Bob Seibert was on a business trip, so Bob Wheatley recruited me for Leader. I'd
been debating whether or not I was ready for Patty's Baldy climb, so now I had a
good excuse for "chickening out".
Bob and Gabriel Rau drove up early to get a wilderness permit, while I met the
troops at Santa Ana Canyon. By 6:20AM nobody else was there, I felt cold and
lonely. Then Don Cook arrived. It was good to see a familiar face. Several had
been over at the old carpool location, across Tustin Boulevard.
By 9:00AM the weather was very warm, even though it had been cool and damp in
Orange County. Only one person wore shorts - the rest of us were "green with
envy". Eleven people had felt that the Apache/Spitler hike was more important
than reveling at Oktoberfest. This time the scheduling was not my fault. This
hike turned out to be the Twenty-second anniversary of How Bailey's 200th peak
(Spitler Peak, October 22, 1966).
We hiked briskly across the flats. The shade of the canyon was most welcome
after two dusty hot miles. The black oaks and the big leaf maples colored the
dark canyon. When we arrived at the PCT, we had a good view of Spitler Peak
golden with black oaks. We lunched on Apache and snacked on Spitler where there
is an old register. It was fun to find my name from 1965 (my Peak #5). And to
see names from the HPS past and present. An enjoyable time was had by all on
this warm and colorful Fall hike.
