Podcast?
I’m giving some thought to starting a little podcast on some of the topics I focus on here at the blog. I’ve listened to a couple of the other “outdoor podcasts” (like Wilde-Beat and Trailcast) and they seem like a fun way to share some of this stuff.
Some topics that might work well this way include impromptu reports on some of the gear I use, trip reports, and perhaps commentary on some of my photographs. Who knows, I might even invite some of my Talusdancers friends to participate.
Any thoughts about this? Good idea, bad idea? (That’s what the comment link is for… ;-)
Thanks!
– Dan
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Fall!
As I post this, fall is only 2 1/2 hours away. Yay! My favorite season – at least in the Sierra. Not that winter (snow!), summer (sun!), spring (waterfalls!) are far behind, but late September and early October are, in many ways, the most beautiful time of the year in my favorite mountain range. A few reasons:
- No mosquitos!
- Few people.
- Color – alpine plants turning red and yellow and brown. And those aspen trees!
- Weather – sure it can get cold at night and you might even have a few inches of short-lived snow, but there is nothing more perfect than a warm October day in the high Sierra.
- The feeling that everything is slowing down in preparation for winter. The plants stop growing and gradually go dormant, the rivers and creeks diminish, the days grow shorter – and there is something I can’t quite identify in the very air this time of year.
- Did I mention… no mosquitos!!!?
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Donner Pass to Squaw Valley 2006
On September 16-17, 2006 a group of Talusdancers did a late-season two-day trip (mostly) along the ridge between old Donner Pass (near Sugar Bowl Ski Area) and Squaw Valley.
***Saturday, September 16, 2006
While a few participants had arrived at Tahoe on Friday night (and called back to the Bay Area to report, “It is snowing!”), most of us met at Owen’s place in Concord before 6:00 a.m., meaning that a few of us (like me!) had to get up at 4:00 a.m.
By 6:30 a.m. we were on the road to our rendezvous in the Squaw Valley parking lot, with only a stop for espresso near Auburn to delay us. As we drove over Donner Pass there was about an inch of scattered snow – the first of the season – and it was cold.
After arriving at Squaw and making arrangements to leave a couple cars overnight, we put 8 people and gear into two other cars and headed back to the Truckee area, from where we drove around Donner Lake and up old Hiway 40 to the trailhead for the southbound Pacific Crest Trail. With little delay we emptied the cars, applied sunscreen, and started up the trail, passing across more of the past night’s snow.
After climbing past the boundaries of Sugar Bowl, the trail began to follow the crest of the Sierra along a high ridge composed of old volcanic rock mixed with sections of gravel and covered by vast fields of Mule-Ears plants going brown at the end of the season. It never got very warm and it was occasionally quite windy on this ridge. We traversed the ridge for some miles before crossing the northwest face of Tinker Knob and then dropping down along its southwestern side to finally arrive at a small flat with some water where we set up camp for the night. (Note: until this point there was no water on the route.) The total hike was probably about 9 miles.
Early in the evening it seemed like it was going to be a very cold night as the wind came up strongly before sundown. However, it never got as cold as we expected, perhaps dropping only to near freezing.
***Sunday, September 17, 2006
It was still windy in the morning, and the fact that a tall ridge blocked the morning sun convinced most of us to stay in our tents and bivy sacks quite late. It was nearly 8:00 a.m. before most of us were up. After breakfast and packing we headed south on the PCT, at first continuing the descent into the upper drainage of the American River.
Before long we passed the bottom of the canyon and began to climb to the next ridge – a steady but not overly-steep climb. After topping this ridge we could see across the canyon to Squaw Valley, which now seemed to be not very far away. We passed a trailhead for the route straight down to the Village (which would have taken us back to espresso in about a mile and a half) and continued on the PCT towards the backside of Squaw Valley. We finally crossed a ridge before the meadows and brushy area behind the main ridge of Squaw. Most of the group ascended steeply to the ridge to cross into the ski area, while a couple of us thought we might find an easier way by traversing around to the left of the main ridge. (We were soon disabused of that notion!)
We reconvened on the other side of the ridge and walked (which seemed strange to those who have only skied this slope in the past) down to the Upper Lodge at Squaw where we invested in shower and spa passes, getting cleaned up and relaxing before taking the gondola down to the Village to conclude the trip.
Well, almost conclude – there was still time to head to Tahoe City for burgers at the Bridge Tender before returning to our cars back at the start of the trip and heading home.
– Dan
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Vogelsang, Fletcher Lake, and Elsewhere | September 2006
Every September before I head back to my teaching job I like to take a short solo pack trip, almost always in Tuolumne Meadows region of Yosemite Park and usually to the Fletcher Lake area. So this year’s trip was over mostly familiar ground, but with a few interesting variations.
(Note: I’m posting text-only now, but I’ll try to add photographs later.)
***Saturday, September 9, 2006
Normally I’m up very early for the 4 1/2 hour drive to Tuolumne, but this time I decided to get up at a more normal 5:30 a.m., thinking that I’d still be there before noon – plenty of time to get a wilderness permit and head up the Rafferty Creek trial to Fletcher Lake in time for a sunset dinner.
The drive to the park went pretty quickly, which may surprise some people given that it was a sunny weekend. However, it seems that quite a few people get out of the Bay Area on Friday afternoon and evening, and the traffic diminishes a bit after the Labor Day weekend. I arrived at the north park entrance by 10:00 a.m. or so and went to get a permit. No permits were left for Rafferty Creek today, and other alternatives I was willing to consider were also unavailable! I guess I should have gotten up at 4:00 a.m. (But, as we’ll see, this little glitch may have turned out the be a good thing in the end.) So, as I often do in the busy summer season, I simply reserved a permit for the next day and readjusted my plans to include car camping tonight. (My original plan had been to car-camp on the last night instead of the first.) One silver lining to this minor cloud was that the wilderness permit ranger spared me the rather condescending and pedantic lecture about backcountry rules she had just delivered to the previous hiker. Perhaps my knowledge of the area and the process convinced her – quite accurately – that I had heard all of this many times before.
Anyway, back to the car and on to the pleasant and now much lazier drive up to Tuolumne. I arrived there around noon and checked out the camping prospects at the main campground. The best I could do was get on a waiting list that would be sorted out around 1:30, at which point they would call names – if you were there and they called your name you would get a campsite. Since I had a good hour and a half before this event, I decided to head over Tioga Pass to each lunch (some of my excessive amount of backpacking lunch stuff) and check out Forest Service campgrounds near the park. I turned into the Ellery Lake campground and was surprised to find a vacant site right away, so I grabbed it and set up my tent. It’s not a bad little campground (though a bit close to the road) and the cost is less than in the park.
Having the rest of the afternoon free, I decided to go back into the park and head out on one of my favorite day-hike trails – the route out to Mono and Parker Passes. My vague plan was to perhaps visit Spillway Lake (where the hillsides are very colorful in late season) and then Parker Pass before heading back by way of Mono. However, this plan evolved as I wandered on up the trail. I noticed that it was still a bit early in the season for the colors I was looking for, and I thought that I might get more interesting photography light around Mono Pass early on, leaving the option of descending via Spillway Lake for later light. On the way up I spoke to a woman who recommended crossing Mono Pass and descending about 15 minutes into the eastern canyon for a good view of Mono Lake – so the plan changed again.
In the end, I did go to Mono Pass and then descend that canyon past the lake near the pass, stopping at a rocky outcropping where the canyon turns left and the view opens up. I spent some time here before going back up to the pass right on a schedule that would guarantee returning to trailhead before dark… and then decided to detour to the old abandoned cabins below the mine at the pass. After taking some photos here I began the return trip in late afternoon light that became early evening light by the time I reached the parking lot.
Being a bit tired after this quick 8 mile afternoon hike, I made excuses for not cooking my very basic camp dinner and instead went down to the ridiculously crowded Whoa Nellie Deli at the Lee Vining Mini Mart. As anyone who travels here knows, this place improbably has about the best food in the area, but it becoming way too popular and is quite a mob scene on weekend evenings. After dinner it was dark so I headed straight back up to Ellery Lake and crawled into the tent.
***Sunday, September 10, 2006
Today I was up while it was still almost completely dark. With Mono Lake only 10 or 12 miles away I was not about to miss the chance to photograph the lake at dawn. I headed down the descent to Lee Vining in the dark and turned right at Hiway 395 to reach the South Tufa area 10-15 minutes before sunrise… and join the small group of other early morning visitors, including a number of photographers. The lake was still except for the thousands of birds as the sun rose, and I spent the next hour or more taking pictures. (See the Mono Lake photography page.)
Afterwards I made a quick stop at what seems to be the only place in Lee Vining to get an espresso: Latte Da. (Bad pun. Get it?) It is a nice little place with good coffee and a small offering of good pastries, plus a great view from the seating on the front porch. Breakfast finished, I went back up to Ellery, struck camp, and got ready for backpacking.
I drove back into the park, left the car at the Lyell Canyon trailhead, and started up towards Fletcher around 11:00 a.m. This trail is very familiar ground to me – I’m sure I’ve hiked it 10 or 20 times now. The first 40 minutes are fairly level, followed by the steepest section of the trail as it ascends into the valley holding Rafferty Creek. I normally top out on this climb an hour into the hike, and I went on for another 30 minutes or so before my lunch stop about 1/3 of the way into the hike. Continuing on, the trail eventually ascends into a forested area before emerging at the base of a long meadow that occupies the upper part of this valley. After another rest stop here I moved on toward Tuolumne Pass and the final mile (shortened by a bit of cross-country hiking at the end) to Fletcher.
Fletcher Lake was surprisingly uncrowded with the exception of the large and rowdy Vogelsang High Sierra Camp crew, who seemed to be (excessively) celebrating the seasonal closure of the camp after the previous night.
***Monday, September 11, 206
I was a lazy bum this morning – not crawling out of my bivy sack until about 8:00 a.m. after the sun finally came over the ridge near Townsley Lake. The plan for today was to take one or more day hikes; my initial thinking was that I might visit Vogelsang Pass, return to camp, and then visit the plateau above Townsley in the late afternoon and evening – but I also had vague ideas about visiting Gallison Lake, the ridge above Vogelsang Pass, Ireland Lake, or even stringing several of these together.
So I started out mid-morning on the trail up to Vogelsang Pass. I spent some time there in conversation with some other hikers and admiring the view up toward Gallison and Bernice Lakes and the peaks beyond. I made a semi-decision to head off toward Gallison, since that is an appealing area that I’ve always wanted to investigate. I even had a vague notion about ascending a saddle below Parsons Peak that I visited once before from the other side, and perhaps even completing a loop back via Ireland Lake. But my plans were so ill-formed that 100 feet down the other side of the pass I spontaneously decided instead to head up the mountain to the left and visit the ridgetop running between Fletcher and Parsons peaks.
The route-finding on the ascent was a bit interesting as I threaded my way among rocks, sandy sections, and through brush. Occasionally I would find a rock duck or some footprints, but there was not obvious “right way” to ascend this ridge. (In addition, I was extra conservative since I was travelling solo.) A good ways up this spur ridge I decided that it actually made more sense to descend to the right into a sandy/gravelly gully that ran straight up to the ridge… and was not filled with rocks and brush. A bit of tricky work (and rock duck trail marking so I could retrace my steps) got me here and I quickly ascended to a saddle on the ridge.
The view from the saddle was spectacular. To the south and south-east I could see nearby high peaks of the Sierra crest, the more distant Clark Range, and even closer Vogelsang Peak. On either side talus fields ascended along the ridge. To the north I looked down at Hanging Basket Lake (I may have the name wrong) along a descent that looks do-able. Beyond was the plateau above Townsley and further in the distance were the upper reaches of the Tuolumne area and then Sierra crest peaks like Dana and Conness.
I decided to try a slightly different route on the descent, since I had seen a way to the Vogelsang Pass trail when I descended into the last gully during the ascent. I headed quickly down the gully to where I had left some rock ducks, but this time followed another ducked route down the right side of the gully, mostly sticking to the rocky areas at the base of the ridge. This route followed a circuitous path down to the point where it finally leveled out, leaving a short walk on granite slabs to reach a bend in the trail, from which it was a short hike back to the pass. Here is talked to some other hikers who were admiring the pass, and then I spent a good half hour waiting for good light to photograph the Gallison/Bernice area. Finally, I packed up and headed back down towards my Fletcher Lake campsite, arriving in time to make an early dinner and then take some photographs as the sun went down.
***Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Having no need to rush, I again got up after the sun hit my camp site. I spent a lazy couple of hours fixing breakfast and breaking camp before finally loading up the pack and heading back to the high sierra camp to pick up some water for the hike back down Rafferty Creek to Tuolumne.
While I stopped for water, one of the camp employees wandered over and we struck up a conversation. In the next 10-15 minutes I think I heard more about hiking routes in this area than I would get from a full day of guidebook reading. From what I understood, he had worked in this area for some time, and eventually learned all of the shortcuts and climbers’ routes in the area. His philosophy more or less boiled down to “if you are above 8500′ you can pretty much go anywhere you want.” He described ridgetop routes among the high sierra camps and over ridges in the Mt. Lyell area, and gave me more information than I could retain about travel in the Cathedral Range area.
Loaded up with water and lots of new route information, I began the descent to Tuolumne. One notable thing about this particular walk down the Rafferty Creek trail was that it was quite different from most days earlier or later in the season. Earlier one would see many backpackers, but there were not that many today – with the exception of a school group on a Yosemite Institute trip. Later in the season, one can hike this trail and see very few people – the number of visitors really drops after mid-September, even though this is arguably the most beautiful time in the backcountry. But on this day, the trail was (relatively) full of people and stock, apparently engaged in the business of closing down the High Sierra camp for the season. There were many strings of pack animals going up, along with a large group of hikers carrying almost no gear, who apparently worked for the camp operators.
I arrived back at the car around 1:30. I remained in the park long enough to get a “backpackers’ shower” at Tuolumne Lodge and grab lunch at the Tuolumne Grill before heading home in mid-afternoon.
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An "Outdoor Show" We Can All Do Without
By now you have undoubtedly heard about the new version of Survivor intended to appeal to racist preconceptions by pitting “racial teams” against one another.
What an astoundingly offensive and stupid idea.
For one small example of where this leads, here is a description of Rush Limbaugh’s take on this contrived and utterly phony “competition” as reported in SFGate (‘Survivor’ Wades Right Into Racial Stereotyping):
What stereotypes? If you have to ask, you needed only listen to radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh on Aug. 24. Apparently attempting to be amusing about the show’s 13th season, Limbaugh hit the racial stereotyping equivalent of a grand slam.
He said he hoped there were “not going to be a lot of water events” because he thought the black contestants would be poor swimmers. (Challenged on that, he referred to a survey that said more blacks than whites drown in this country.)
Limbaugh also said that Asians are “the brainiacs of the bunch” and that Hispanics might have an advantage because they “will do things other people won’t do.” The white team, Limbaugh opined, would run into problems because of their “guilt at oppressing all these people.”
If you are a ‘Survivor’ fan, I encourage you to avoid this version, and encourage the pathetic folks who came up with this astonishingly lame concept to take a hike.
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SFGate Writer Slams Irwin
In an astounding example of poor taste (or lack of editorial oversight?), SFGate writer Debra Saunders slices and dices recently-deceased Australian “crocodile hunter” Steve Irwin (see “Crocodile Tears“):
… “I don’t want to seem arrogant or big-headed,” Irwin once told the Washington Post’s Paul Farhi, “but I have a real instinct with animals. I’ve grown up with them … It’s like I have an uncanny supernatural force rattling around my body. I tell you what, mate; it’s magnetism.”
No, mate, it’s delusion. The real surprise is that a crocodile hadn’t finished off Irwin sooner…
Some of Saunder’s opinions about how to interact with wildlife have validity. An article about this would have been fine and there are ways that such an article could have linked to the story of Irwin’s death. However, using a man’s recent death as an opportunity to write a smarmy and condescending article about him shows exceptionally bad taste and poor judgment – on her part and on the part of SFGate.
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The "Official End of Summer?"
Related to my earlier post today, I just heard a radio news reporter state the “Labor Day weekend marks the official end of summer.”
Uh, no. The holiday ostensibly marks the “official” end of the summer vacation season perhaps, but the end of summer is still about three weeks away.
A little fact-checking may be in order here, yes? :-)
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Labor Day Weekend – End of Summer?
News reports refer to this Labor Day Weekend as the last fling of the summer season. However, for me this feels more like the start of one of my favorite seasons of the year.
Trees and Cliff Below Vernal Falls. Yosemite National Park. November 21, 2004. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
For one thing, I’m a faculty member at an institution that operates on the quarter system, so classes don’t start for another three weeks. (I don’t get paychecks during the summer months, but I like to think that my job pays me very well in another precious commodity… time. :-)
Fall colors at Cathedral Lake. Yosemite National Park. October 10, 2004. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
This gives me some opportunity to wait until after Labor Day weekend to visit some wonderful California places without the usual crowds. During the next six weeks the number of visitors to the High Sierra will dwindle to a trickle – despite the fact that this is arguably the most beautiful season of the year. Already, high elevation vegetation is turning golden, yellow, and red and soon (beginning of October) the aspens will reach their peak.
Aspens near Silver Lake. Sierra Nevada, California. October 8, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
With luck, I’ll take three more pack trips between now and mid-October and get to the eastern Sierra at least once to photograph those aspens.
Oh, and did I mention that there are virtually no mosquitos? :-)
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Toe Hell and Back Again
Early this month (August 2006) I joined my Talusdancers friends for our annual Sierra pack trip. (I posted a trip report earlier.)
It was a wonderful trip into the Big Pine Creek drainage, an area that I had not previously visited, located to the east of the Sierra crest below Mt. Winchell, North Palisade, Mt. Sill, Mt. Bayley, et al and near Palisade Glacier, the largest in the Sierra.
About that toe…
About four days before the trip I was wandering through our home one evening with the lights off when I jammed my foot into a chair. We’ve all done that, right? Scream, mutter a few choice words, grab the toe, and a moment later you realize that you are going to live… and that next time you really ought to turn on the lights and watch where you are going, not that you will.
But a minute later the toe (little toe, right foot) was not OK. It hurt. A lot. And it was swollen and becoming bruised. I wondered if this time I really had broken it.
The next day was no better, so I stayed off it as much as possible. It sounds absurd now, but my thinking was “I can’t go to the doctor. They’ll tell me my toe is broken, and then I won’t be able to go backpacking.” Really. That’s what I was thinking.
So, I took it easy during the four days leading up to the trip. I found that I could walk with my hiking boots on as long as I didn’t lace them too tightly around the toe. Once on the trail – and under the influence of ibuprofen – it didn’t hurt too much during our first 5.5 mile uphill hike. On day two it was about the same on the very short hike to Lake Four, where we camped for three nights. I took it easy on day three, getting a lot of reading done. I managed a nice little day hike to Lakes Six and Seven without too much trouble on day four.
On the hike out on day five I thought my toe might just fall off.
While things were OK going uphill, they were definitely not OK going down. At a point about 5 miles down the trail I found myself in “grit your teeth, take it one step at a time, and try not to scream” mode. Things improved greatly once we got to the car.
Finally acting a bit less stupidly, when I got home I made an appointment to get the toe checked out. The doctor seemed somewhat ambivalent about it. Clearly the toe was still swollen but he wasn’t convinced it was broken. Plus, what are you going to do with a broken toe – put it in a sling? The final result was that we did not x-ray the toe.
I had a return visit yesterday – for an overdue general physical exam – and we again took a look at the toe. This time the decision was to go ahead and x-ray it.
It is broken.
Of course, now it is almost 4 weeks later and the bone has probably healed in its slightly offset position. I go to the fracture clinic today to see what, if anything, the next step (ooh, bad pun!) might be.
So, bottom line: I’m a real bozo for backpacking (and subsequently day hiking) with a broken toe. On the other hand, I got some really cool photos on the trip. (Photos available in earlier posts at this site, at the Talusdancers site if you search for them, and at G Dan Mitchell | Photography.) Even better, I now have a great story to tell on future trips about The Time I Backpacked for Five Days with a Broken Toe…
—
Update: Back from the orthopedist. The toe seems to be healing fine – in fact, he wasn’t quite sure why I was coming in at this point, four weeks after the injury. He did suggest that I should be careful about activities that strain the toe for awhile… like hiking. :-)
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Dan's Outside 
Where to Find Aspens and Stay Warm?
“Karen” – who apparently shares my interest in Sierra autumn aspen colors – wrote to ask:
Not only does it get cold this time of year, but the darn sun sets way too early! :-)
Sierra weather this time of year can be unpredictable and “interesting.” It is not uncommon to get nighttime temperatures in the low 20 degree range at the elevations you mentioned – or even a bit colder – but it isn’t always that cold. I think you may have hit one of the colder nights. (See the Tuolumne Meadows link in the Weather section in the sidebar to get an idea of current temperatures.)
I think the best places to see fall colors are generally east of the Sierra crest, especially if you are looking for aspens. I have to admit that I have never combined a pack trip with my aspen searches, so I don’t think I can suggest a specific pack trip that will take you to colorful aspens. I suspect that a number of the trips that start at east side trailheads would include aspen colors, but it may be a bit late above 9,000′ or so.
However, I can say some things about timing and your prospects for this year. In fact, I posted a lengthy report earlier this week at G Dan Mitchell | Photography describing last weekend’s “aspen adventure.”
As I went higher and farther south on the east side last weekend, I found that the aspen colors were peaking (or, in a few cases, past their prime) at around 9,000′ – particularly in the Bishop Creek area where I spent most of my time. They also appeared to be near peak in the Carson Pass/Hope Valley area, though not as close to being done as in Bishop Creek.
One of my favorite aspen views is at Conway Summit on Hiway 395 just north of Mono Lake. Here there were impressive colors last week, but there were also still quite a few green trees, some of which were just beginning to show color. This area should be looking good this weekend – and, in fact, I’m hoping to be there to take photos late in the afternoon on Sunday.
Lee Vining Canyon (along the road to Tioga Pass from Lee Vining) is filled with aspens – but they were pretty green last weekend, suggesting that you might see some better color there this weekend or perhaps (but only perhaps) the following week.
It is my impression that the middle of October (as in the weekend after the upcoming weekend) is getting pretty late for reliable Sierra aspen displays. You can probably find some, but many of the stands will have peaked and dropped a lot of their leaves by then.
Besides aspens, there are a lot of other plants changing colors this time of year in the Sierra. I’m afraid that I’m not particularly a Namer of Plants – I tend to remember plants very specifically in terms of appearance and location, but not recall their names – but there are wonderful red, brown, and yellow plants of all types up high this time of year, even above timberline.
Regarding cold… I’m afraid that cold tends to go hand in hand with autumn aspen color. So if you backpack this time of year – and I think it may be the most beautiful backpacking season – you need to be ready for the possibility of cold. It can be warm and sunny, but it can also be cold and sunny, cold and cloudy, or even snowy.
It might be a good time for a slightly lower pack trip, perhaps further north in the Sierra. I backpacked in the Tahoe region a few weeks back – which I normally don’t do in the summer – and we had beautiful conditions. Now that I think of it, it might even be a good time to do a short trip in the Carson Pass area! Personally, I’m very fond of the Tuolumne Meadows vicinity this time of year, but I can’t say that it is a good place to look for big aspen displays. (Though perhaps someone else will write and set me straight on this.)
(I have a short pack trip planned this weekend myself – more about that in a few days. :-)
By the way, I recommend Calphoto as an excellent source of reports on current conditions for beautiful things such as aspens and wildflowers around the state of California.
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October 5, 2006 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | 4 Comments