This is going to be real quick and basic………I’m plumb tuckered out.  I hit the summit of Palo Verde Peak at about 1:55 PM today, that d—-d SPOT didn’t send the summit report, and then hustled back down, cause I wanted to be off the mountain by dark.  It’s only about a 1,000 ft climb, (vertical distance) but it’s steep and all loose rock.

Palo Verde Peak is about 35 miles south of Blythe, CA and is clearly visible, rising above the agricutural fields between…………………

I parked the truck and quad trailer at the Milpitas Wash road, then unloaded the quad for the run up the old Palo Verde Road to the back side of the Peak………………

It’s only a few miles to the base of the Peak.  Looking up the wash that comes down from it, all you can see is rock.  The actual summit is behind that peak showing here…………………

Farther up, it gets even rougher.  That shadowed groove right up the center is my climbing route………………

From about ½ way up the main climb, above, a look to the west shows Thumb Peak - my next climb - far in the distance with Very Rugged country in between……………..

From higher on the mountain, almost to the summit, another look west with Thumb Peak in the right distance.  For perspective, start at the notch at lower center and follow it out and to the right a bit.  See the twisting, winding dry wash leading out ??  About 1/3 of the way up from the bottom and 1/3 of the way in from the right, you can see the line of the road crossing from left to right and another wash continuing up to the left.  Right at that junction is where Suzy is parked.  Looooong way down, eh ??…………….

I didn’t think I’d need EVF compensation here, because the sun was behind me.  Got fooled good.  All my summit pics are like this or worse.  Long, steep way ahead, Lar.  The one on the right is the lower summit.  Main summit is behind the center spike.  The center and left peaks are much lower…………………

It’s a long way down, too………..very steep, on loose rock.  I slid many times on the way down, but I’ve learned - I wear gloves now, to protect my hands from the jagged rock when I land on my butt and try to keep from sliding……………….

Here’s creaky ol’ Lar on the summit.  The purple and black things on my legs are gaiters, to keep rocks and seeds out of my boots and socks………………

It was about 70º today, and the Lar was soaked with sweat here.  I had very weak cell phone service up here, so called Wayne at B&B to see if he could see the flash of the camera.  Slight hope - about 30 miles and hazy, with the sun at my back.  He couldn’t see me, so got a big mirror of his own and started flashing it.  Wow ! ! !  It REally showed up…………………..

This was pretty cool, and I got a real grin out of it.  Thanks, Wayne.  It took just 3 hours, start to finish - not counting driving time and riding time on Suzy (the quad), and now that I’m home, took a solid jolt of Ibuprofen for the knees and feet and now I’m gonna kick back.  More exploring tomorrow.                   Lar.
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Larry Bourne
Santa Fe, NM
www.gogittum.com
www.gogittum.com/blog

Posted: May 29th, 2009 under 08 Blythe 09, 09-1-2 Palo Verde Peak.
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