Undescribed Cross Country Experiences

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sekihiker
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Undescribed Cross Country Experiences

Post by sekihiker »

I was rereading Bluewater's excellent trip report - http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... =1&t=10505 - which had been kicked to the top of the Backpacking / Hiking / Camping forum by comments from Harlan and Jimr. Jimr said of Finger Col, "I hadn't read anything [in] Roper before, but Portal meant a way through, so I relied on that name to find a way across."

It reminded me of several routes I've taken over unknown territory that looked good on the map but I was unaware of any route description or name until later.

The first pass I crossed is listed in Roper as Cyclamen Pass and I went over it via Columbine then Cyclamen Lake. It is listed on the High Sierra Topix Map as "Cyclemen [sic] Lake Pass". I described it my trip report: http://www.sierrahiker.com/FiveLakes1990/index.html

I called another pass Picket Col in my Kaweah Basin Report - http://www.sierrahiker.com/KaweahBasin/index.html - and I have seen it called Lawson Pass on reports on this site. It is not shown on the High Sierra Topix Map.

Another route was over the ridge between Little Five and Big Five lakes which I called 55 Pass (not really a pass but a ridge crossing) - see: http://www.sierrahiker.com/SouthernGWD/index.html - also not shown on the High Sierra Topix Map.

Have you looked at a map - or a gap - and decided to try a route even though you hadn't seen it in any guide?
Did you find out later that the pass had a name? Did you share your experience in a trip report?
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Re: Undescribed Cross Country Experiences

Post by Jimr »

I didn't share it in a TR, but in 2010 I shared it in a post on this site about strangers on the trail. It was only a half dozen years ago that I saw that it is called Nietzsche Col.
In 1985, four of us were in Ionian Basin. One of our group had smashed his ankle and to his luck, Ranger Randy strolled by within an hour of the incident. He camped near by, around a rocky outcrop and called for a helicopter to transport him out the next day. It was quite a fiasco and another story, but finally, around 2pm, he was on his way to a nearby hospital. The remaining three of us decided to cut our trip short and bypass some of our trip by hiking over a pass catching the Muir trail from their to Dusy basin and out.

A storm was rolling in, but we headed up toward the pass anyway. We had to deal with hail all the way to the pass and as we approached the pass, thunder and lightning. Just before assaulting the pass, we were hit by a huge strike with immediate thunder that shook the whole place. We threw off our external frame packs and ran down from the pass to a rock cliff face and huddled there until we could count roughly 7 seconds between the lightning strike and the thunder roar. At that point, we ran back to our packs and flew over the pass and down the snow covered North slope until regrouping at a rocky outcropping to give our nerves a little break. Hiking down the pass, we came immediately upon the Muir Hut and went inside. We were welcomed by 17 or 18 hikers who were coming up trail through the rain and soaked to the skin. Since we were coming down, we were nicely dry.

All of the hikers had their stoves going trying to warm up, get a hot meal and hopefully, dry out their sleeping bags a bit before night fall. We found ourselves a spot and cooked some grub, then we all sat around drinking hot toddies and sharing stories. We opted to sleep outside of the hut and leave room for those who had to sleep wet.

That’s the only strangers on the trail story I have, so I guess I still have some living to do. It was quite a drastic change of events from one moment battling hail and possible death by electrocution to a warm wilderness party.

A little side note. Several year later, I read where a ranger named Randy was found dead in the Sierra, I suspect he may have been one in the same. If so, thank you Randy for giving up your day off to help us. The most notable part of Ranger Randy was the fact that his boots were more shoe goo than leather.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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Re: Undescribed Cross Country Experiences

Post by wildhiker »

I often try cross-country passes and routes that have no names and no write-ups in guidebooks or easily found online (actually, I don't always look online - sometimes it's better to have a little mystery). And they always seem to work out. BUT, I generally only try a new xc route/pass in an area where I have already done a lot of hiking on described routes and so I can compare the proposed route on map and satellite view to what I have already done. For example, I've done a lot of cross-country hiking in the Cathedral Range in Yosemite and have found that it is generally open slabs, meadows, and forests with little talus. So based on what I've seen, plus a cursory look at the Google satellite view, I was convinced that I would have no problem crossing the unnamed pass west of Emeric Lake and making my way to Nelson Lake on my trip last summer. It turned out to be quite simple and I wrote it up for the HST cross-country passes forum as "unofficial Emeric Pass".

I like the "evolutionary" approach of hiking trails and described routes and then venturing off cross-country in the same area.

-Phil
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Re: Undescribed Cross Country Experiences

Post by giantbrookie »

sekihiker wrote:Have you looked at a map - or a gap - and decided to try a route even though you hadn't seen it in any guide?
Did you find out later that the pass had a name? Did you share your experience in a trip report?
Yes, I've done this routinely. I started doing this in my old peak bagging days when I'd look at a map or the terrain and try a new route on a peak. Of course the peak climbing guidebooks in those days were vague enough that even attempting to follow a route often resulted in developing your own.

As for passes and other off trail routes while backpacking or dayhiking but not for peak bagging, I've done this often be it in the Sierra or the Klamath Mtns (Trinity Alps/Russian/Marble Mtns Wilderness).

Some of my favorite "recent" (since 2000) routes I've done that I didn't read about anywhere include (all done with full pack):
1. (2014) The sidehill traverse from Kuna Col then over the crest to Lost Lakes (day 1 of 'Yosemite Inside Out 2014'),followed by the 'wrap around the corner' route to Crest Lake and eventually to Gem Pass and the Algers (day 2 of Yosemite Inside Out).
2. the "off trail direct" routes to Woodchuck L., (multiple versions of this beginning with descent and route from Woodchuck L to Hoffman Mtn kickoff on the Tunechuck 2008 trip, day 5)
3. The extra long, mostly sidehill route from Hoffman Mtn over multiple ridges to below Hummingbird Lake (Tunechuck 2008 day 1)
4. Long multi-ridge crossing route from Hummingbird Lake to Maxson Lake to Scepter Lake (Tunechuck 2008 day 4).
5. Crossing Glacier Ridge (2002). Some of this is in various books (Arnot comes to mind) but I had not read any of this information when I took this route from Deadman Canyon to some unnamed lakes (on the Deadman side) then over the top to Josephine L. then down the drainage S of the outlet to Cloud Canyon. The latter was one of the most "unknown" blind descents I've done.

6. To Picket Creek by going OVER Picket Guard Peak (2003). OK, the basic part of this, the north ridge of Picket Guard Peak is in various guidebooks (various version of the High Sierra climbers guide and then Secor) doing a high peak as a way over a ridge was something that developed on the spur of the moment as we weighed our options from the north side. One thing is for sure, we avoided a lot of loose rock going this way because the rock was very solid. The only minor snag was taking the full packs over the short class 3 knife edge section just short of the summit. The general mindset here is similar to my route to Lake Italy from Little Lakes Valley that goes over rounded high point 13120+ N of Bear Creek Spire instead of the low point ("Cox Col"). I most recently went over the 13120+ hump in 2015, first did this route in 1986 when I noticed that the average slope angle on the topo was much less going up the 'shoulder' to the high point than trying to hit the low point to the south. In the case of Picket Guard Pk, however, I can't say that this route was superior to doing the low point which I'm told isn't too bad (and it is NOT as steep as doing the N ridge of Picket Guard). Going over the peak was probably more fun, however, and the view was amazing.

Some "oldies"favorites (full pack only)
Two passes described in books but I didn't see descriptions of these until long after I did them:
Pass between Convict Cyn area (say Cloverleaf Lake) and Ram Lakes Basin (1991)
Direct pass from Pine Creek to Bear Basin (1992--allowed us to get into Bear Basin on day 1 from Pine creek trailhead).

Other memorable ones none of which I had any info on the routes before I did them (full pack):
Bright Dot Lake via outlet stream from Convict Canyon 1972. Memorable because I'm pretty sure this was first off trail backpack trip.

Ascent of slot canyon of Genevieve Creek, Convict Cyn to Genevieve Lake (1984 & 1991). One of my very favorite short off trail routes. Incredibly beautiful and scenic. I got the idea for doing this after being impressed with the appearance of the slot canyon during my 1972, 1976 and 1981 trips to Bright Dot L.

Edyth Lake via north side of Kendrick Creek (1986). Not on favorites list owing to some horrid brush plus challenging crossing of Bartlett Creek.

Edyth and lake downstream of it from vicinity of Laurel L. (1992--went from HH trailhead to lake below Edyth on d1). I still remember getting to the rim of the canyon, looking down and saying "now the adventure begins". This trip ushered in the "golden age" of off trail backpacking for me and Judy.

Descent of Barrett Creek from Knapsack Pass to bottom (1993). I'm pretty sure I didn't read anything about this before attempting it. It was crazy then (late July 1993) with big booming water in the slot canyon. We (me and Judy) are the only ones I know who have actually enjoyed this route (in both directions, too: day 2 of trip to Dumbbell Lake on descent and day 7 for ascent).

Ascent to Iceland Lake (Emigrant Wilderness) (1991). Had no idea which way was best. The way we went we were initially blocked by a cliff band but we found a narrow bench (exposed in some places) that got us through the band. Exit (descent) route via the Lewis Lakes was also very scenic, but less interesting from an uncertainty standpoint.
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Re: Undescribed Cross Country Experiences

Post by SSSdave »

Hi sekihiker, like the topic thanks.

HST has a whole sub-forum with such information people have been adding to.

http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... 31&t=14993

And not a few times we've discussed travel across difficult areas. See my SSSdave posts in these two threads for one of my own inputs, the first in 2008 from Mt Hoffman and the second White Bear Pass:

http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... it=hoffman

http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... =1&t=14981

For decades, I've been off trail backpacking routes discerned from very careful topographic map analysis alone and there are of course many others that do so also including not a few peakbaggers. Of course many of those years were before the Internet era and far enough back before 7.5 minute topos when we used the old 15 minute USGS maps. Much of that was to areas I had never previously visited. In this era with satellite views and Google Earth one can understand terrain significantly more. Of course I have also always used other available information like from the Wilderness Press, Roper, and Secor books plus geological maps that indicate the likely nature of the rock type. Doing so evaluating gradient lines, with high probability I know where I can travel class 1 or 2 and where class 3 becomes more likely or worse. But until one actually visually sees a location, one does not have certainty. Generally my goals in these mountainous regions are not to find ways to cross otherwise impossible places but rather figuring out and finding most efficient least strenuous routes like any animal, especially if I am carrying a heavy pack.

David
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Re: Undescribed Cross Country Experiences

Post by alpinemike »

Well Rogue has certainly done just that. Found an obvious notch on a ridge and taken it. He and I have done so before as well. Although after we go through it we try and name it someone that it's easier to refer to and reference on our Forum. Passes like Adventurer and Ionian along with Black Divide Crossing come to mind. Those are some of my favorite by far.
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Re: Undescribed Cross Country Experiences

Post by ERIC »

alpinemike wrote:Although after we go through it we try and name it someone that it's easier to refer to and reference on our Forum.
Which has been very helpful and appreciated, I might add. :thumbsup:
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Re: Undescribed Cross Country Experiences

Post by AlmostThere »

I've been over "saddle too nondescript to name" a lot of times, between Yosemite and Golden Trout.

Also "that #$%! notch I never want to see again" and "stupid route, never doing that again."
And "what was I thinking" mountain...
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Re: Undescribed Cross Country Experiences

Post by Jimr »

Hey, I was on one of those "what the hell was I thinking" routes before. 1985, I was at Martha Lake with the intent of going over Reinstein pass. I got this bright (stupid) idea that rather than haul straight up to the pass, that I could angle through the talus on the left and ease the elevation gain. When I was about 3/4 through the talus, they became huge. I finally made it in sight of the end of the talus when I came across the biggest boulders. There was one move between me and the suncups and the pass. One monster boulder broken in half, flat side up with a large full boulder on top. The flat of the half boulder made for a path, but the boulder on top bulged out so I couldn't walk on it. I took off my pack and placed it on the path, then pushed it in front of me as I slid on my stomach behind it. Push, slide, repeat. What the hell was I thinking?
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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