Dan's Outside

Signs of High Country Spring

At about this time every year thoughts begin to turn to another upcoming summer (and a bit of spring and a good chunk of fall) of High Sierra experiences. The signs are starting to appear – recently the following was reported at Yosemite Blog and elsewhere:

• In Yosemite Valley the Upper and Lower Pines campgrounds have opened for the season.
• The Mist Trail to Vernal fall is apparently open.
• Crews have started clearing the road to Glacier Point. (No word in this report on Tioga Road clearing, but I’ll bet that some work has commenced.
• The Dweeb Report has begun to speculate about the weather on opening day of the fishing season.

At this point I have a few somewhat firm plans, the main one revolving around the annual talusdancers pack trip with my back-country friends. Looks like we’ll head in over Kearsarge Pass sometime in early August, go south over Forester Pass (grunt… groan…) to enter the upper Kern, explore the upper west side of the upper Kern River drainage, and then exit over Shepard Pass. We may also do a slightly shorter trip out of Kings Canyon a bit earlier in the season. And, of course, I’ll do several shorter trips, most of which will be focused on photography, between the start of the season and perhaps as late as early October when the aspens will turn once again.

April 10, 2009 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary