Tuesday, August 4-Here We Go Again

When last we met Sally and Chuck were sitting in the Newark airport
waiting for a plane back to Portland. They were not to be
disappointed. A ten o'clock plane whisked them away and deposited them
in the Rose City. A comfortable night's sleep at Sally's sister's
place, a visit in the morning with her mom, other sister and nephew
Rob, wife Tiffany and new son Tyler and we were in the Buick and
puttsing up I-5 to Toledo.
That was last Thursday. A whirlwind of watering, visiting, packing
food, and VW van repair and we are on the road heading south to
California and the Sierra Mountains.
Sally is at the wheel and I am stretched out in back thumbing my way
through this posting. Our goal is the Forest Service office in Bishop,
CA by tomorrow morning to pick up permits for hiking in the Kings
Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. We are sporting food for a ten day
backpacking trip from Kearsage Pass to Mt. Whitney, a distance of
about 45 miles by trail. We have scheduled about 4-6 miles each day, a
leisurely pace with lots of time for photography and siteseeing. Our
route takes over three passes, Kearsage at about 11,300 feet, Forester
at 13,200 feet and over the shoulder of Mt. Whitney, again at about
13,400 feet. The territory should be beautiful, with much of the route
at or above treeline.
We are both feeling a little porky after our gastronomical tour of
Europe, so the bear can full of food is skimpy on the calories. Sort
of like a forced march. We can't cheat on the diet because we don't
have enough food and we cannot carry anymore because the bear can is
full. We like to refer to it as spa week. We will definitely be
shedding a few pounds.
We come out at Whitney Portal at the base of Mt. Whitney next
Thursday, then drive north an hour and a half to Yosemite to meet John
Sanford's friends and family for a seven day backpack trip. I already
packed the food and dropped it off at John's. He will bring it down on
the 15th for distribution and carrying.
I will blog when I can during the hike. The chance is near zero of a
daily posting but I will store them up and blitz them all as I get
cell service, so check back every once in a while.

Chuck