Brown Peak, Eagle Mountain #2

30 Apr-83

By: Maris Valkass

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These are two fine peaks located in a lovely area with a minimum driving distance between roadheads (about 8 miles). Brown should satisfy the hiker while Eagle the climber. The flowers were beautiful and profuse. On Saturday while climbing Brown the sky was almost cloudless. Sunday, on Eagle, half hour of rain near top; sky was spectacular and dramatic. Could not have been a finer weekend.

Four of the participants, Bob Maisline, Kathy Price, Kurt Vanderhort, and Ed Richburg were the first time on a DPS hike.

Anna Leong climbed Brown, her first peak ever. While we climbed Eagle she decided to do water colors.

Brown

Drive 17.5 miles north of Shoshone to the road leading to Deadman Pass. Turn left on this "road", and drive about five miles to elevation of 2600 feet, and park. This "road" for the first mile to mile and a half is a wash, and is quite sandy. Datsun 2-W drive pickup did not have any problem. Two cars (Audi and Rabbit) with front wheel drive we left at the first bad spot. From the cars, head straight for the peak. Note that there are two peaks, the first peak looks higher. We climbed both, to be sure, particularly since the first one did not have a register and the other one looked higher. Everyone made it to the top.

Saturday night we enjoyed Tecopa hot springs and camped by the mud cliffs behind Shoshone.

Eagle #2

Quarter of mile before the turn off to Brown, road leads to the right to Eagle. Drive about 1/2 mile and park near some concrete abutments. Looking at the mountain at 90 degree angle from the parking area, you can see three water courses close together. The route starts left of the left water course. There are ducks along the route. As you proceed, you will get into the left water course and eventually in the middle one, by which you will reach to top of the ridge. Turn right staying on the back side of the ridge for a few hundred feet, and then cross back to the front side. Continue up to an "obvious" notch with a duck in the middle. From there you can see the summit. Round trip about 2 1/2 hours.

After the climb, in spite of McCully's objections who was looking for Wendy's or McDonalds, we all ate lunch at the Miner's Diner in Tecopa. The meal was enjoyable and reasonable. The food in the restaurant in Shoshone is also good, and it opens at 6:00 a.m.

My thanks to Bob Hartunian for assisting on this very enjoyable trip.

We had a heartwarming experience with the people of Tecopa. One of our cars needed a new battery, the old one could not be used. Tecopa does not have a parts store. The local mechanic found a neighbor who had an old but usable battery asking for payment only what we thought to be fair. In the meantime while most of us were standing around the car contemplating the problem one local lady went up to Anna and offered her some money so we could buy some food. Our appearance must have really impressed her, even though we had just eaten. It is nice to know that very caring people live in the communities that we chance to visit while going for our peaks.


Detailed information for visiting one or more peaks mentioned in this article can be found in the
Desert Peak Section Road and Peak Guides

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