Rabbit Peak

1972

By: Henry Huesinkveld

--Creaky memories

Patty Kline recounted in the Jan '93 issue of the Sage the events of a 12-12-92 climb of Villager and Rabbit Peaks. The big impression she left was that it involved an overnight back-pack,and that it was s-o c-o-l-d. Not really wanting to upstage her I wrote her a card, telling her that 20 years ago, I with two cohorts had climbed these two peaks in 24 continuous hours including driving time to and from metropolitan L.A. I'm not much one for setting records, but I truly believe this was one. She was impressed and urged me to brag about it in the D.P.S. Sage. So here goes:

After work on a Friday (5:00 p.m.) I loaded Harry Brummer and Elizabeth Provis in my VW bug and we took off for a 150 mi drive to the desert. We stopped to eat in a greasy spoon in Indio, and then proceeded on the nebulous roads to Clark Dry Lake, s.w. of Villager. We got stuck real good in the deep sand, so just locked the car, manned our day packs and headed out for the mtn. We actually got started about midnite under a glorious full moon. All went well for the first three hours; then Elizabeth declared she needed a rest break, so went back into the brush. As she wasn't emerging in due time, I went back, shouting her name until I finally spotted her in the gloom. She was extremely slow and dispirited, so I decided to park her. I found her a nice cave, so told her to make herself comfortable until we got our peaks, and then we would pick her up on our way back. (After this trip I never saw or heard from her again)

I hiked fast until I finally overtook Harry, sitting on a log, mad at me for taking so long. We got to Villager about 5 a.m., and being quite tired by then, I unloaded my day pack, placed it under me for insulation from the cold earth, and promptly went to sleep right on top of Villager. Harry was restless, so broke the serenity with, "Henry, what are we doing here?" By now the sun was emerging, a blood red, over the glassy Salton Sea We proceeded towards Rabbit, doing the seven humps, never quite deciding whether to climb them or to side-hill them. We bagged Rabbit at 9:00 a.m., somewhat of a disappointment, as there is no view, just shrub and stunted tree clutter.

We got back to Villager about noon where we picked up Elizabeth. Then on down about 6000 feet, emerging at trail-head about 6:00 pm. A mile walk back to the car, where we found a kindly 4WD-er who gladly jerked our VW out of the sand. Then the long drive back home, getting there, maybe mid-night.

Here's peaking at you