Lodgepole (Sequoia NP) question

[AlmostThere]

You do know there is housing inside the park, and towns closer than Fresno? No ranger I have conversed with has lived in Fresno.

California has a great mountain culture. I am part of it....

[Big Ed]

You do know there is housing inside the park, and towns closer than Fresno? No ranger I have conversed with has lived in Fresno.

California has a great mountain culture.

^This.

The rangers live right near where they work, as far as I know. That's been my observation when in the area during opening/closing time. They walk to work.

[RoguePhotonic]

Most of them live on the North West side of Lodgepole. There is a number of government houses in there. I stayed in one once while I installed a ceiling in the water treatment plant.

Now some of the other employees such as bus drivers come from Fresno daily.

[Big Ed]

We have a neighbor we are good friends with that drove bus in Yosemite for many years, she would be home two days and there five days. I know it's a different park, but about the same distance from home.

[WarrenFork]

Denver is a big town too, but Colorado really has a mountain culture, and California does not.

For me the idea of "mountain culture" is more localized. My criteria would be a place that's actually in the mountains, with a good share if not a preponderance of people whose everyday lives revolve around mountain experiences in one form or another. As far as California vs. Colorado goes, I'd say that Boulder has a concentration of mountain culture that lacks any real equivalent on either coast. Of the places I've lived myself, I'd nominate Chamonix, Telluride, Yosemite Valley, and Kathmandu as the purest examples. The trouble with Yosemite is the difficulty of putting down roots and staying there. I really admire people like Werner Braun and a few others I know from back in the day who've managed it. My ambitions sent me packing, both for better and for worse.

[AlmostThere]

The trouble with Yosemite is the difficulty of putting down roots and staying there. I really admire people like Werner Braun and a few others I know from back in the day who've managed it. My ambitions sent me packing, both for better and for worse.

I know quite a few people who grew up in Yosemite. They're still here. Randy Morgenson was born and raised there, but yep, he moved on - to the backcountry of SEKI.

I've never lived more than two hours from the central Sierra, and there is a reason for that. I live there. I may reside somewhere lower, but you just don't get to leave if it's really your home.

[WarrenFork]

I've never lived more than two hours from the central Sierra, and there is a reason for that. I live there. I may reside somewhere lower, but you just don't get to leave if it's really your home.

I hear you. I've come and gone, but for the past dozen years I've been able to walk out my front door and all the way up to the crest before dark if I set my mind to it.

[SSSdave]

Just read this thread for the first time including your last post oleander. Think out of the box. What I am going to suggest will be viewed as a gray area per policy. But can solve your dilemma. If numbers of people began to do this kind of thing authorities would likely write policy against such. If only a few just yawns. No doubt someone may get bent out of shape and have a knee jerk response regardless and say it is trashing or something which will just be BS to my ears. Of course people have been caching Garcias for years in the backcountry. And in Yosemite Valley not a few climbers have over decades stashed gear up in awkward talus areas where no one ever looks. As long as one does so temporarily within a short period I see no issues.

So store your food in the front country inside Garcia canisters. And put them out of sight where there is zero chance anyone is ever going to notice them. For this person that would be a simple task because there are actually vast areas right next to roads where no one ever walks. For instance in steep brushy areas on the low slope side of roads where there are no pullouts nearby for some distance. Where foot travel is unpleasant.

For your personal stuff same thing but seal it in a daypack and put the daypack in a clean black garbage bag that you duct tape close the top so it is 100% sealed. I actually occasionally do the later when stashing valuables like money, wallet, car keys, camera lens, etc instead of leaving such inside my vehicles for days at trailheads. In such cases may carry it up from a trailhead say a quarter mile to someplace absolutely no one ever has a reason to be walking about and do so. Peace of mind. In 2013 when 2 of us went over Sawtooth Pass in Mineral King for a week, we stashed our wallets, keys like this up along the trail before the first mile in a brushy area. And no it was not close to a trail as I tend to wander well away. No critters have ever bothered my stuff because it won't have any food smells. Just make sure you record where on a paper so there is zero chance of forgetting.

[MountainMinstrel]

back in the early 80s I lived in Clovis. My neighbor was a back country Ranger who also did winter snow surveys. H e usually patrolled on horseback. I wish I could remember his name.

[GraceC89]

I'm resurrecting this thread in the hopes of getting some more info about the current status of the Lodgepole post office. The SEKI website says that it's closed, and Rogue Photonic's posts seem to confirm that there aren't any employees there (at least not regularly). I'm hoping to pick up a resupply package there in late August, but it's not looking promising... Does anyone have recent experiences with the Lodgepole PO? Alternately, does anyone have creative ideas about how I could mail a resupply package to Lodgepole if the post office is in fact defunct?

Thanks!