2017 Summer Hike with RoguePhotonic

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Shawn
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Re: 2017 Summer Hike with RoguePhotonic

Post by Shawn »

Hey Rogue -

Congrats on lifes' changes and a new passion. Much respect for your 800 days spent in the mountains in the last 9 years. That is a huge achievement for which most of us mortals would never get close to in a lifetime. You have made some serious contributions here which will be to the benefit of many of us, and many more to come through HST for beta.

Hope to see you around.
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alpinemike
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Re: 2017 Summer Hike with RoguePhotonic

Post by alpinemike »

Well the first section is done. Albeit a little differently than planned...naturally.

My girlfriend and I made it up to the top of Taboose in one long day, which was pretty impressive considering she had something like 16 days worth of food on her back. She packed too much food for our 12 day trip. The next day major thunderstorms rolled in and we were forced to stay in camp all day at the top of the pass. The following day proved similar but it never really rained but threatened too all day. The following day we climbed Goodale and the day after that I climbed Cardinal. That day we headed to Bench Lake for the HST Meetup, which was a fantastic time.

The next day we headed over Arrow Pass and camped in the Arrow Creek drainage amid some of the worst mosquitoes I've ever dealt with. I'd call them an 8/10. We climbed Pyramid Peak and then climbed Arrow the following day. We bailed out of there since we just couldn't stand the mosquitoes anymore. We had excellent weather those days. After climbing Arrow we camped at Bench Lake again and then headed to Lake Marjorie where there were still plenty of mosquitoes.

So... the next day we decided it's time to go. We actually went from Lake Marjorie over Pinchot and down and up Sawmill Pass and out in one very long day! From 12,100+ Feet at the top of Pinchot to 4,500 Feet at the bottom at the Trailhead. Now that's called a drop! I think it's something close to 20 miles so a Marathon hiking day. We ended up getting back to the car around 3 am. I personally liked hiking in the desert at night, since I hate the heat and the desert heat did not sound very pleasant or fun. We even saw a small scorpion on the trail a couple miles from the car in the desert.

All in all a good section that would have been a lot better had there not been a ton of mosquitoes. Hoping that Miter Basin is better in that department.

Since we got out a few days early we had a full day to refresh in Bishop. The following day we did a dayhike up to the top of Kearsarge Pass, which was a first for me and it was beautiful. We slept at the TH there that night and had a grand thunderstorm show. Now we're in SoCal and headed to a wedding today.

Back out on the trail tomorrow!
Never put off a backpacking trip for tomorrow, if you can do it today...
Alpine Mike-

http://mikhailkorotkinphotography.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Jimr
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Re: 2017 Summer Hike with RoguePhotonic

Post by Jimr »

I love night hiking in the desert as well. That is one lonnnng day from Marjorie to Sawmill TH. My knees are sore just thinking about it.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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100Peaks
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Re: 2017 Summer Hike with RoguePhotonic

Post by 100Peaks »

I am really late to this thread, but RoguePhotonic's posts, photos, and trips over the years have given me many great ideas. And they have actually solved some mysteries of my trips back when I was 12-15 and I just had some pictures of them. Since Rogue has been everywhere, I was able to deduce many of the locations I had been so long ago by comparing them to his photos as he trekked over unnamed passes. I vicariously followed his trips while I was raising my daughter and getting my business off the ground. Now that my daughter is 10 and I am nearing my late 40's, she's been on her first Sierra backpacking trip and is asking for more. Luckily I plotted all of Rogue's trips on Google Earth, so I won't be at a shortage of any gorgeous destinations in the future. I am ready to start spending more time up there. Maybe not 95 days in a season, but definitely more than I am right now. Thank you, and Cheers.
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