Dan's Outside

Packing day

Today I pack for this week’s visit to the Sierra. Since I’m doing two nights of car-camping (one at Tuolumne Meadows and one at the trailhead) and two nights of backpacking I need to sort of double-pack: bivy sack for the trail and tent for car camping, etc. On the other hand, packing for a two-day pack trip seems fairly trivial after returning from a trip of nine days. (Update at 10:00 pm – finished packing at 9:45. I think that is a record!)

On my earlier trip this summer which mostly went through places I had previously visited (with the exception of Bishop Pass and Dusy Basin), this trip goes to a completely new place: Lamarck Col. I took a look at the map for the first time last night and noticed a few things. First, this area is just north of some places I have been to, such as South Lake. It is also just east of Evolution Basin, through which I passed on the Muir Trail some years ago. Second, it is high! This pass looks to be well over 12,000′. If I understand our route correctly, on Wednesday we’ll start at roughly 9200′ and end up above 12000′. Yow!

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August 8, 2004 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary