Waucoba Mountain, White Mountain Peak

15-Aug-92

By: Bill T. Russell, Frank Goodykoonz

We met at 0700 at the locked gate which is about 2 mi south of the Barcroft Lab on the road to White Mtn Peak. I was unsure as to the amount of parking space at this place but it turns out that there is a great deal of level space. Some of us prepared for the possible marmot threat to radiator hoses, in my case by attaching chicken wire to the bottom of the engine compartment, but no marmots came forth. We started with some worry about the weather. It had rained and sleeted on Fri and on Sat there were clouds covering the peak. However as the morning passed, the clouds dissipated and we sat in the sun on the summit. We returned to the cars by mid afternoon and some of us had a good dinner at Jack and Jeffs restaurant in Big Pine.

There was considerable activity at the Barcroft Lab site. Different aerospace companies had technical people and vans of equipment. They were preparing for competitive tests (?) of ranging (?) devices to navy aircraft starting on Mon.

We slept off of the Saline Valley Road in a pleasant area at the base of Waucoba. It is about 0.3 mi north of the poor dirt road that is shown on the topo and named in the peak guide. On Sun we started from the camp at 0700 and hiked SW to the poor dirt road and then up the slope to the summit of Waucoba (+3900', 7 mi rt). The footing is quite good and there is little brush. We returned to the cars by 1400 to end a fine outing. Participants were Bill T Russell, Ted Pinson, Dave Welbourn, Pat Russell, Jennifer Lambelet, Bonnie Michel, Frank Goodykoontz, Duke Blakesley, Cesar Michel, Oliver Huon, Paula Peterson, Basil Anton, Jack Haddad, Bruce Peterson, David Halterman