Dan's Outside

2003.09.28

***Fall leaves at Almaden Quicksilver Park

I thought it might be ironic to capture spectacular fall colors… in black and white.

***A fall hike with a breathtaking payoff
[SFGate] Tom Stienstra writes:

The hike to the Mount Tallac summit is like a slow-burning fuse to a case of dynamite. On the slow trip up — even though you know the explosion is ahead — nothing can prepare you for the magnitude of the event.

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September 28, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.09.28

2003.09.24

***Agreement Reached on Nature Preserve.
The State of California has agreed to buy 2,800 acres for a tentative $150 million to create a nature preserve in place of a planned $2 billion golf course and housing community. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Science]
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September 24, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.09.24

2003.09.22

***The Sierra aspen colors
are supposed to peak in early October. I have a final pack trip planned for about that time and I think I may try to visit one of the places where there are a lot of aspens on the way there. I’m thinking of the summit of Monitor Pass near Markleeville.

***Spawning Salmon Haul Toxins to Alaska Lakes, Experts Find.
Pacific salmon release contaminants they absorbed at sea into the lakes of Alaska, to the detriment of nearby people and wildlife. By Anahad O’connor. [New York Times: Science]

Each salmon accumulates just a small quantity of PCB’s. But when the fish die together in the thousands, their decaying carcasses produce a sevenfold increase in the PCB concentrations of the spawning lakes, the study found.

***Republicans Set to Spell Out Plan for Oil Drilling in Refuge.
Republican authors of the emerging energy bill will formally propose opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling this week. By Carl Hulse. [New York Times: Business]
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September 22, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.09.22

2003.09.19

No big trips  this
weekend. I’m driving my two oldest kids to Southern California. My
daughter starts college at UCI and my son returns to UCLA. Classes
begin for me on Monday.

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September 19, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.09.19

2003.09.16

***This week’s pack trip
was similar to last week’s – but different in two ways. First, my son Brandon went with me. It is cool that he still wants to backpack with me after 18 years of this. Second, while we did go to Fletcher Lake and then climb the ridge to Ireland Lake, we did not return to Fletcher Lake and descend via Rafferty Creek. Instead we joined the trail coming up to Ireland Lake from the Lyell fork of the Tuolumne River and descended to the Muir Trail, following it back to Tuolumne Meadows. This made for a fairly long day: a couple miles of country-work following my a respectable trail hike. We hiked nearly 12 miles in all.

Brandon approaches the ridge above Ireland Lake

The usual September Sierra fires were burning. We passed the “Whiskey” fire as we drove through Yosemite near sunset.

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September 16, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.09.16

2003.09.15

***Back from a quick overnight
pack trip to Fletcher Lake in the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite with my son, Brandon. We travelled light, leaving behind lots of gear that we might take on a longer trip of if weather was threatening. We hiked up to Fletcher Lake on Saturday and on Sunday took the long way back, hiking cross-country to Ireland Lake and then down to the Muir Trail on the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River.

***A Wilderness, Unretouched.
An exhibit of 49 photographs from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska went on display over the weekend at the California Academy of Sciences. [New York Times: Science]

When they were shown at the Smithsonian Institution in the spring, Subhankar Banerjee, the photographer, complained that the exhibition had been moved downstairs and the captions had been altered under political pressure from supporters of the Bush administration plan to drill for oil there.

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September 15, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.09.15

2003.09.12

***Tuolumne trip delayed
until tomorrow. Looks like it will be a quick one!

***A photo from today’s morning hike
at Almaden Quicksilver County Park

Santa Clara Valley from near the summit of the Mine Hill Trail at Almaden Quicksilver County Park.
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September 12, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.09.12

2003.09.11

***Casting a Cold Eye on Arctic Oil
– Special report from the New York Times:

Drilling supporters also grossly understate the impact of drilling when they speak of only a 2,000-acre “footprint” in the Arctic. The reality is that oil would mean roads, lodgings, pipelines, security fences, guard stations and airstrips ˜ and my children would never be able to experience the Arctic as I have.

***Another trip
to the Sierra this weekend, this time with my oldest son – and maybe my daughter?
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September 11, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.09.11

2003.09.09

***Finally… some pictures
from my short pack trip last weekend. The first three were taken during my 8-mile cross-country jaunt on Saturday, when I ascended to a 12,000′ ridge that I had not visited before. The fourth picture was taken on the last day near the trailhead.

A small alpine tarn between Townsley and Ireland Lakes.

Looking across Ireland Lake to the terrain leading to Parsons Peak.

Tuolumne Meadows near Tuolumne Lodge with Kuna Crest in the distance. At this point I was about a half hour from the end of my trip.
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September 9, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.09.09

2003.09.08

******Still no time to post pictures
what with several meetings and work to get some computers ready for the upcoming start of school. So a text description will have to suffice for now.

On Friday I drove up to Tuolumne Meadows, arriving about 11:00. I managed to kill an hour eating a slightly-early lunch, changing into my strange-looking trail clothes, and loading up the pack. I hit the trail just after noon and adopted a steady pace – rather than my sometimes-too-fast approach to this route, the Rafferty Creek Trail to Vogelsang High Sierra Camp and Fletcher Lake. To my surprise, after hiking 2 hours without a break, when I finally felt like stopping I was halfway there. I headed on after my brief rest, soon entering a beautiful long alpine meadow that rises to Tuolumne Pass. From there it was less than a mile to Fletcher Lake and I arrived about 4 hours after I left the car.

On Saturday I got up late, waiting for the sun to warm my little tent. After completing various morning chores I finally headed out for a cross-country adventure. My goal was vague – I only knew that I would start by heading cross-country to an open alpine plateau above nearby Townsley lake, and then up a 11,000 foot ridge overlooking Ireland Lake. I stopped on the ridge for lunch and considered a high drainage across the valley on the other side of Ireland Lake: “I wonder what it would be like up there?” Since it didn’t look too bad on the map, and since I still had at least a couple of hours before my pre-determined turn-around time, I headed across the valley to the outlet stream of Ireland Lake and started up the drainage, looking for the line of least resistance. To make a long story short, I finally ended up at a narrow saddle next to 12,000+ Parsons Peak, looking into another drainage that I wanted to investigate. However, descending a steep section of loose rock on an unknown route by myself didn’t seem wise, so I snapped a few pictures (I really will post them eventually) and retraced my steps back to Fletcher Lake. In total, I hiked about 8 miles cross-country.

Once again I slept in a bit on Sunday (anyone see a pattern here?), finally starting back down the Rafferty Creek Trail a bit before 11:00.

***A Battle for Turf Where the Grizzlies Ruled.
According to some experts, a tiny population of grizzly bears of the Cabinet Mountain group may be doomed due to inaction by federal agencies. By Jim Robbins. [New York Times: Science]
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September 8, 2003 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2003.09.08