Ridge Road and Grassland, Mission Peak
Ridge Road and Grassland. Mission Peak. September 22, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. (Sales)
Posted with our upcoming Turkey Day Mission Peak Hike in mind – this photo is from the ridge just south of the peak, admittedly in different weather than what we’ll see this week.
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Tarn, Rock, Lake. Twenty Lakes Basin. (monochrome)
Tarn, Rock, Peak. (Monochrome) Twenty Lakes Basin, Sierra Nevada. October 7, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. (Sales)
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Mono Lake Basin, Dusk
Mono Lake Basin, Dusk. October 8, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. (Sales)
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Bay Area Turkey Day Hike: Mission Peak
Tom Mangan at Two-Heel Drive (Why do I keep typing “to hell drive”… ? ;-) has suggested a Thanksgiving morning hike to the summit of Mission Peak. At my perverse suggestion, he has agreed to make it a sunrise hike, meaning we’ll start very early, but if the weather cooperates we’ll be rewarded with a stunning sunrise view. The details, including any updates, are posted at Tom’s site.
Bay Area hikers are welcome to join us. We’ll meet at the Stanford trailhead and start up the trail at 5:30 a.m. – Tom says this will get us to the summit in time for the 6:55 a.m. sunrise. (Slow hikers, those carrying large packs, and those who want to watch pre-dawn light may want to start a few minutes earlier.)
This is not an organized, sponsored hike so everyone is on his or her own. Based on my previous hikes at Mission Peak, here are a few random suggestions and observations:
- The small parking lot at the trailhead often is full. Do not park in the dirt areas along the road below the park gate – you’ll get an expensive ticket. Instead go back down to the first paved cross street and park there.
- Bring a headlamp – it is still very dark at 5:30! And there are cattle on the trail, if you get my drift… or, er, squish.
- Be prepared for weather. It will likely be cold this early and it can be windy on the summit. If it rains… all bets are off.
- Bring water and a snack.
And the best thing – besides meeting a few Bay Area outdoor bloggers – is that you’ll have a great story to tell at your Thanksgiving dinner, and you’ll feel less guilty about eating all that food.
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Autumn Backpacking Near Saddlebag Lakes
Owen Lee at Saddlebag Lake. Sierra Nevada. October 7, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. (Sales)
A photo taken near the start of the Talusdancers annual Last Pack Trip of the season, often in the Yosemite high country but this year just outside the park. These colors and this weather are part of what is so appealing about this tail end of the season.
One sort of funny story from the start of the trip: We arrived at the trailhead at Saddlebag Lake got out our packs to take care of the usual final organizing/loading before hitting the trail. As we finished, one of us asked the other, “Should we go ahead and start hiking now or wait for the snow to stop?”
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Frost and Fog, Sunrise
Frost and Fog, Sunrise. Yosemite National Park. October 7, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. (Sales)
There is a short story behind this photograph. Early this past October I had left very early on a Saturday monring to drive to the Tuolumne Meadows area for my final pack trip of the season. (It was to be at Fletcher Lake, but I ended up in the Twenty Lakes Basin area just over Tioga Pass.) The news reports the previous day told about a minor snowfall on Tioga Pass road that was enough to briefly close the road. I figured that the road would be open by Saturday morning, so I was a bit surprised to find he road closed just past the turnoff at the junction with the route down to Yosemite Valley, right by the Tuolumne Grove.
I pulled out and parked expecting a wait and noticed the heavy frost on the nearby meadow and the fog on the other side. If it hadn’t been for the road closure I would have driven right by and only thought about stopping for the photo.
(Yes, the road opened a few minutes later and I made it up and over Tioga Pass to start my pack trip… in light snow.)
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I Speak, Tom Listens… :-)
From Two-Heel Drive:
UPDATE: Turkey Day Mini-Meetup at Mission Peak. CHANGE O’ PLANS: Dan Mitchell wants to do this at dawn to catch the sunrise from the top of the peak. This would require a 5:30 a.m. launch from the trailhead to get up to the top at 6:55. There… [Two-Heel Drive]
Wow! Thanks, Tom. Now I guess I really will have to be there!
A warning for anyone who joins us – and do consider yourself invited… There is a small parking lot at the trailhead that often fills quite early. If it is full when you arrive drive back down the hill to the last cross street and park there. Although it appears that there are some spots to park along the road just outside of the gate, you will get a nasty and expensive ticket from the city of Fremont if you park there!
Can you figure out how I know about that?
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Two From Two-Heel Drive
Two posts at Two-Heel Drive caught my attention today:
Turkey Day Mini-Meetup at Mission Peak. The last two years I’ve hiked to the top of Mission Peak on Thanksgiving morning. Any of you Bay Area types wanna tag along this year? For those who haven’t done it, Mission Peak is a pretty major slog: 2000… [Two-Heel Drive]
Since Mission Peak is one of my favorite local hiking spots, I’m hoping that this event will happen early enough in the morning (also known as “about dawn”) that I’ll be able to particpate and still be home for all of the Turkey Day stuff.
Thoughts on camping under a tarp. Paul Davis of Hike-Lite blog has more aesthetic than weight-shaving reasons for tarping: On a perfect night a tarp provides the user with an incomparable sense of connection with the outdoors. Waking up to a sunrise under a tarp is… [Two-Heel Drive]
I feel like a bivy sack may get you even closer to the outdoors. Sleeping in a bivy is pretty much like sleeping right out in the open in your sleeping bag – except that you can seal out the weather and bugs if necessary. (Of course, I take a light tarp along in case it really does rain.)
Autumn Leaves, Volunteer Park
Autumn Leaves, Volunteer Park. Seattle Washington. November 11, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. (Sales)
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Dan's Outside 
Aspen Grove, North Lake
Aspen Grove. North Lake, California. October 1, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. (Sales)
keywords: aspen grove north lake bishop creek california sierra nevada black and white photograph
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November 18, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Aspen Grove, North Lake