Exploring the backcountry and wilderness of the Western USA.
Linda and I started getting to know each other during the summer of 1990. We met through a climbing club, the Chemeketans, in Salem, Oregon. That summer we started climbing together, both on rock crags and mountains. Here are two of many climbs I shared with Linda that summer.
On October 20 Linda and I climbed “Moscow”, a three-pitch 5.6 route on the “Red Wall” at Smith Rock State Park in Central Oregon.
This past July I took a long road trip to visit 22 USA State Highpoints, the highest natural point of each of those states. This was part of my long-term project to visit the highpoint of every USA State.
Pamola Peak from Baxter Peak, Mount Katahdin
I began visiting USA State Highpoints in 1977 with my first climb of Mount Hood, the highpoint of Oregon. In 1979 I climbed Granite Peak in Montana, and in 1980 I climbed Mount Rainier in Washington. Perhaps I accepted the challenge of visiting all the Western USA State Highpoints in 1986 when I climbed Gannett Peak in Utah, Boundary Peak in Nevada, and Mount Whitney in California. The states east of Colorado did not have any interest to me then, and the western state highpoints provided me plenty of challenge.
Last Wednesday, April 11, I led a hike of Veterans Peak and Mount Washington in the Patagonia Mountains for the Southern Arizona Hiking Club. The Patagonia Mountains lie just north of Mexico east of Nogales. Mount Washington is the highpoint of the Patagonia Mountains with 7221 feet of elevation. It is also the 104th most prominent peak in Arizona with 1709 feet of topographic prominence.
Veterans Peak appears high on the left from Forest Road 61
Tucson was predicted to be at record temperatures Wednesday. I met June, Bill, Jane, John, and Roxanna early in the morning. We drove south through Sonoita to the town of Patagonia. From there we followed forest roads south into the Patagonia Mountains. We parked at about 6000 feet elevation and climbed a steep unmaintained but obvious trail south towards Veterans Peak.
