Apache Peak, Spitler Peak

11 December 1965

By: Gene Andreosky

The day started with low hanging clouds so that neither peak was visible. Directions for approaching the trip were given by the ranger at the Pine Springs Ranch. He suggested going up the road on the Cedar Crest Ranch until we came to the campground, then backtrack across a horse trail to a jeep trail that originates at the Bonita Vista Ranch (the BVR discourages hikers.) We found the campground all right but somehow missed the horse trail. After beating through brush for about one-half hour, we finally found the jeep trail. The jeep trail ends at a locked gate. After this a reasonably good trail takes one to the ridge between Apache and Spitler.

By the time we reached the ridge the weather had cleared up. We then went to Apache over a light snow. For those interested, there are two points on Apache. The point to the west is the high point. On this peak, Jim Van Allen became the 114th emblem holder. Because of extremely high winds and the resulting coldness, we decided to have lunch at the saddle between peaks.

While we were having lunch, the clouds suddenly moved in again. The result was a trip to Spitler in the clouds. Fortunately, Spitler is a relatively easy peak to find (there's only one high point.) At the top we were just barely able to see if everyone was there. The trip to the cars was uneventful and was accomplished in about 90 minutes.