Dan's Outside

Fletcher Lake Trip Report

(Before I arrived) Owen and Shelley drove up to the Tuolumne area on Thursday. From what I recall, they camped somewhere just outside of the park that night – perhaps at Tioga Lake – since the Tuolumne Meadows campground is closed for the season. They had Thursday morning breakfast at TPR before hitting the trail to Fletcher Lake around 11:00 am and arriving there, as Owen described it, “in time for cocktails.”

After finishing up at the college in the early afternoon the same day (while they were probably about 1/3 of the way up the trail) I hopped in the car and headed straight for Tuolumne Meadows. It was a strange afternoon in the Central Valley; one of those October weather patterns with strong offshore winds was kicking up a near-dust-storm. It began to clear as I drove into the foothills of the Sierra.

I arrived at the Tuolumne Meadows trailhead parking lot a bit after 5:30 pm, quickly changed from work clothes into trail clothes, checked my load, and was on the trail 20 minutes later.

I covered the first flat part of the trail in about a half hour and the sun set as I finished the first big climb up the Rafferty Creek trail just before 7:00 pm. By 7:20 it was dark enough that I had to use my headlamp, and the temperature was dropping quickly. A few minutes later the full moon erupted over a ridge to the east providing decent illumination, at least on the open sections of the trail.

This was the first time that I have started a substantial hike so late in the day, and I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of it – particularly with the beautiful full moon. However, as the evening wore on the effects of a very busy work week kicked in and I became very tired. This, combined with the lack of perspective in the dark conditions made the hiking quite difficult during the latter part of the route. By the time I approached Fletcher Lake I was as fatigued as I have ever been on a Sierra hike – and very glad to spot the light that Owen and Shelley had left on at our campsite as I arrived at around 10:30.

I was so tired that I didn’t bother with dinner, choosing instead to simply drop the pack, stash my food, set up my bivy sack and sleeping bag and crawl in.

I awoke late on Saturday morning (8:00 am) as the sun hit my campsite – feeling very much better than the night before! The weather was as good as it gets in the Sierra during October, with beautiful sunshine and temperatures around 60 degrees. After breakfast we headed up the trail above Vogelsang High Sierra Camp toward our goal for the day, Vogelsang Peak. Above Vogelsang Lake, we left the trail and headed more or less straight up to a broad ridge to the right of the summit. This class 2 route is fairly straightforward, angling a bit towards the left near the ridge and then following the ridge up to the actual summit. You can see it in the following photo: It angles up towards the sloping ridge to the right of the peak just to the right of a shadowed area, then following the ridge to the left.

Vogelsang Peak. Our route heads up the middle of the peak, angling up to the ridge to the right of the summit before following the ridge to the top. October 11, 2003.

We arrived almost exactly at noon in nearly still air. (See the following story for a photo from the summit.) Soon another group of three arrived by way of the gully route to the east (northeast?) of the peak, followed by two more climbers who had apparently followed our route. We debated which of the two summits was the highest, finally sending one person over to the other one to check. He reported that “both summits are higher, but that the one we were on was ‘more higher’.” (He and his partner were day-hiking a giant loop from Tuolumne Meadows, over Vogelsang Peak, across a saddle east of Parsons Peak, down to Ireland Lake, and then back to Tuolumne Meadows via Lyell Canyon!)

Shelley, Owen, and Dan on the summit of Vogelsang Peak. October 11, 2003.

After about an hour and a half on the summit we finally descended, taking the alternate eastern gully route down to Vogelsang Pass. (My verdict is that the gully route is probably more straightforward, but perhaps less interesting than our ascent route.) From the pass we headed back down to our camp at Fletcher Lake, arriving around 3:30 – giving us time to take care of various important chores (lounging by the lake, taking a nap) before dinner. The temperature dropped quickly after the early sunset, but we were visited by a nearby group of four hikers (three of whom had shared the summit with us) and we talked until 8:30. In an astonishing coincidence, one of them turned out to be one of Owen’s fellow Cal music majors whom he had not seen since college!

On Sunday we again got up late – waiting for the sun to strike our camp – and began the easy hike back to Tuolumne Meadows around 10:15. After a few pauses along the way we arrived back at the parking lot before 2:00. We loaded up the cars and drove up over the pass for our end-of-season lunch at Tioga Pass Resort about 2 hours before they closed for the season.

Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River. October 11, 2003.

And thus ended the 2003 backpacking season. It was a great one: a week-long canoe/backpack trip in British Columbia; another week-long trip into Pioneer Basin; several late season trips in the Yosemite area.
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October 13, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Fletcher Lake Trip Report

More on retreating Sierra glaciers

After I posted the story found below on this page, I remembered that I took a photo illustrating this situation when I climbed Vogelsang Peak just two days ago.

Drainage below McClure Peak (near Mt. Lyell) in Yosemite. Photograph from the summit of Vogelsang Peak, October 11, 2003.

Look in the shaded portion of the ridgeline at the far right side of the picture – directly above the rightmost lake – where you can spot two small, shaded permanent snowfields. Look down the slope below them to see older terminal moraines marking the previous extent of the glaciers.

Sierra devotees may recognize the following peaks, from left to right: Parsons Peak, Mt. Simmons, Mts. McClure and Lyell.

(Note: I am aware that many factors can contribute to the natural increase and decrease in the size of glaciers.)
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October 13, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on More on retreating Sierra glaciers

Retreating Sierra Glaciers

Drainage near Mt. Lyell photographed from summit of Vogelsang Peak. October 11, 2003.
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October 13, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Retreating Sierra Glaciers

Fletcher Lake update

It now looks like the weather should be beautiful – maybe as warm as 60 degrees during the day and down to the low to mid-twenties at night at 10,300′ Fletcher Lake. I’m already imagining my walk through the open meadows of upper Rafferty Creek at around 9:00 pm as the full moon rises over Fletcher Peak. :-)

By the way, I was wrong in an earlier post. I think we’ll climb Vogelsang Peak, not Fletcher Peak.
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October 9, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Fletcher Lake update

Fletcher Lake Finale

My final pack trip of the year is coming up soon. Every year a few friends and I head up to Tuolumne Meadows in mid-October; for a pack trip to Fletcher Lake if conditions cooperate, or for something nearer the road if the weather turns wintery. Looks like it will be Fletcher Lake this year. Yay!

Since I teach until midday on Fridays, I won’t be able to depart for the Sierra until about lunch time. If things go well I can get to the trailhead in about 4 1/2 hours or a few minutes less. So, I expect to be at the trailhead around 5:00. I should be able to complete at least half of the 7-mile uphill hike before dark, so I can look forward to and hour and a half or two hours of hiking in the dark. Fortunately, I know this trail quite well and there should be some moonlight as I pass over the relatively open terrain on the upper half of the hike.

We have a tentative plan to climb Fletcher Peak on Saturday and spend that evening at Fletcher Lake again. We’ll hike out on Sunday, catch the final Tioga Pass Resort meal of the season, and then head back to the Bay Area.
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October 7, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Fletcher Lake Finale

New blog format

I made a formatting change to this website that should make it easier for me to post updates. A side-effect is that several recent posts no longer appear on the home page. However, you can use the calendar on the right side of the page to go directly to their posting dates.
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October 4, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on New blog format

Fall leaves at Almaden Quicksilver Park

I thought it might be ironic to capture spectacular fall colors… in black and white.
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October 4, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on Fall leaves at Almaden Quicksilver Park

2003.10.04

***Oil Rush in Siberia Puts Other Treasures at Risk.
A remote expanse of green in the heart of Siberia is part of the largest wetland on earth. It also holds oil, lots of it. By Sabrina Tavernise. [New York Times: Science]
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October 4, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.10.04

2003.10.02

***Sponsors Ease Bill on Gases That Warm the Climate.
The two senators who are sponsoring legislation to fight global warming announced on Wednesday that they would soften the bill to gain support for a vote expected this month. By Jennifer 8. Lee. [New York Times: Science]

***Senate Democrats Boycott Hearing on E.P.A. Nominee.
The boycott of a committee hearing on the nomination of Gov. Michael O. Leavitt of Utah to head the environmental agency delayed a vote that would have moved it to the Senate floor. By Katharine Q. Seelye. [New York Times: Science]
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October 2, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.10.02

2003.09.30

***GPS Users Still Lost in the Woods.
As GPS navigation services and gadgets become more popular, people are discovering they can still lose their way — even when they know their exact coordinates. By James Bernard Frost. [Wired News]

“I’ve heard stories of people being lost in the woods with thousand-dollar GPS devices,” says volunteer Shawn Gillogly. The biggest problem with GPS “is that it assumes you know how to use it. Nothing can replace proper orienteering skills and training.”

So far I have resisted the techno-lust lure of GPS units… but sometimes I catch myself slipping.

Several years ago I was associated with a school group that was backpacking on a little-used Sierra trail. They lost the track in an unmaintained section. The leader had a GPS but was unable to use it to get out of the situation because he could not relate the precise GPS coordinates to the map that he had. As he said, “I knew exactly where we were lost.” They finally extricated themselves using the traditional route-finding skills that are still critical.
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September 30, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.09.30