Day 8 - Resupply

Saturday, July 24, 2010
Stats for the day: Below Bishop pass - South Lake, Drive to Bishop for resupply, S Lk -Dusy Basin. Total ascent 3600'. Total Descent 3100'. Total Distance 11.59 miles. 5 hrs 0 mins walking.

Resupply day. Our packs have been getting lighter and lighter as we consume our food, so today is the day we load up again. I had volunteered to freight the food to Dusy Basin two weeks ago, but when it turned out to weigh 75 pounds, I decided it was too much for me to carry. Barb Oen, Craig's wife volunteered to drive it up to South Lake above Bishop.

Originally, we would hike the four miles out to meet Barb at the South Lake trail head, she would bring us cherry turnovers and other bakery items and we would reload our bear cans with food, say goodbye to Sandy, Lynn and Craig and Gary, Andy and I would march back up the trail. Unfortunately, Gary's boots fell apart three days ago and have been held together by cord, thread and duct tape, so he needed to drive to Bishop to get new boots. We decided to all go, that way we could clean up at the city pool with showers and a swim, have a calorific lunch, repack the bear cans and then Craig could drive us back to the trailhead.

We crammed all the gear into the bed of the truck, then Gary and I climbed in also and Craig closed the canopy door. That left five in the cab for the 22 mile drive to town.

First stop, the pool. We showered and washed our clothes in the dressing room, took a short swim, then drove to the sporting goods store so Gary could buy new shoes. Part of the group remained at the park by the pool. When we returned we packed our food and got our gear in order, made phone calls home and posted the blogs that had been written but not sent due to no cell service.

Calories are a big problem when climbing. It is very difficult to carry enough food to meet your caloric needs. On a typical day we hike (actual movement as recorded by the GPS) 5 or 6 hours. This is 2800-3300 calories each day plus the base calories just to maintain life of around 1800, so about 5000 calories a day. I have been tracking my calorie consumption and find I only eat about 3000-3500 calories a day, a shortfall of 1500-2000 a day. Great for losing weight, which I rapidly am. To slow this weight free fall we decided to lunch at Carl's Jr. A 1000 calorie hamburger 330 calories of fries and I was stuffed. Couldn't get anymore down. Gary and Andy each had a milk shake, too. So today I ate two cherry turnovers for 750 calories, a banana (100), Carl's burgers and fries for 1330 and some pull apart bread. Total of 2700 calories when my other eatings are counted. We burned 1600 calories just climbing up to Bishop Pass, not to mention the other 6 miles we hiked today. So even with a ridiculously fatty lunch, I still was calorie deficient today.

Craig dropped us of at the trailhead at two-thirty and we began the 5.2 mile, 2400' climb to Bishop Pass. We covered the distance in three hours, getting occasional spits of rain as the afternoon thunderheads threatened. But they dissipated as evening progressed and we dropped 2 miles and 900' into Dusy basin for the night. With rain still threatening we pitched the tent and found a good tree to hang some of our excess food from (we hope it is a good tree, we will know in the morning). Not all our food for 11 days would fit in the bear can, so we will be hanging for a day or two until we eat down our supply and get it all in the can.

Day 7 - Three Passes & Five Fish

Friday July 23, 2010, Day 7

Daily Stats: Glacier Lake to Bishop Lk, Starting Time 7:30-Finishing Time 5:30, Distance-9.00 miles, Moving Time-5.5 hrs, total Ascent-2400', Total Descent-2725'

I knew there had to be big fish in the Sierra. These lakes were stocked a century ago, and although the lakes that are easy to get to are fished daily and the fish are small I was hoping some of the remote lakes on the SHR would be just waiting for someone with a pole to come along. Today, that someone was me!
All good fishermen hate to reveal there special fishing places. I am not by any stretch a good fisherman, I am just someone looking for a cheap meal and a good time reeling them in. But, I am still unwilling to reveal it's identity so I will refer to my spot as "the lake".
We had been hiking for a couple hours over slabs of granite, working our way over Potluck Pass and down toward Knapsack Pass. We were hiking along "the lake's" shore and met these two gentlemen. Now, I had tried fishing on the other side of the lake to no avail, but one of the gentlemen began to expound on the size and number of fish he had seen as he had walked the shore of the lake. As we stood there talking I reached up and pulled my pole from my pack, telescoped it out to it's full length and cast. All four of us (Craig was there, too) watch the lure come in as I reeled. We also saw a huge trout come racing up from the depths and hit the lure about 15 feet off shore. A quick struggle ensued, the end product being an 18" fat trout laying at our feet. The gentlemen were astounded, as was I! One of them taped the whole event of landing the behemoth, and promised to email me the footage.
Andy, Sandy and Lynn had gone ahead, so after a few fruitless casts we began to traverse the shoreline around the lake, Craig carrying the fish and I casting at regular intervals. 10 casts and 400 yards later there were 5 trout, the smallest at 14" laying on the bank. We threw them in a bag, stowed them in my pack and raced along the lake shore to try to catch Andy and company who had disappeared past the lake.
We stopped once more before leaving the lake to clean the fish, then bagged up the 10 pounds of meat and again high tailed it after the other half of the group.
We crested the ridge at the outlet of the lake with a clear view of the route ahead all the way to the next pass over treeless ground, yet saw no sign of our partners. Had we missed them along the way? Were they behind us by the outlet waiting to enjoy lunch with us? Not sure, we forged ahead for a while, looking for signs of their passage and staring at the scenery ahead trying to detect their movement. We saw nothing. So, I dropped my pack, removed the fish to a shaded rock in case a bear should happen by and rip my pack open to get to the fish in my absence, and ran back to be sure we had not passed them. 30 minutes later I returned to my pack, still without a sign of them. Gary and Craig had been scanning the countryside without a spotting, so we decided to forge ahead, as the only logical place for them to be was ahead of us. Sure enough, a few minutes
later we saw the three silhouetted against the snow up near the pass.
We quickened our pace to close the distance, but lick was running Against us. First, we got cliffed out and had to retrace our steps to avoid the precipice, then Gary's boot sole had had enough and completely fell off. Twenty minutes, a couple of yards of duct tape and Craig's handy work with a sail needle and sail thread and Gary was back on the road. We negotiated the steep talus and slabs the final 400'
to the pass where we met up, packed the fish into their own bear barrel filled with snow, wolfed down a quick lunch and then descended the pass into the upper reaches of Dusy Basin.
Rather than dropping down to the trail, we angled up and to the left through field of heather, flowers, waterfalls and ponds for the next hour, angling toward the trail. We connected about a mile and a half below Bishop Pass, then hoofed it up to the pass and down the other side to camp near the lakes in the basin below.
The fish were punishing me. The combined weight of 10 pounds of fish and 10 pounds if snow to keep them fresh made the two passes we ascended a little more painful and by the time we were at camp I was ready to get the behemoth off my back and put the weighty creatures in my belly.
The fish were way too big for any pan we had, so we set up a production line and cut the fish into steaks, the fried them in our cooking pans. Sandy turned out an excellent fish, breaded with triscuit and Goldfish cracker crumbs.
Fish are great, but they create such a mess. Oily pans, bones, backbones, heads and guts all have to be taken care of. Compared to our meals requiring only the boiling of water, they are a pain, but oh so good.

Day 6 - Who's Next?

Thursday, July 22, 2010, Day 6

Daily Stats: Below Frozen Lake to Glacier Lake, Starting Time 8:10-Finishing Time 4:35, Distance-8.77 miles, Moving Time-4.75 hrs, total Ascent-2427', Total Descent-2447'

Sometimes it is the craziest events in a day that make you smile. They come out of nowhere, totally unexpected and completely out of context, yet make you giggle and smile for hours afterwards. More about that later, because the expected events of today also put that same smile on my face that has been plastered there since we walked away from the cars about a week ago.
We had our first bug free night last night, so we slept out to see the stars. It was glorious. The moon robbed much of the post sunset viewing, but I awoke at 4 this morning and star gazed, using my iPhone to help locate constellation and planets. I dozed off for a half an hour or so, then awoke as the eastern sky began to show the first signs of dawn. I lay in my bag for the next 45 minutes watching the earth spin toward the sun, the brightening sky causing the stars to wink out until only Sirius could be seen. I stood in my sleeping bag for the last half hour as the sun's light kissed the peaks
to our west and slowly climbed down to greet us. It was a glorious morning!
After the morning routine of breakfast and packing we headed out across the broad plain to the east to find the JMT. Once in the trail we began to see people, something that had not occurred for a few days. Two Park Rangers were checking permits as people walked by. From the questioning and conversation I felt like I was crossing some international border instead of hiking up a trail.
The next 6 miles were all on trail as we climbed up over Mather's Pass and down the other side to Palisades lake.
I knew we were sure to encounter lots of people while hiking this 6 mile stretch of the JMT. We were not disappointed. We passed 32 people before we again left the trail (10,400') and began our climb to Cirque Pass.
The climb to Cirque Pass was wonderful. 1700' up, with cliffs, loose talus, waterfalls, huge boulders, long slabs of bedrock and babbling brooks along it's steep glacial valley. Two thirds of the way up we found a gigantic boulder perched on two other boulders creating a huge room beneath that all six of us could have comfortable camped in. As always we were greeted with spectacular views when we finally crested the ridge at 12,100'. We admired the scenery, oohing and awing at the Palisades and the lakes and tarns at their bases, took pictures and had a very animated discussion about how absolutely awesome the trip
is and how incredible the terrain is we are climbing through. We clambered down the slabs of granite toward the lake in the cirque. I was in the lead on the decent, nearing the bottom when Andy Smith called from above, "Hey Chuck, what's your favorite album?" I yelled back, "Quadrophenia by the Who!"
Andy replied, "How about Who's Next?" I looked to my right and there stood a solid block of square granite standing vertically on the ledge, the spitting image of the Who's album cover for Who's Next?
The four of us men could not pass up the opportunity, and the result is attached to this post. We tried wetting the rock to complete the scene, but the water did not discolor the rock enough to show. Still, we were proud of our artwork and giggled and laughed about it the rest of the evening.

Day 5 - Frozen Lake Pass

Wednesday, July 21, 2010, Day 5

Daily Stats: Marion Lake to Below Frozen Lake, Starting Time 8:10-Finishing Time 2:30, Distance-4.66 miles, Moving Time-3.0 hrs, total Ascent-2212', Total Descent-1290'

This is the day! We must ascend 12,356' Frozen Lake Pass and descend the other side. Roper, the founder of this route and the author of the guide book describes it as the crux, the most difficult part of the whole route. Steep talus and broken rock, snow choked north side coupled with an unusually heavy snow year could make today the reason we are carrying ice axes and crampons.
We leave Marion Lake by 8:30 in clouds of mosquitoes and retrace the route Gary and I found yesterday, back into magnificent Lake Basin. In the morning light it is even more beautiful than the afternoon before. We work our way up through the meadows along side the streams cut deeply into the soft soil until the meadows fade into rock fields. When we reach the last tarn 500' below the pass we stop to catch our breath (we are at 11,800') and grab a snack. As we are munching and chatting about math education we notice another party descending from the pass. We pick up our packs and continue around the tarn and begin the steep ascent up the boulder and talus fields, meeting the other party halfway up the slope. A family of four from Sacramento, mom, dad and two daughters in their twenties, they are out on a modified Sierra High Route, starting at Tuolumne and ending at Mt. Whitney, a total of about thirty days. We wish each other safe travels and continue our climb to the pass. The last 150 vertical feet is a steeply sloping upward traverse to the small notch that is the pass. Difficult? No. A lot of physical effort in the climbing, but just a steep walk up a boulder field. But . . .
What a magnificent place!! From this 12,300+' perch we see down into Lakes Basin, Cartridge Pass, back to Red and White Passes to the southwest, as far south a cross mountain and northeast to Mather Pass and Split Mountain. A light breeze and the high altitude gives us the first mosquito free moments in days. The warming sun, great views, cooling winds and lofty perch say "Lunch!!" (it is 12:30). So for the next 40 minutes we each dine on our meals, the Smiths have smoked salmon and cheese on Pilot Bread, I have Ritz with cheese or peanut butter and jam with fruit snacks and a Luna Bar while Gary enjoys Pilot Bread and gorp.
For the descent we dawn our rain pants, expecting a great glissade once we get on the steep snow 200' below the pass. We work our way down the steep talus and scree, then cross to the snow. I standing glissade the first 100', then drop to my butt to slide the remainder of the slope. The rest follow in similar fashion and soon we are gathered at the frozen lake the pass is named for. Off come the rain pants and we continue down to the next small tarn at 11,600'. Andy makes the suggestion that we stay here for the night, an excellent choice. We explore a bit to find areas between the rocks where we can each lay out a bag, then enjoy the rest of the afternoon sunning ourselves, reading and generally lazing around.
I am so excited to be spending my first night outside a tent where I can see the stars. The mosquito clouds have forced us to sleep behind netting every night until this one. We are high enough that the bugs are nearly absent.
After dinner and a stroll around the surrounding area of the cirque I am sitting, recording the days events when Gary comes up with his iPod ear buds and says, look out at the mountain scenery and listen to this. I obey, put the earbuds in and turn around to see the surrounding mountains and valleys. Suddenly, Yo Yo Ma playing Bach fills my ears as the grandeur of the High Sierra at sunset fills my eyes. The two are a perfect match and create a very moving combination. I put my own earbuds in and have been listening to the same as I write this blog as Alpine Glow turns to twilight and to night.
A waxing gibbous moon is illuminating the darkened landscape as I write, creating an enchanting and ethereal scene. Do I only have 25 days left? Where has the time gone?
Tomorrow more adventure as we intersect the John Muir Trail (JMT) and follow it for six miles before veering off it and climbing cross country 1400' over Cirque Pass.
A note about knees. I must confess I was very concerned how well my right knee would do as it had been sensitive in the weeks leading up to this trip. I am happy to report it is GREAT! No pain, even after descending 1500' of boulders and talus. I am very thankful for this and hope it just gets stronger as the weeks progress.
A note on equipment. Gary brought a pair of boots he thought would be better than his trail shoes for this route. Unfortunately, the soles are falling off, and he is tying them with cord to keep them on. These boots will not last 25 more days. We are hoping they will last two more, until our food resupply at South Lake. Gary will drive to Bishop and buy a new pair, then return so we can continue the route. This means I might get to Bishop on Saturday, in which case I can post these blogs which have been building up since the start of the SHR with no cell service to post them.

Day 3 - Gandalf Day-Many Colors

Monday, July 19, 2010, Day 3
Daily Stats: State Lake to Marion Lake, Starting Time 8:30-Finishing Time 6:30, Distance-9.6 miles, Moving Time-6.0 hrs, total Ascent-4212', Total Descent-4307'
Honcho Boncho! Another picture perfect day! Is there any place more beautiful? There is still enough snow hanging on the peaks to provide contrast and definition to the rock while creating dynamic scenery. The streams issuing from these snow fields are full and collect to create raging torrents that we are obliged to cross. The sun illuminates it all with it's golden light, as if the whole place were in the spotlight. Exquisite!
Route finding was more involved today as we traversed 6 cirques in moving from State Lake to Marion Lake across three passes, each of a different color, Grey Pass, White Pass and finally Red Pass-passes of many colors. Gandalf would be proud.
Everyone is doing well physically, even Gary who is suffering from a terrible head cold. But he roughed it out yesterday and did great as we ascended and descended about 4000' each. Our low point was about 10,200 and our high point about 11,700.
It is amazing how remote we are. I keep asking myself, if someone got hurt, what would be the quickest way out? There is no quick way. We are 27 miles in over 5 high passes and the nearest trail is 7 miles away. We are currently camped at Marion Lake at 10,300ft, a beautiful azure blue gem set in a deep bowl of granite cliffs hanging on the edge of a precipitous valley with no trail to it. We dropped into the lake over 11,600' Red Pass. It makes each of us consider our actions a little more carefully, because the consequences of an accident are pretty profound.
Day 4 is a layover day, a chance to wash the sweat out of the clothes we have been wearing for three days, let the body recuperate, and give us a chance to do some casual exploring of the area.
The weather has been slowly improving. Day 1 we got rained on in the afternoon followed by drenching dew in the morning. On Day 2 the clouds built up in the afternoon, but lacked the energy and moisture to mount a rainstorm. A lite dew graced our packs, tents and equipment the following morning. Day 3 was bright blue sky all day with only a few little puffs of clouds visible and no dew on Day 4 morning.
The mosquitoes? Terrible! We are constantly surrounded by clouds of them. To make them endurable I like to think of myself as a rock star and the mosquitoes are my adoring fans, my groupies that follow me everywhere, seeking to get close and take home a souvenir, in this case, my blood. So the few time we are on dry slopes and the mosquitoes disappear I feel I may be dropping out of favor in the world of rock and roll.

Day 2 - A Day In Church

Sunday, July 18, 2010
Stats for the day: started at Grouse Lake (10,640') at 8:40 - ended at State Lake (10,299') at 5:00. Total ascent 2034'. Total Descent 2222'. Total Distance 7.22 miles. 4 hrs 5 mins walking. 4 hrs not moving.
Someone wipe the goofy grin off my face. It has been glued there all day and my mood makes it impossible for me to shake it off. This is heaven on earth. It is appropriate that it was Sunday today because I practiced my religion in my church all day long. Clear skies, gorgeous meadows, streams and brooks, route finding through passes and down drainages, side hill traverses, glissading some steep snow slopes, gentle breezes and blazing sun, panting uphill workouts, relaxing moments alongside the route and great friends to share it with. Truly, heaven on earth.
We left Grouse Lake about 8:40, 40 minutes later than we had hoped for, but a drenching dew had everything very wet or damp, so we delayed a bit to let the sun dry our tents and gear.
We ascended the slope northward from the lake to Grouse Lake Pass at 11,037 and found an amazing view down into Granite Basin. Also, from here we could see our next destination, Goat Creek Pass off to the NE. We diagonally descended from the pass into the basin and then began our climb up to the pass. This basin was lovely. Lots of streams, a broad glacial u shape, craggy granite peaks on all sides. Stunning. We made the pass, then stopped for lunch. The Smiths and Gary ate tonight's dinner as the mosquito population was slightly diminished due to an intermittent breeze funneling through the pass. After an hour fifteen for lunch we packed up and descended the slabs, boulders, scree and snow fields to upper Glacier Lake. Andy suggested a swim, so all but Gary stripped down for an icy plunge. It is tricky swimming when the mosquitos are thick beyond exaggeration. You loosen all your clothing, remove glasses and wristwatches, then quickly drop your pants, peel off the shirt and jump in before too many have a chance to set up drilling operations. Coming out is the reverse. Jump out, quickly dry your top and throw on your shirt, then dry the bottom half, replace pants, then socks and boots. With practice you can get the enjoyment of a swim even when inundated with thousands of mosquitoes.
Below Upper Glacier Lake we descended to the lower lake through more boulders and slabs to the marshy area above the lake. Here Shooting Star flowers dominated the meadows at times creating solid fields of color. Below the lower lake a 400' foot drop fell precipitously away over slabs and vertical sections of granite. We moved to the far left and found a route between the steep sections. It was now a mile from this point to the State Lake trail, so we hiked through two magnificent meadows awash with flowers, water and sunlight and sections of lodgepole pine forest until we hit the trail. A couple of tricky stream crossings and a gain of about 400 feet and we were at State Lake.
Those last 400' were grueling as it was a very warm afternoon, we were tired and the mosquitos were thick. But, we arrived at the lake and set up camp. I fished and caught at least a dozen, but they were all 8 inchers, so I released them and settled for tuna noodle casserole for dinner. It was great.
I am more tired today than yesterday even though we did less elevation and shorter distance. It will take a week or two of this to get me in shape.
Everyone had an awesome day, mesmerized by the route and scenery. It is wonderful to share the experience with those that enjoy itches much as I do. We are all hoping to see the mosquito bloom end soon. They are thick and omnipresent. Hiding in the tent is the only relief. Everyone heeded my warnings and brought head nets, and the bites we do receive are not potent at all-no raised bumps so they are really just a nuisance.

Day 1 - The long grade

With the goal of leaving the campground at 6:40am, we rose, ate breakfast, packed and loaded the vehicles. Miracle of miracles, we were out exactly on time. We arrived at the permit office a few minutes before opening, secured the permits, drove the hundred yards to the trail head said our thanks and farewells to Sally and Barb and started up the 6000', 7.5 mile grade to Grouse Lake.
So, what is it like to hike with a group of naturalist nerds? Excellent. Intermittent tree ID, flower ID, geologic ramblings and such occupied the conversation up the whole hill, interspersed with regular conversation about kids, jobs, books and movies. We managed about 1000 vertical feet every 50 minutes, followed by a ten-twenty minute rest. So, including lunch, it took us around 8 hours to make the climb. The last three quarters of a mile is a cross country run into Grouse Lake which came off without a hitch.
On the way up this unpopular trail we met only two people, a couple. They warned of voracious mosquitos at the top. They were correct. We arrived at the lake to marauding clouds of the tiny black pests. A couple thousand feet above our heads another type of black menace began to drop large rain drops and hail on us. Both adversaries motivated us to quickly pitch our shelters, which we did.
Craig and I fished thru the rain and hail, scoring four nice 11" trout to enlarge our dinner and calorie count for the day.
An evening of cooking, conversation and a little exploration, along with a quick swim in the lake between mosquito clouds rounded out the day.
It is so nice to finally be here and on our way!! One day down, 29 more to enjoy! Today was a great start.

Day 0 - Sober Reminder

Friday, July 16, 2010
Finally, the Sierra High Route is about to become a reality. Sally and I were camped at Wawona last night after swimming in the pool in The Valley to clean up from our overnight hike into Clouds rest. We drove the 28 miles to Wawona only to find a "Camping Full" sign on the campground. We figured, what the heck, let's ask. The nice ranger lady in the kiosk said, "Why, yes, we happen to have two open sites.". So with excellent luck we were taken care of for the night.
So today we are headed for Fresno to pick up Gary, Andy, Sandy and Lynne at the airport, then onto Kings Canyon for our permit, last food and gear sort, a night's sleep and then off.
We met Craig and Barb in the cell phone waiting lot, chatted while waiting for the plane to land, all of us in Craig's truck as he has air conditioning. Gary texted us that they were ready, so we pulled up, shook hands and hugged all around, then the guys loaded into my van and the girls took the air conditioned truck and we headed out. A quick stop at Vons for lunch, dinner and last minute supplies and we began pulling the hills up to Kings Canyon wilderness office to secure our permits. The girls stopped us at the Grant Sequoia tree grove so we could gawk at these superlative trees, then back on the road to the end of the road.
To get to Kings Canyon you must drop about 3000+ ft and follow the winding road that hangs on the edge of a cliff. As we dropped the 3000 ft we could see into the canyon. It was black. Dark storm clouds filled the canyon creating an ethereal sense of doom. The darkness was punctuated by flashes of lightning arcing through the gloom. As we began to wind our way along the cliff faces to enter the canyon the wind howled around our vehicles whipping the Yucca and other vegetation. 3/8 inch hail pelted the car and rain deluged in torrents.
We sat in our car, dumbstruck. This is summer, in the Sierra. It is supposed to be nice. This was dante's inferno and we were driving right into the middle of it. The storm was a sobering reminder of how seriously the weather can change and although we were taking the trip lightheartedly, we must also be prepared for whatever happens.
We arrived at the wilderness office at 3:07. I had thought they closed at 5. Bummer. I had really wanted to get our permits Friday night so we could start at sunrise Saturday, because our first day was up 6,000' in 7.5 miles. Not so. We would have to suffer up the long steep grade in the hot sun rather than getting the first few hours in before the hot sun wheeled around to the south and baked us.
Bear cans! In Yosemite they are omnipresent. Rentals are easy to come by and quick. In Kings Canyon we tried to rent them at the Lodge. The Smiths needed two for two weeks and one for four weeks. The people in the lodge had only two, had never rented them for longer than a day or two and wanted $3 per day per can. It was to cost about $190 bucks. We tried the NPS Visitors center. They were able to scrounge up three, at a cost of $5 for two weeks each, but they could not find the rental forms, so we had to wait half an hour while three ladies searched. Ironically, the "Visitors Center" is a room about 10' by 8'. Not a very big place to misplace a folder of forms. But, to the credit of the ladies, they did work hard to accommodate us and were successful.
With bear cans in hand we found a self serve campsite, organized gear and food, compared new gear purchases, ate a lot and finally got to sleep for tomorrow's long anticipated beginning of the adventure.

Friday, July 9th

"Why don't he write?"
I am amazed at how the time in the day slips by and I forget to post a blog! So, here is a catch up of who did what when with maybe a why thrown in now and then.
Friday, July 9th we got up at 4:30am and left our favorite spot, Emerick Lake. We were moving at first light and had to climb up to Fletcher Meadows to cross Fletcher Creek as the slabs of granite where we usually cross were a torrent of impassable water. We descended to Merced Lake, stopping enroute to call Andy and wish him a happy birthday.there are places out here where you get a few bars of service, the general rule: if you can see Half Done, you will have service. At Merced Lake we found the High Sierra camp not open due to a high water table interfering with the septic system. We dropped down below the lake to our favorite swimming pool/campsite, but again the water was so high we couldn't swim. But we had an enjoyable afternoon and evening.

Saturday, July 10th

Saturday, July 10th
We again were up at daylight to avoid the heat and sauntered down to Little Yosemite thru Bunnel Falls and cataracts. Magnificent flowers and raging water the whole way.
Little Yo is not our favorite place due to the number of people (it is the busiest backcountry camping area in the country) which means dirty camping. But, it is a necessary spot to stop, and it can be fun talking to some of the folks, so it was a good day.

Chuck

Wednesday, July 14

Wednesday, July 14
I know not many will believe this, but Sally likes to get up early! Of course, we are in bed and asleep by 9 most nights, so getting up at 5 is nothing big, 8 hours of sleep and all. So today we got up at 4:45 and were on the road by 5:30 and hiking by 6:00. We hiked 5 miles to Forsyth Creek, dropped our packs and set up the tent, then continued the last 3 miles to the top of Clouds Rest, a tall bump on the ridge above Half Dome overlooking all of Yosemite Valley to the west and the Sierra Range to the east. We lunched on top, talked with people from Chicago, Austrailia and California, then returned to our camp for an afternoon nap, blogging, dinner, a game of scrabble and then bed.
It was the first totally clear blue sky day we have had since we got here. Cool air, bright sun, light breeze. A perfect day.

Tuesday, July 13th

Tuesday, July 13th

We descend from South Lake, picking up a hitch hiker on the way. Turns out he is from Hong Kong and is in the Sierra with his wife doing the Muir Trail. He describes risking life and limb crossing the high passes of the trail choked with this year's unusually high and late melting snow pack. He is writing a guide book and making a DVD for foreign travelers to the Muir trail. Claims to have hiked it's 220 mile length 24 times.
We drop him in Bishop, stopnon for my 8 cherry turnovers at Schat's Bakery, then head north out of town for Mammoth. Mammoth is 3000' higher than Bishop which equates to 15 degrees cooler. A much more comfortable temperature to do laundry and food and gear sorting. As we climb the grade out of Bishop darned if the oil light and buzzer don't wink on again. Temp gauge looks okay, maybe a little warmer than usual, but certainly not overheated. Plenty of oil. Hmmmm. We limp into Mammoth and divide to conquer. Sally sets up camp in the Laundromat while I seek out a way to change the oil, hoping replacing the 4000 mile old oil will help the old beast. I buy a turkey basting pan at the grocery store, dumpster dive for a
used milk jug in back of a latte shop, find the oil recycling place in town and buy five quarts of 20-50 and a new filter at the NAPA. The Mammoth high School student parking lot has a piece of shade, so I do the change there. Sal and I have lunch at Subway while letting the van cool, then we empty all the gear out to expose the engine and water reservoir. It is down about a quart. I add in enough to fill it and the overflow tank, and we are off to make another food drop, this time by car at Red's Meadow a 22 mile drive from Mammoth, down and then up another very large grade.
We drop the food off at Red's, pay the $35 storage fee and spend a delightful hour talking with some kids thru hiking the PCT. We give them the offer we give all PCT bikers we meet. If they will call us when the reach the Columbia and tell us what they want for a food drop and dinner, we will meet them at White Pass with whatever goodies they desire. Steaks, pies, ice cream . . . whatever. We have done this for three years and have yet to have a taker. But, El Presidente (his trail name-real name Reagan Bush-no kidding!) took our name and number and swore he would call, so we will be anticipating his call sometime in September.
The van performed perfectly on the grade out of Red's. Was it the oil or the water? Don't know-Don't care.
Next, it is back to Tuolumne, a climb from 7000' to 11,000' for the van, a true test of the repair work. It is second gear and 28 mph (luckily it is late in the afternoon and no one gets stuck behind us-damn Volkswagons!) most of the climb, but the temp stays down and the oil pressure holds.
We pick up a permit for an overnight hike to Clouds Rest, a 15 mile round trip, secure camping in the campground, treat the kids at the wilderness office to half a dozen donuts and the kids at the camping office to Cherry Turnovers and we are off to pack our packs for the hike tomorrow.

Monday, July 12

Monday, July 12
Today we drive to Lee Vining and find a hotel for Sally to stay at once she leaves the van at Tuolumne after dropping me off at Road's End for the high route. Then down to Mammoth to check out the bargains at "The Castaway", the local thrift shop run by the nurses at the town hospital. I find a nice baseball mitt for three dollars and Sally finds some nice tops and some dinner plates for her math classroom. We skip town and head further south to Bishop, with visions of cherry turnovers at Schat's Bakery. It is a supreme show of willpower to walk out of Schat's with only two turnovers, although I do put in an order for eight to be picked up the next afternoon.
We pop across the street to go swimming at the public pool only to find it closed on Mondays. The lady at the visitor's center suggests the hot bath and mineral pool 7 miles out of town, Keough's Resort. In the brochure it looks quite elegant. When we walk in we discover a well maintained cement pool with clap board walls built around it. It looked like it was constructed in the 40's. Although it was old and not at all glamorous, the water was great. We both felt clean, mineralized and refreshed after an hour and a half of soaking and swimming.
A quick stop at the Von's for some last minute items, then out of town and up the hill to South Lake. Bishop sits at about 4000'. South Lake is at 9,700'. The distance is 22 miles. This makes for a continuously steep and long road. It was 99 degrees when we left Bishop. Also, there was a strong head wind. Sounds like a recipe for VW Van disaster? It was. About 5 miles out of town the oil light and oil pressure buzzer blinked on, even with fairly high rpms. Sally was driving at the time, and handed the wheel to me, not wanting to be the one that blew the engine. This hill is steep. Now, you might not notice in a "normal" car, but I had to stay in second gear at 28 mph to make it up. The oil light and buzzer plipped on again a few more times, but I nursed it along to the end of the road at South Lake. Whew! Did that engine smell hot! The temp gauge was a little above normal, but seemed reasonable consider the outside temps.
Anyway, we found a place to camp and I started packing Gary's, Andy's and my food into my Kelty frame pack. The idea was to have me freight it in to Dusy Basin for a food drop for us to pick up after week one of the hike. I got all the food (3 people for 11 days-99 meals plus snacks) all into 4 bear cans, loaded them onto my pack, added some personal items like food, rain gear etc and put it on the scale. 75 pounds! I was not expecting it to weigh that much. I put the pack on. I Iove that old Kelty. You load 75 pounds on your back and it feels comfortable. I walked about a quarter mile to the campground entrance to see how it felt. Still felt great. But. Wait a minute. Hold on a second. Let's think this thru. I am to go by myself, climb 2000' over eight miles thru a 12,000' pass with this thing on my back and then return, all in the same day? Three days before the start of a 200 mile trek I have been planning for nine months? Ego or common sense? If I injure myself performing this food cache it will knock me out of the trip. But, when I was young I wouldn't hesitate to do this. I'm now 56. Knees get sore. Recover time is longer. Hmmmm. Sally sees me standing outside the van, the monster on my back, contemplating my future. To her credit, she did not chirp in with an opinion, but let me wrestle with my ego versus reality conflict.
In the waning light I set the pack on the picnic table, stepped inside the van and decided Gary, Andy and I would hike out to get the food rather than me risking lugging it over the pass. Sally heartily agrees with this decision.
A late, quick spaghetti dinner, and it is off to sleep.

Sunday, July 11

Sunday, July 11
Up before light and on the trail down to the Valley. This early morning travel has it's advantages. Very cool and comfortable. Very few people. No direct sun. We got to enjoy Nevada Falls by ourselves. It was in full bloom, torrents of water hurling off the face crashing on the apron below. Vernal was equally impressive. We got to the Valley about 9:30 and caught the free shuttle bus to the lodge. It is interesting to note what a novelty you become once in the Valley if you are carrying a backpack. Little kids stare at you as if you descended from the moon and clean, well heeled tourists treat you with curiosity.
We got off at the lodge, secured an outside table by leaning our packs against it and went inside the lunchroom, emerging with a spinach and walnut salad. We enjoyed the salad and people watching until the pool opened at 11:00. An hour soaking off the trail dirt, then a couple hours touring the Valley haunts: Awanhee Hotel, grocery store, Ansel Adams studio, Degnan's Pizza Loft then off to the bus stop for the Shuttle to Tuolumne. 7:15 sees us dropped at the Tuolmne store. A quick walk to our van and soon we are at the camping kiosk finding an empty site. A quick sorting of the food and the dirty clothes and we hit the sack.

We'll have fun if it stops raining

Today, Thursday, July 8 it finally did not rain on us. The first two days of our hike dawned with cloudless skies, but by 10am the first hints of small puffy clouds began to form. As the day heated up, these little puffs of condensed moisture grew until about 2pm they obscured the sun, then thickened, turned black and began pelting us with rain about 3 or 4. Of course, we could see the events and predict our future, so we were snug in our tent both days as the first drops started to fall. About 7pm, the energy in the atmosphere dissipated, the rain stopped and we crawled out of our tent to watch night fall, so back into the tent for sleep and up the next morning to cloudless skies and a repeat weather performance.
But today, Thursday we are at our garden oasis of the Sierra, Emerick Lake. The clouds began to form, but never threatened, and we enjoyed a delightful day by the outlet fishing, exploring and reading. We built a small fire to cook the fish and enjoyed two very fat 16" and 14" trout.
Tomorrow we head down the hill to Merced Lake.

Chuck

A First Day Out

Tuesday, July 6
Drove into Tuolumne Meadows early yesterday morning after spending the night in the van just outside the park, about a mile from the Tioga Pass entrance. We stopped at the camping office, securing site 48 on loop A, our desired location due to the signal strength of cell service. Any loop further down the alphabet sees a decrease in reception, and we had some business to attend to securing flights and accommodations for Scott Lyons' wedding in Tahoe over Labor Day.
So now I find myself hunkered down in the tent halfway up the grade to Evelyn Lake at 4:20 in the afternoon listening to thunder claps and rain pelting the tent. The clouds started forming about 11 this morning and have been building up to this moment.
We hiked about 8 miles in today and quit just at the right time. We had just got the tent pitched and were beginning to relax when the first drops came slicing in. It spurred a truth session. We both were feeling the afternoon sleepies but neither had mentioned it to the other, so we retired to the tent to sleep off the afternoon rainstorm.
There is so much water!! The Tuolumne was too swift and deep to cross to our favorite campsite. Coming up the grade toward Evelyn the hillside was awash in water. Every creek bed that is usually dry was brimming with water.
Also, it is amazing how different an area looks at different times of day. I have been up this trail a dozen times, but usually in the early morning. Today, we climbed it in the afternoon, and it was like we were at a different place. No morning sun to cast dynamic shadows, just the flat light of an overcast sky. Even repeating a trail can bring new experiences and joys.

Chuck

The Approach

I conceived of doing the Sierra High Route a couple summers ago, but waited until Sally and I got to go to Europe last year before putting a plan into action. It has been nine months since I floated my first feelers out to friends and family about participating in the trip. The nine months have now passed and only two weeks remain. Anticipation is a good thing, like the build up to Christmas, but finally getting to go is better. I can't count how many times I packed and repacked my gear, worried over the calorie and nutritional content of my menu, played scenarios in my mind, etc. It is nice now to be on the road, physically headed in the direction. A peace of mind now has replaced the anticipation.
Speaking of anticipation, trying to anticipate, or guess, the snowfall 9 months ahead of time is impossible. When scheduling the dates of the SHR I could go early in the year and hope for a light snow year, go late and hope for a heavy snow year or choose the middle and hope for average snow fall. We all know that the average never happens, it is that artificial mean generated by mathematics, but I picked the average anyhow and set the starting date at mid-July, hoping to have the last of the winter's snows melting off in the first weeks and dry conditions in the last two weeks. Ooops. Missed the mark. 150% of normal snowfall this winter with a slow spring melt off. As I drive through the Mt. Shasta area I see tons of snow piled on the north, east and west slopes. Only the south slopes have surrendered their white coating to the summer sun. So, we will be on snow for much of the route. Easier on the knees, quicker on the descents, but wetter on the feet. The blinding glare and 10,000'+ elevation will require judicious sun block applications. Hopefully, the flowers will break through for us to enjoy.

Sierra Summer

It used to be "Let your fingers do the walking . . .". Now it is "Let your thumbs do the talking". So, once again my thumbs are flying over my iPhone's keypad typing out the story of our summer adventures.
It is 9:20 in the evening and we are headed south on I-5 in Salem. Destination: Yosemite. Sally has two weeks of hiking in front of her, and I have six. Besides the obvious goals of having fun and seeing the Sierras from south to north, I am really hoping to shed a winter's accumulation of fat. "Chuck's 45 day diet". Catchy title, eh?
Tuolumne Meadows tomorrow night. Rest area tonight for us. Gotta love this Westfalia

Chuck