino, please call ahead. Hopefully, this is temporary and we can work out something with park rangers so we can continue climbing the peak. I'll report back on this topic in the next issue of the Sage.
I trust everyone is enjoying the holidays as well as our desert mountains. So far there have been several well-timed storms hitting the deserts. Death Valley has 1.20 inches pretty good!) since July and most of that is since September. So, it's looking like ('fingers crossed) we'll have a beautiful climbing season come February. Make sure to check out our upcoming outings and join fellow members on a scheduled trip or two. I know many, including myself, go out on private trips. I've always wished there was a DPS/SPS bulletin board to announce private trips. Climber.org and the SCHiker Yahoo bulletin board are great places to announce such outings, but I still wish there was one specifically for my two favorite climbing sections.
A big thanks to Mary McMannes for hosting our Christmas Party! I am hosting the next potluck January 12th. We live in Glendora at 836 Glendora Mtn Rd, CA, 91941, and as usual we'll start the management meeting at 4:30 and the party will start around 6 pm. Please RSVP to michaelgosnell@hotmail.com
Happy Desert Peakbagging and please drop me a line if you have any concerns,