TR: Kearsarge to Cottonwood July 30-August 8 2018

[davidsheridan]

Great Trip and Nothing to be disappointing about - 8 days in some of the best parts of the Sierra!

One of my favorite trips of all time was Kearsarge to Whitney! Some great campsites indeed!

I can't wait to see more and more new places and take more trips, but that has been my favorite trip so far. Thanks for sharing and bringing back the memories!

[kpeter]

Really enjoyed the TR and the wonderful pictures your were able to capture, in spite of the smoke on the horizon.
More importantly, how is your knee? What is the doc saying? Have they x-rayed or scoped it yet? Your knee isn't locking I hope? Probably will have you rest, ice, and take some OTC pain killers, if it's not bad, maybe some physical therapy.

Thanks for the concern, Mav. I've got an appointment next week, but this is nothing I haven't been through before and it isn't serious enough to rush to urgent care. I'll probably have the same option I did last time: scoping it again to clear out the torn bits, or ibuprofen whenever it flares up. Now ibuprofen is a backpacker's wonder drug.

[apeman45]

Great trip report and it brought back a lot of memories. I've been in that area in October in good weather windows and have enjoyed solitude. In the last 10 years that area has become a carnival indeed.

Those beautiful flowers are my favorites. They are called sky pilots (Polemoniums) and only grow over 12,000 feet. You can find them on Forester and MT Dana in Yosemite has lots of them. That dull area between Crabtree and up and over Guyot to Soldier lake is actually an area I love because of the trees. Those are almost all Foxtail Pines that grow nowhere else in the world except in the high regions of SEKI.

Congrats on your trip and even with one good wheel and Russian carnivals the High Sierra is magic. My first summit of Whitney had a night at Long lake as well so it's also an old friend. I'm an old guy too so I can relate. I finally had to do a total knee replacement 6 months ago and it's actually improved my hiking and I have no limitations. There is still gas in the tank!

[kpeter]

That dull area between Crabtree and up and over Guyot to Soldier lake is actually an area I love because of the trees. Those are almost all Foxtail Pines that grow nowhere else in the world except in the high regions of SEKI.

Thansk for this information! I kept noticing pines that had bark the color of Ponderosas but much too high in elevation to be Ponderosas, and the texture was wrong. I thought their trunks were handsome.

DSC03652-1.jpg

[apeman45]

Yup those are Foxtails. I'm a tree nerd and made a video about foxtails. If you are really bored check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4on89Qd8DNY

[giantbrookie]

What a great trip in spite of your knee injury on day 2 (I hyperextended one on my day 2 but I don't think it was as bad as yours). Your report brings back some fond memories of my one trip through a lot of that region (Cottonwood-Shepherd in 1996) and along with GWD report are reminders that one trip there isn't enough. I'm curious about the fellow you met who did multiple archaeological digs at Manzanar. Does this mean digs for an earlier history there (ie pre-WWII)? I don't imagine one has to dig around too much for the WWII era stuff.

[maiathebee]

Nice trip! I'm glad you were able to have a good time and see some amazing places even with the knee injury. I hope you're able to get it healed without too much downtime.

Also, those flowers you saw on Whitney were Sky Pilot, my favorite

[kpeter]

I'm curious about the fellow you met who did multiple archaeological digs at Manzanar. Does this mean digs for an earlier history there (ie pre-WWII)? I don't imagine one has to dig around too much for the WWII era stuff.

We did not get much into detail, but it is for the WWII era stuff. He told me that when Manzanar was torn down the government invited anyone who wanted to come salvage lumber from the buildings. They have discovered that a few of the barracks were taken apart, carted away, and stored whole and then forgotten. They have more recently been reclaiming these disassembled buildings and working on setting them back up on foundations in the camp. My guess is that the archaelogy may have something to do with the reconstruction efforts, but I don't really know. In any case, it sounded very interesting and I was impressed with how much seems to be happening at Manzanar since I last toured the site.

[BigSea]

Nice report, thanks for sharing. My wife and I were just in that area and looks like we just missed crossing paths with you as we reconnected to the JMT at Wallace Creek (coming from Colby Pass) shortly after you passed through. I can even see our car in your trailhead photo.

Those storms definitely slowed us down a bit as well and we also ended up camping a bit shy of our intended destination a couple nights.

Anyway, such a great area and your report makes me want to go back even more.

[giantbrookie]

I'm curious about the fellow you met who did multiple archaeological digs at Manzanar. Does this mean digs for an earlier history there (ie pre-WWII)? I don't imagine one has to dig around too much for the WWII era stuff.

We did not get much into detail, but it is for the WWII era stuff. He told me that when Manzanar was torn down the government invited anyone who wanted to come salvage lumber from the buildings. They have discovered that a few of the barracks were taken apart, carted away, and stored whole and then forgotten. They have more recently been reclaiming these disassembled buildings and working on setting them back up on foundations in the camp. My guess is that the archaelogy may have something to do with the reconstruction efforts, but I don't really know. In any case, it sounded very interesting and I was impressed with how much seems to be happening at Manzanar since I last toured the site.

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I haven't been to the site since the mid 90s and at that time there was very little developed there except for the usual California Historical marker and a plaque. This motivates me to drop in next time I'm in the area. To bring this closer to the subject of the thread, Manzanar figures prominently the history and legends of High Sierra hiking/fishing as documented in the superb film Manzanar Fishing Club (there are earlier Topix threads touching on this). The places around Shepherd Pass, the Kern headwaters, etc. are even more interesting when considering that history. I regret that my backpacking trips to that area in 1978 and 1996 predated my hearing about those intrepid fishermen, but that knowledge will enhance my experience when I return (or hope to) someday.