6:00 am is early especially if you got to sleep at the Pinyon Flats campground past midnight. 20 people were ready to go under the capable leadership of Alan Coles. He substituted for Frank Goodykoontz who had just had a knee surgery 1 month before. It was 22 miles and about 5,000' of gain. Martinez is one of my most favorite HPS peaks with all those granite boulders rounded by stream action in the gully we used on the standard route to get to the top. We all ate lunch on various parts of the rocky summit (6560'). We got 2 for 1 because Martinez is also on the DPS list. After lunch we did Sheep (5141'), which seemed like rolling ranch-land compared to Martinez.
We got back to our cars near the Dolomite mine almost exactly 12 hours later, which was the time expected. Then 5 of us went for dinner in the local restaurant. Most people had gone home that night because Martinez and Sheep were the big attraction.
The next morning a greatly reduced group of us did Asbestos (5265'). I led on this sunny warm day. It was very clear with views forever. We were all glad to hike in partially cloudy skies on the day before. We were done before 11am on the Asbestos hike and everyone headed home except for Jim Fujimoto who went on his own to do Lookout #1. The rest of us were satisfied with 2 miles and 800' of gain for the day after getting Martinez and Sheep the day before.
The trip participants on Saturday were Betty and Austin Stirratt, Ted Pinson, Evan Samuels, Barbara Cohen, Martin Feather, Cristy Bird, David Jensen, Al Craun, Rick Fleming, Bill Stevens, Mike Fredette, Jim Fujimoto, Greg Gerlach, Ron Zappen, Doug Hatfield, Jon Nakamoto, and John Southworth. It was a great day and a great hike.
