In June 1935, after graduating from UCLA, Dawson set off on a long journey. Heading east by Greyhound bus, he visited Carlsbad Caverns and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. From Boston, he sailed on an Italian freighter to Trieste and then climbed in the Dolomites, including an ascent of the south wall of the Marmolata. In the Wetterstein of southern Bavaria, he climbed the Kubanek-Spiondler route on the south face of the Musterstein. He also climbed the Schusselkarspitze-Sudwand, probably the first ascent by an American. In all, he completed about 30 different climbs in the Alps in a six-week period.