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

SHR Permits Are In

Hi all,

Been a few weeks since I last corresponded with everyone. There was a flurry of activity when the date for the permit applications came around-March 1 for Kings Canyon, but since I faxed in the permit request it has been quiet.

The good news is we were granted the permits! I called on Friday, February 26th to inquire as to the first moment I could fax in our request. The ranger said that they started accepting them at 12:01 Monday morning, March 1. She asked where we were going. When I said Copper Creek, her comment was, "Sleep in." I suspect the low elevation starting point and blazingly hot southern exposure makes this 6000' climb not a favorite trailhead. I did sleep in, but was sure to fax our two requests in at 6:45am Monday morning. It is a little disconcerting faxing a request. You don't know if they got the fax, and you don't know if you got the permit until they snail mail a reply. But, I avoided the temptation to call and impatiently waited the week until the permit showed up in the mail.

So I got a permit for 4 people (Gary, Andy Smith, myself and ????) for 30 days, starting at Road's End and ending at Twin Lakes, and a permit for 6 people (Craig, Sandy, Lynne, ???, ??? and???) for Road's End to Bishop Pass. NOTICE: There is still room for one on the 30 day permit and 3 on the 7 day leg of the trip. Haven't signed up yet? Changed your mind and decided to come along even against your better judgement? We still have room! Drop me an email and let me know the dates you want to come.

The Sierras at Mammoth Mountain (about the middle of our adventure) is about 100" of snowfall above normal as of today for the season, with 434" of snowfall this winter season. We can hope for an early spring melt off, or count on swarms of mosquitos in the meadows and trees for the first two weeks. I will keep you posted on the snow pack as we move into spring. You might look into light weight mosquito head netting if the trend continues. :-)

Only 125 days until July 17th. Woo whoooo. Hope to see you on the trip!

Chuck

Wednesday, August 12-Descent

The Sierra are fault block mountains. To visualize how they formed,
imagine a top loading washing machine with the lid closed. Now, open
the lid only an inch. See how the top of the lid slopes gently down to
the hinge? That hinge is located on the west edge of the Sierras,
along the central valley of California. The mountains rise gently from
that hinge getting higher and higher as you move east, away from the
hinge, then when you reach the edge of the lid there is a sudden drop
off. So it is with the east side of the Sierras. It takes only 6-8
trail miles to drop from the very highest peaks of the range to the
valley floor on the east side while on the west side it takes about
70-80 miles to accomplish the same thing. Of course this makes the
east side incredibly steep and the west side quite gentle. Both sides
of our flat washing machine lid, the sloping and the steep have been
gouged by glaciers and rivers over the millinium so those nice smooth
surfaces you have been visulizing are actually very rough with tall
ridges seperated by deep valleys. Sally and I were camped in one of
those deep gouges on the steep eastern face of the range after our
climb.
The east face catches the morning sun rise and all the glorious color
that comes with it. That fact would get us up early to watch the
colors and light play on the walls of granite. It was beautiful.
We packed up and headed for Whitney Portal 6 miles by trail and a
drop of 3600'. We parked the van there a week ago.
Took us until 12:30 to get out. Washed in the van and headed for
Bishop to meet with my brother, Ken. He was headed on a hike out of
Bishop into the Evolution Valley area and we were going to help him
stage his car at the trailhead at South Lake where they would be
exiting.
We had a great dinner in town with them, got gear ready, then hit the
sack.

Chuck

Tuesday, August 11-Surprising Summit

When I first conceived of this route for our hike my only concern was
getting trapped. To get started on the first day we had to climb over
an 11,700' pass. Once over the only way out was back over that pass,
or hiking the route and climbing over two even higher passes,
Forester at 13,200 and Whitney Crest at 13,600. These obsticals gave
me pause. If we could not accomplish the first the trip would never
get off the ground. Once in we had to scale the last two to get out.
There was no other way out, unless we considered hiking out on the
west side of the Sierras and then trying to find transportation the
300 miles back around the range to our car on the east side. If
something happened to Sally's knee or she was not strong enough to
hike the route or if the weather turned sour we would be trapped.
I was relieved when we made it over the first pass. We seemed strong
and my confidence was elevated. But, at the same time we were now
committed. We had to make it over the next two passes. Our van was
parked at our planned exit point, Whitney Portal. If we turned back
we would have to hitch rides to the van.
Day one finished with successfully crossing Kearsage Pass with no
discomfort in the questionable knee. Day two the knee was fine, but
fatigue became an issue. Day three was the big ascent of Forester
Pass, and although slow, we made a strong showing. Day four was a
mellow day
with gradual ups and downs. All systems looking great. Day five
required considerable climbing and descending, and the questionable
knee was tired, but performing well. That brought us to today, the
toughest day of all, ascending Whitney crest at 13,600'. Today also
carries an added temptation-at the crest you are only 2 miles and
1200' below the summit of Mt. Whitney.
Not knowing how we would do ascending the switchbacks up the west side
of Mt. Whitney, we decided to get a very early start. I set the alarm
for 4:30. The waning gibbous moon provided ample light to cook
breakfast and pack up the tent, quilt and other gear. It was cold, but
not below freezing with a light wind blowing. Just at the time we were
packed and ready to go the sun began to add it's early morning glow.
We worked our way up the rocky trail in the faint light. We had left
trees behind 1500' lower the day before. All remaining vegetation
disappeared within the first fifteen minutes of climbing. We followed
the switchbacks up this impossibly steep rock slope winding across
talus, bedrock and slab outcrops. Three hours later we made the trail
junction to the summit of Whitney. Decision time. The weather is
perfect. It is early morning. And as Sally said, "I have climbed over
12,000' feet this week, what is another thousand." So we put together
a summit pack and left our backpacks at the trail junction along with
about 50 other people's packs and headed for the summit.
The trail is impressive. It clings to the west side of the ridge,
dynamited from solid rock in places, built up with stone work in
others. The altitude is very noticable, as Sally could only manage 15
paces afterwhich she would have to stop to catch her breath. Also, she
was extremely cautious on the terribly uneven terrain, taking care of
her knee. It took us nearly two and a half hours, but at 11:15 we were
on the summit of Mt. Whitney, 14,496 ft above sea level.
We wandered through the crowd of 30 or more, took a summit photo, had
some crackers and cheese and a Snickers and just sat on the boulders
and enjoyed the cool air, warm sun and spectacular views. Mt. Whitney
is on the very easterly edge of the Sierra range. From the top you can
look straight off it's 2000' vertical east face into Owens Valley
11,000 ft below. To the north and west lie wave after wave of mountain
ridges and peaks. To the south the mountains begin to wither as the
Sierras decrease in altitude and breadth.
It took us a little more than an hour to return to our packs. We still
had 300' feet to climb to move from west side of the Sierra crest to
the east side. Once we cleared the crest we descended 98 switchbacks,
losing 1300' to "Trail Camp", a small lake where climbers camp before
ascending Whitney.
We found a secluded spot a couple hundred yards from the other 10+
groups of campers, put up the tent, ate dinner and prepared to try to
stay awake to watch the Persied meteor shower.

Chuck