High Sierra Topix

That is one of the best trail reports I have ever read. The pics, the details. Thank you so much for sharing.

Texan

"Oh my....." is what I said many times while admiring your photos. And your narrative was the icing on the cake. Thanks so much for taking us along via your trip report.

I really like that picture labeled "flowers". Awesome!

sparky wrote:I really like that picture labeled "flowers". Awesome!

Sparky: Originally I tried to post that photo labeled with the actual name of the flower in question. Which is something like "cat paws," except the first word starts with the letter "p". Unfortunately, HST's child-safe screen decided my "p" word was a dirty word, and wouldn't let me indicate the name of the flower under the photo.

- Elizabeth

Beautiful report Elizabeth!

Rattlers vs gophers - coloring and patterns are similar with many variations, and when they are moving the pattern blends together. The head and tail may not be visible. The best way for me to distinguish between the 2 at a glance, even when they are some distance away, is the "heft" of the body - rattlers are thick and heavy bodied, and gophers are slim by comparison. If you can check them out at a nature center or zoo side by side the difference is easy to see; a good field guide will also help.

EXCELLENT report!!

Great report and photos. I'm with Copeg on the Tulainyo photo. Thanks for sharing your insights.

Wow, what a report! Great mix of photos mountain vistas, lakes, wildflowers, wildlife etc. and quite the narrative too. It both makes me wish I had been there and brings back memories of my one long trip into that area, which was a New Army-Shepherd shuttle with a lot of off trail detours (Sky Blue, Crabtrees, Wallace, Wrights, Upper Kern, Williamson Bowl) in early July 1996. It is interesting that your trip also corresponded to an incoming weather situation while going back over Shepherd. My crossing of Shepherd eastward was memorable for a fierce rain with pea-sized hail upon arrival at Shepherd Pass (from Lake 11440 in Upper Kern) followed by intermittent thunderstorms while doing a little side trip (daypacks only) into Williamson Bowl (all the way to lower lakes). Then, that evening, camped somewhere above the Pothole, another wicked thunderstorm came in with very short (< 1 sec) time delays between flashes and booms.

Anyhow your report really shows me what I missed in addition to those large orange-meated goldens described in the meet up thread.

Days 8-9

“Being tentbound isn’t wholly an ordeal. The first few hours can pass in a dreamy euphoria while you lie peacefully in your sleeping bag, watching raindrops trickle down the outside of the translucent fly…Wrapped snugly in down, with the daylight’s cruel conditions filtered by nylon into a soothing twilight, there is an atmosphere of guiltless relief…There is nothing to be done but to drift back off to untroubled sleep.

“There can, however, be too much of a good thing. Even those with a gift for sloth must finally arrive at the point where sleeping further becomes impossible.”

     - “On Being Tentbound,” by Jon Krakauer, Eiger Dreams


I reached that breaking point at 10:30 a.m. on Day 8, 22.5 hours into my tent imprisonment. Rain had slowed to an intermittent drizzle. I was going to make a dash for it.

There is not much to say about this day. A big storm appeared to be queuing up at the crest. Tendrils of fog moved rapidly down the east escarpment. A UFO-shaped cloud formed over Mount Williamson. I busted downhill, trying to keep ahead of the cold air. Fortunately, the grade on the Shepherd Pass trail is optimally designed for downhill speed. So I just got drizzled on here and there. Tonight, the crest would get snow.

Still, I wasn’t ready for people. So I camped in the desert, one-half mile from the Symmes Creek stock trailhead, enjoying the warm evening and the familiar smell of desert plants soaked in rain.

Here’s my tent - still holding up! (though crooked) - drying out in the sun on Day 9.
The staff at Mount Williamson Hotel kindly fetched me at the trailhead. I was headed for two nights in metropolitan Independence. Next stop: Kearsarge Pass into Gardiner Basin.

The End

Excellent trip report. I'm jealous of those reflections you got at Wales . It was great to meet you out there.