The Talus Pile
CHINA LAKE MOUNTAIN RESCUE GROUP
P. O. BOX 2037
RIDGECREST CA 93556
JULY 2002
NUMBER 124
TRAINING SCHEDULE
Jul 3-7 Wed-Sun Scylla, Charybdis, Three Sirens Rockwell
Jul 8 Mon Meeting C. Burge, Riendeau, Franklin
Jul 9-10 Tue-Wed Summer class
Jul 13-14 Sat-Sun Summer class day trips Sakai, Myers, Huey
Jul 16-17 Tue-Wed Summer class
Jul 19-21 Fri-Sun Julius Caesar Runkle
Jul 23-24 Tue-Wed Summer class
Jul 27-28 Sat-Sun Summer class overnights Runkle, Roseman, Finco
Jul 30 Tue Summer class
Jul 31 Wed Summer class party Robbers Roost
Aug 2-4 Fri-Sat Brewer, North & South Guards Runkle
Aug 10-11 Sat-Sun Bolton Brown & Thumb Myers
Aug 14-17 Wed-Sat Heller Rockwell
Aug 19 Mon Summer party Mitchell
Aug 23-25 Fri-Sun Russell Niesen
Aug 30Sep 2 Fri-Mon Tuolumne Meadows Roseman, C.Burge
Aug 31-Sep 2 Sat-Mon North Fork Lone Pine Creek peaks Rockwell
Sep 7-8 Sat-Sun Agassiz & Goode Rockwell
Sep 9 Mon Meeting Schafhauser, Green, Hinman
Sep 13-15 Fri-Sun Norman Clyde Runkle
Sep 21-22 Sat-Sun Tahquitz Hueber
Sep 27-29 Fri-Sun Sill/Swiss Arête Myers
Oct 5-6 Sat-Sun Tin Finco
Oct 11-14 Fri-Mon Yosemite Finco
Oct 19-20 Sat-Sun Open
Oct 21 Mon Meeting Westbrook, Huey, Renta
Oct 25-27 Fri-Sun Mendel & Darwin Roseman
SUNDAY ROCK CLIMBING coordinated by Mike Franklin
CLMRG is funded in part by United Way of Indian Wells Valley.
OPERATIONS
02-01 11 April 2002 Incident Last Chance Canyon Ellen
Schafhauser
On Thursday, 11 April at 1130, Alice Delp, a former student of
mine, came to my classroom at Mesquite High School to tell me
that her friend Elena Vitale was missing after driving to the
Burro Schmidt Tunnel the previous day. She had entered the Last
Chance Canyon area from Garlock Road in a front-wheel-drive Tercel.
She had spent the day at the tunnel filming and then got directions
how to exit the canyon area on Highway 14. Elena's associate,
Randy Halgunseth, informed me that she had left the tunnel in
her car at about 1600-1700 on 10 April. That was the last time
he had seen her.
I asked Alice to call the Kern County Sheriff's Office immediately.
She was told that a deputy would call her back on her cell phone.
Within 45 minutes, a deputy called. I was available to identify
myself and had Alice give him the information that he needed.
Before speaking with the deputy, I called Tom Roseman to tell
him about the incident. I was on a cell phone with Randy, so
I relayed the information from Randy to Roseman using the cell
phone on one ear and another phone on the other ear.
I told Roseman that I believed I knew where Elena would most likely
end up if she had tried to take the road out to Highway 14 and
that I would drive my four-wheel-drive truck to that area and
check it as well as the Burro Schmidt Tunnel area and road.
Last Chance Canyon Road heads down a major drainage, a sandy dry
wash, from the tunnel. It meets a road that makes a sharp right-hand
turn. It's an easy turn to miss for an inexperienced driver.
The wash will continue to funnel the driver into a sandy wash
area until it turns into a four-wheel-drive road. Many roads
funnel into this wash. If Elena had missed the turn, she would
get stuck no more than 3-4 miles down the road.
At Roseman's suggestion, I called Tom Sakai and Al Green as back
up and picked up a radio and a cell phone from the rescue hut.
I told Sakai that I would go in on the two-wheel-drive road off
Highway 14. If I found an empty car, I would head out and call
back to activate a search operation.
I left a map on the hut table to identify which road I was heading
in on, which roads are two-wheel-drive, which are four-wheel-drive,
and where Burro Schmidt Tunnel is. I would check out the road
leading to the tunnel and the road headed down Last Chance Canyon
that turned into a four-wheel-drive road. Most roads in the area
are four-wheel-drive roads.
I left the hut at approximately 1400 with Alice as my passenger.
Alice had her cell phone, and I could be reached either by her
cell phone or by the rescue phone until we started to enter the
canyon. I knew that no phone or radio communications would be
possible after we entered the canyon. Being familiar with the
canyon and my truck, I knew that I would not have a problem navigating
the terrain.
I asked Alice to try her automatic cell directory to call Elena's
number. The message on Alice's phone said that Elena's phone
was out of range, which indicated that wherever Elena's phone
was, it was not in the Ridgecrest area.
We entered the canyon at about 1445.
I decided to head down the wash to the four-wheel-drive area first
instead of to the tunnel. Fresh two-wheel-drive tracks led to
a van not more than one mile down the road. The people in the
van had not seen the car or woman that I described to them. I
continued down the wash and saw signs of another two-wheel-drive
track. Where the road changes drastically into four-wheel-drive,
a right-hand turn leads to a box canyon that I knew of. I could
see more of the two-wheel-drive track on that road. I drove on
this rough road for a quarter of a mile when Alice and I spotted
Elena's car with her waving by its side. I had to navigate a
four-wheel-drive wash to reach her.
Elena was in fair condition, coherent, and glad to see us but
dehydrated, hot, and anxious. I treated her for dehydration,
heat exposure, and hunger. She had had only a few sips of water
over the previous 24 hours. Alice cared for her while I looked
over her car.
The car was hung up by the rear axle on a large boulder, the tires
were sunk into pits from spinning the wheels, and the undercarriage
was bottomed out. Elena had tried to dig the boulder out all
day with the back end of a hammer. After treating Elena, Alice
and I pulled out the boulder with my towrope
I attempted to back the car down the hill after we freed the boulder,
but the gears had been ground so much that it was barely possible
to engage the clutch. I put a towrope on the back end of her
car, attached it to the front end of my truck, and pulled the
car out of the rut and down the hill 50 feet.
By this time, I knew this car was not going to get back out of
the canyon on its own. A ranger from Red Rock Canyon Park arrived.
He had been notified of the incident by the Sheriff's Office,
and he interviewed Elena. He informed me that a Sheriff's vehicle
with a winch was on the way. He left to report our location because
radios don't work well in the canyon. At this point, a Sheriff's
helicopter spotted us, circled, and landed. A deputy walked over
from the helicopter and interviewed Elena.
A deputy arrived with the winch, assessed the situation, and decided
that the car needed to be towed out of the canyon. The Sheriff's
personnel involved were Deputy Larry Thatcher, Senior Deputy Lloyd
Waters, and Deputy Steve Snead.
I drove Elena and Alice back to Ridgecrest. We arrive at about
1745.
All seemed to go well. The appropriate persons took quick, decisive,
and well-informed action. I took it upon myself to do the preliminary
road search because I know the area and the condition of the roads
well. My truck is always prepared with camping gear, water, and
food. I know how my truck performs on these roads, and I know
that a major mistake can be made by not knowing the unmarked roads.
That one turn in the road can be missed easily.
Last Chance Canyon is a suggested place to explore if you like
four-wheeling. The area can be fun to explore and educational.
Being familiar with a local "trap" area for drivers
as well as hikers, bikers, and horse riders is useful. Maps of
the area do not show all the roads that are present.
02-02 20 May 2002 Rescue Pacific Crest Trail Tom Roseman
I received a call at work from Sgt. Diederich around 1600
requesting that we go on alert for a possible rescue on the Pacific
Crest Trail north of Walker Pass. The victim, Mitchell Scott
Tennison, had contacted the sheriff by cell phone and was suffering
from dehydration and severe blisters on both feet.
Janet Westbrook agreed to serve as the coordinator and started
the callout. I also announced the alert over the pager system
at that time. I received a second call from Sgt. Diederich at
1730 requesting that we change to rescue status and proceed to
the intersection of Chimney Peak Road and Highway 178. A Kern
County OH-58 helicopter crew had spotted the victim but was not
sure that they could land close enough to reach him. I notified
Janet to have everyone meet at the hut as soon as possible. The
following members left the hut at about 1820: Tom Roseman, Tom
Sakai, Linda Finco, Al Green, Debbie Breitenstein, Paul DeRuiter,
and Dave Miles. Bob Huey reached me by cell phone as we were
driving out of town and was about 10 minutes behind us. Terry
Mitchell later took over as coordinator when Janet had to leave.
We arrived at Chimney Peak Road about 1900 and learned that the
helicopter had contacted Tennison. They were going to attempt
to get him to the helicopter and fly him out. Several members
of the Kern Valley team along with a number of sheriff's deputies
moved with us to the Cannell Ranch at about 1915 to be in place
in case a carryout was required. About 15 minutes after we arrived
at the ranch, the helicopter crew lifted off with Tennison and
flew to the ranch. We returned to Ridgecrest and were done by
2045.
A couple of things are worthy of mention. First, the pilot of
the sheriff's helicopter was very good. Second, we met and talked
with Sgt. Moore, newly assigned as head of the Ridgecrest Station.
I invited him to join us at our next meeting.
Date Location Participants Notes
2 Mar Mt. Alice Myers, Rockwell, Huey, and guests Sue & Chuck
Farris and Dan Bishop Climbed a nice snow gully.
3 Mar Alabama Hills Hueber, Green, and guests Steve & Carolyn
Walker Climbing on north side of Whitney Road
6 Mar Owens Peak Green Solo climb
9-10 Mar Maturango Doerr, Rockwell, Huey, Green Camped in a sandy
wash. Made it to summit by 1230. Back in town by 2000.
22 Mar French Madam Huey, Rockwell
24 Mar Thor Sakai, Bishop, Rockwell, and guest From Mirror Lake
29-30 Mar Whitney Runkle, Rockwell, and guests Tom Sexton and
Roger Turpin See the trip report below
30 Mar Alabama Hills Hueber, Green, Hinman, and guests Steve &
Carolyn Walker Climbing on north side of Whitney Road
5 Apr Whitney Runkle Solo climb
7 Apr Malpais Mesa Finco, Sakai, Renta, Bishop See the trip report
below.
12-14 Apr Pinchot and Peak 13259 Rockwell, Sakai, and guests Tom
Campbell, Bob Oppermann, and R. J. Secor Hiked in to Taboose Pass.
Didn't take snowshoes. Sun warmed up the snow on way to peak
on second day. Snowshoes would have helped from sinking in so
deep.
18 Apr Alabama Hills Hueber, Green, and guest Diane Escobar Climbing
on north side of Whitney Road
21 April Telescope, Rogers, Bennett Sakai, Rockwell
24 April Whitney, Wotan's Throne Sakai, Rockwell Sakai climbed
Whitney. Rockwell climbed Wotan's Throne.
26-28 Apr Polemonium & North Pal Huey and guest Don Wooley
Wind storm and snow. No water at campsite. Wind still blowing
on second day.
27 April Jenkins Castro and members of the Hayward Hiking Club
Some climbed Jenkins, and some toured the local desert area.
May Thor Rockwell Secret route by Lower Boy Scout Lake. Snow
was good
8-9 May Williamson Rockwell and guests Rick Ferris, Chuck &
Sue Farris and Dan Frame Rockwell, Ferris, and Frame made it to
the summit.
9-12 May Williamson Huey and guest Don Wooley Went up George Creek;
got up in 8 hours. Lots of brush in drainage. Camped just below
plateau. Summited by noon next morning
11 May Merlin, Demon Green and guest Bill Stronge
12 May Voodoo Dome Green, Hinman, and guest Bill Stronge Climbed
Summer Sojourn
23-25 May Whitney & Muir Rockwell, guests Wyatt and Driza,
et al See the trip report below.
7-8 Jun Norman Clyde Runkle and Sakai See the trip report below.
TRIP REPORTS
Mt. Whitney
29-30 March 2002
By Walter Runkle
Bob Rockwell, guests Tom Sexton and Roger Turpin, and I climbed
Mt. Whitney on March 29 and 30. We left Whitney Portal about
0920 on Friday and got to Trail Camp about 1510. The next morning,
we left camp about 0630 to 0645 and were on the summit by 1130.
We left the summit shortly after noon, packed up our tent at
Trail Camp, and were back at Whitney Portal by 1640.
We used our ice axes and crampons for the ascent to Trail Crest.
Some snow was still on the trail over to the summit but nothing
that couldn't be navigated with a ski pole and careful stepping.
It looked like one or two people had been through before us.
We melted snow for all of our water above Bighorn Park.
Malpais Mesa
7 April 2002
By Linda Finco
Tom Sakai, Mike Renta, Dan Bishop, and I hiked the Malpais Mesa.
The route starts at the Santa Rosa mine. The hike to the north
high point on the mesa is about 3 miles with about 1300 feet of
elevation gain. The high point is at 7731 feet. From the mine,
we quickly gained the first 800 feet. The mesa is sparsely covered
with Joshua trees. It is a leisurely hike to the last few hundred
feet of elevation to the high point. We arrived at the high point
shortly before 1130 and ate lunch. There is a great view of the
Sierra (Mt. Whitney) and the Owens Lake valley. The day was clear,
so the view was perfect. We hiked back across the mesa and scrambled
to the south high point at 7462 feet. We then hiked down through
the tailings and upper mines back to the vehicle.
Mt. Whitney
23-25 May 2002
By Bob Rockwell
On Thursday, 23 May, Scott Driza, Tom Wyatt, and I hiked in from
Whitney Portal to a nice campsite halfway between Mirror Lake
and Trailside Meadow. Scott and Tom were here from sea level
and wanted to take an extra day before going for the top, but
I had a special reason to summit on the 24th. So the next morning,
I left them, dropped my overnight gear at Trail Camp, and went
on up.
The summit was deserted when I got there, just like it had been
on 24 May 1952, my first of many ascents. Soon, a fellow from
Gardnerville arrived from the Mountaineer's Route. Then about
noon, some friends started popping up, also from the MR: Walter
Runkle, Paul Sigala, Tom Sakai, Doug Thompson, Mike Myers, Roger
Turpin, and Micah Myers. They came to say "Hi" having
taken about six hours for the stroll up from the Portal.
Mike had brought a bottle of Shiraz and some cups; we had a
toast to something or other. Doug gave me a beautiful gift and
card from the "WPS crew." I handed out some simple
mementos.
After about three hours, the others went back down the MR, and
I descended the Trail. I scrambled up Mt. Muir on the way back,
glissaded the chute, and joined Scott and Tom, who had hiked up
to Trail Camp in the meantime.
The next morning, Tom, Scott, and I were on our way and summited
in a little less than four hours. This was particularly sweet
for Scott, who had to turn back a year ago. It was Tom's first
mountain, and he allowed as to how he was now "hooked."
Today, there were a few more people on the summit than the day
before when about 15 had signed in. We considered doing Muir
or Discovery Pinnacle on the way back, but the thought of those
cheeseburgers and fries back at the Portal Store was too tempting.
We glissaded the chute, packed up, and, with the help of a few
good shortcuts, got back before the kitchen closed.
Anyone interested in looking at pictures of the trip can go to
https://photos.yahoo.com/rockwellb and click on "23-25 May
2002 Whitney & Muir." If your modem is as slow as mine,
select "slide show" and do something else for about
5 minutes, then come back and watch them the second time around.
Changes in 50 years? A lot more people now, but the pack trains
are gone. Many times, mine was the only car in the parking lot,
and many times, I'd go up and back without ever seeing anyone
else. I recall beavers at Mirror Lake slapping the water as I
passed through. Lower Boy Scout Lake (on the North Fork route)
is a tenth the size it used to be. There were no bear problems
at the Portal. In fact, I don't remember seeing bears anywhere
east of the crest. The Portal road was so narrow, the driver
would negotiate it carefully while passengers scrunched down and
hid their eyes.
Norman Clyde
June 7-8, 2002
By Walter Runkle
This was originally planned as a trip to Mt. Jepson and Palisade
Crest with Bob Rockwell leading. When Bob said he couldn't take
it, I jumped at the chance to go to the South Fork of Big Pine
Creek. I had been in the area only three times before-a trip
to Mt. Sill, an aborted winter trip to Mt. Williams, and a day
hike of Middle Palisade. I decided to change the trip to a reconnoiter
of Norman Clyde (13920 feet) because I had a trip planned there
in September, and R. J. Secor makes the route-finding sound rather
tricky.
Because I had been to Finger Lake (10787 feet) only on the Middle
Pal day hike, I hiked up to Finger Lake the weekend before (2
June) to check out the snow conditions and refresh my memory of
the trail. I had a pleasant day hike and worked out some of the
minor kinks in the partially snow-covered trail to Brainerd Lake
(10256 feet).
Friday morning, Tom Sakai picked me up at my house shortly before
0800, and we drove to Lone Pine to get our permit for the weekend.
We drove on to the overnight hiker parking lot at Glacier Lodge
trailhead and were on our way by 1030.
The worst part of the hike in and out was crossing the South
Fork of Big Pine Creek. The creek was running at full tilt due
to all the spring melting of what little snow was left in the
Sierra. The weekend before, on the way up, I had been able to
get across on a leg-size branch that someone had placed across
some rocks. I was also able to hold on to some tree branches
at the same time for balance. On the way back down, I crossed
at a place about 100 feet or so farther upstream where I could
step on a partially submerged rock about one step into the stream
and then jump the rest of the way across to a small rock ledge
on the west side. When Tom and I got to the crossing, the branch
was gone. The creek also seemed too fast and deep to wade across.
So we had no choice but to go upstream, stand on the rock ledge,
and jump across to the partially submerged rock. We were able
to get one trekking pole in the creek bed to assist us, but it
was still pretty challenging to land on the water covered rock
and not keep going into the stream rushing around it on the other
side.
We went on without further incident from Brainerd Lake up to Finger
Lake. We went around the northwest side of Brainerd Lake and
continued around to the north side of the northeast ridge that
runs just above the lake. This was nice second class all the
way. Then when we went to ascend the steeper ridge to Finger
Lake, we found a nice use trail just to the left of the trees
on the crest of the ridge and just to the right (west) of the
talus on the steep slope below the lake. The weekend before,
I had missed this use trail because I had stayed right of the
trees and went up through the snow on the north-facing slope.
Tom and I arrived at our bivy spot at 1530. We killed some time
by chatting and enjoying the great weather and scenery. We met
another climber named "George" who was going to climb
Middle Palisade the next day. I discovered that my cell phone
worked, and about 1900, I was able to call Kelly (my wife) from
my sleeping bag and tell her we were done with dinner and were
bedding down for the night.
The next morning, Tom and I got up at 0500, had breakfast, and
headed out by 0600. It was windy during the night, and we noticed
our altimeters had each gained about 120 feet in altitude overnight.
But the sky was clear with only some wispy cirrus clouds and
no wind clouds so we decided to press ahead and see how the day
turned out. I carried a 50 meter, 8.8 mm rope for us to rappel
on, and Tom brought the rappel slings. Our plan was to climb
the third and fourth class route on the north face of Norman Clyde
unroped and then rappel down the steep section near the top on
our return.
We went around the south side of the ridge coming out east from
Peak 12670. The snow was hard and well consolidated. About half-way
around, I told Tom I thought we needed to get up on top of the
ridge to reach the saddle between Peak 12670 and Norman Clyde.
We ascended an easy second class chute, traversed west, ascended
a slope to almost the top of the ridge, and then traversed the
rest of the way over to where the ridge joined up with the ridge
coming out from the northeast side of Norman Clyde. We took a
short break and stashed our ice axe, crampons, and other non-essentials.
It was about 0845. So far, so good.
We started across the ridge and thought it was going to be a relatively
easy traverse until Tom saw a purple rappel sling. There was
no easy way down, and we didn't want to rappel because we would
have to come back this same way to retrieve our stuff. We debated
what to do. As we came back on the ridge about 30 feet, Tom found
a chimney we could down climb on the east side. It was a little
tricky and a little exposed, but we made it, and then we did a
couple of easier down climbs to get to a spot on the ridge where
we could continue our traverse over to Norman Clyde.
At this point, it was past 0930, and we were beginning to doubt
that we could make the summit. But the rest of the traverse went
well, and we made it over the rest of the ridge without any more
difficulties.
The start was relatively easy to find. We continued up until
the ridge really started to steepen. We saw a duck at a notch
and climbed over this notch and then made a short traverse to
another duck and notch. After we climbed over this second notch,
we were at the base of the climb up the north face. It was 1030,
and we decided to go ahead and have a try at it. Tom suggested
we set a turn around time of 1300.
It was actually a nice time to climb the route. The whole north
face was getting sun by this time of day, and I was comfortable
in just my mid-weight polypro top and Gore-Tex parka. I wore
my polypro long johns in lieu of wind pants and found it unnecessary
to wear gloves.
Tom lead the way, and we picked our way up the face. We climbed
up some green lichen covered rocks next to the ridge and then
traversed over about 30 feet or so on a small ledge. We continued
up a small ridge and then up some small chimneys to the right
that still had some snow in them. We saw a duck, did another
traverse to the right, and saw another duck. We climbed up another
small chimney, went around on a ramp, and came upon some rappel
slings. We continued up to another duck and came to a large boulder.
Here, the way up was not clear. It looked like it went on the
left, but we didn't know what was after that. It was 1100, and
we had only come up about 230 to 250 feet. Tom came down and
explored a route off to the right. Meantime, I thought the right
side of the boulder looked better. We vacillated for about half
an hour and decided we might as well call it a day. It didn't
look like we could reach the summit by 1300, so at 1130, we turned
around.
Coming down went much smoother and faster than I expected, and
we had no problem finding the duck that marked the notch over
to the other side. We took a short break after going through
the two notches, and then we went back across the ridge to get
our stuff. Climbing up the north end of the ridge was a little
easier than the down climbs had been, and we were soon back at
our stash. We stayed on this ridge almost all the way back to
Finger Lake. It was always easiest to come down on the south
and east sides. We arrived back to our bivy spot at 1430.
It hadn't been too windy over by Norman Clyde, but now the wind
picked up with a vengeance. We packed quickly and were headed
back down at 1500. Tom thought there was a short cut that bypassed
Brainerd Lake, but we couldn't find it. We went down a snowy
drainage that ran to the north and then cut over to the right
to intersect the main trail coming down from Brainerd. We took
a break above Willow Lake and were back at Tom's truck by 1800.
We stopped at PJ's in Lone Pine for dinner and were back at my
house at 2110.
Bumpersnicker
Talkeetna, Alaska: A small, quiet drinking town with a climbing
problem.
Ritter and Banner
31 May-2 June 2002
By Bob Huey
Mike Franklin, Dan Bishop, and I went to Ritter and Banner on
May 31 to June 2.
The road to Agnew Meadow does not open until June 15, and there
is no camping on Minaret Summit, so we paid for a campsite in
Mammoth near the Ranger Station on Friday night, May 31.
We departed from Minaret Summit at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, June
1 with clear skies. We walked down the 3-mile, 800-foot road
to Agnew Meadow and hiked to above Lake Ediza by 12:30. Between
Shadow Lake and Lake Ediza, it rained and sleeted hard. We found
a bivy site above Lake Ediza that protected us from the driving
wind and rain and then proceeded to climb Banner with intermittent
fog and open skies. There was snow cover from Lake Ediza up,
but we didn't need crampons. At the saddle, we got a glimpse
of Banner and down to Lake Catherine to the west, but we got fogged
in on the way up. We had poor visibility and a driving hailstorm
at the summit and wondered whether we would replay the Ritter-Banner
tragedy of the 1970s! We didn't find the register although we
checked out 3 or 4 peaks on the ridgeline. We returned to camp
by 7:00 p.m. and had a windy but dry and starry night.
On Sunday, June 2, we left our bivy site at 7:00 a.m. and climbed
Ritter via the Southeast Glacier. We used crampons and had snow
all the way to the top. It took us 4 hours to summit and 50 minutes
to glissade back to camp. We left camp at 1:45 and were back
to Minaret Summit by 6:00 p.m. The last 800 feet took us 1 hour
from Agnew Meadow!
Our elevation gains were 5,340 feet to Banner, 3,500 feet to Ritter,
and 1,320 feet back to Minaret Summit for a total gain of 10,160
ft.
POSSIBLE RECRUIT
BENJAMIN THOMAS TOLER
BORN: 10 April 2002, 9:00 a.m.
HEIGHT: 20 _ inches
WEIGHT: 7 pounds 11 ounces
Baby and mom doing fine. Dad recovering.
DONATIONS
Gina Najera-Niesen
CLMRG gratefully acknowledges recent gifts from the following
friends:
Lyal D and Marilyn J Viers Ridgecrest, California
CDR Bryson Van Gundy (USN Retired) Sterling, Colorado
Southern California Edison employees Ridgecrest, California
SCREE
Check our web page at https://www.clmrg.org.
All telephone numbers in The Talus Pile are area code 760 unless noted otherwise.
DON'T BUG ME
Forget harsh chemicals to repel mosquitoes and other insects.
Entomologists Chris Peterson and Joel Coats say they have found
a natural chemical that's 10 times more effective than DEET, the
chemical most commonly found in commercial repellents. It's nepetalactone--the
oil from the catnip plant. Cats love catnip, acting crazy when
they eat or roll in it, but no one knows why. (Reuters)
Me lonely? Hell, no. I'm half coyote and half wild burro.
æSeldom Seen Slim