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2019 Season Review

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2019 2:16 pm
by c9h13no3
Well, it's about that time of year. CaliforniaFallColor.com is issuing last calls in the mountains, Mav is planning next year's gatherings, and Tioga pass has already closed once due to snow. Unless you're ice climbing, ice skating, or doing an icy day hike, most of us have exited the back country for the year. At least until the snow starts falling again.

So while everyone writes trip reports (when they can), it's sometimes good to take a high level view of things. How'd your season go?

Mine was pretty good. Every weekend I had free, I got into the mountains somewhere. The goal was to ski as long as the snow was good, do a lot of trail running August-October. I also wanted to explore more west side trail heads (more time hiking, less time driving), only driving over to the east side in fall, when the aspens demand it. The skiing was a success, with 3 trips in late spring. Trail running was a success with several one day efforts over 25 miles, including the Rae Loop. I also didn't spend a single minute waiting in line for permits or campsites, life is too short for that crap.

My main regret was that everything was focused on the Rae Lakes run, so I didn't get any backpacking in at all. Just dispersed camped or stayed in hotels all summer. I also didn't get to do any real "exploring", all the peaks & routes I used had guidebook entries & are well documented. There's so many mountains out there, I feel a bit of an obligation to help prevent over crowding by visiting more obscure places.

Bullet points:

- 6 summits (counting all those Echo Peaks as one)
- National Park Pass Used: 5 times
- Best scenery: Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne
- New friends made in the mountains: 5

And here's a picture of the Clark range, because pictures are great :)

Clark!.jpg

Re: 2019 Season Review

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2019 5:30 pm
by Wandering Daisy
Not my best season, between the lingering late snow, mid-season mosquitoes and lots of family issues. A lot of re-routing. But "some" is better than "none". Fishing went from totally skunked to good.

Yosemite in June- 6 days, from Glacier Point- Panorama Trail, JMT, cross over to Merced, down Merced, Happy Isles, camp in valley, up Pohono. This trip went as planned.

Emigrant 4 days late June- Kennedy Lake, Relief Reservoir, stopped by snow in Lunch Meadow.

Emigrant 5 days early July- First 2.5 days stopped by Cherry Creek stream crossing; bailed and went back up to Kennedy Lake with nice side trips.

late July 5 days- Pika Lake, Ram Lake, Purple Lake, Virginia Lake with day hike to upper Ram Lakes, long walk out the last day. Skipped south section of planned trip.

Aug 12-22, main trip of the summer, Cottonwood Lakes-Wallace, Wrights, upper Kern, Milestone, Crabtree Lakes, Consultation Lake, out Whitney Portal. This went as planned and was by far my favorite.

Sept 5-12, North Lake loop, again, had to re-route the trip due to weather. Nevertheless, turned out to be a pretty good trip.

Re: 2019 Season Review

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2019 7:17 pm
by davidsheridan
Great year for my standards.

Climbing for Kids Fundraiser Trips:

Late May - My Shasta Via Avalanche Gulch
June - Half Dome twice camping at LYV
July - My Baker
August - final Half Dome trip - dayhike

Trips with wife and or family

July - Marble Mountains 4 night
August - awesome family camping trip on Hat creek
October - Spanish National Prk - killer Day Hiking in pyrenees.

Next year I plan to organize many Climbing for Kids fundraisers benefiting www.bawt.org

& Thanks to this group, I have been inspired to go to the Wind River Range for our first trip there. I got Wandering Daisy's excellent guidebook and a couple maps and I am starting to study and plan that adventure.

Re: 2019 Season Review

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2019 8:09 pm
by Gazelle
Winter spring some good skiing and a couple skimo races with peaks

April—2 day Grand Canyon hike Boucher trail to Hermit loop
May—Hiking around Tahoe peaks all day hikes
June—Tahoe hikes, Bolton brown/Birch day hike
July—10 day Ionian basin and surrounding backpack lots of snow but beautiful 5 days with friend 5 days solo 16 peaks
Aug—5 days of sierra challenge 16 peaks, 5 day pack pack solo Ionian basin and surrounding 7 peaks
Sept—Couple days day hiking sonora pass area peaks, Whitney with friends up MR down trail in wicked wind, more day hiking close to Tahoe
Oct—3 day backpack solo out Sabrina to peaks around/by Echo lake 7 peaks, More Tahoe stuff...Last trip day hike sunrise trail to clouds rest, along ridge over most anything tall or cool, up half dome and down to valley floor big shuttle but beautiful

So far this year 110 peaks and counting especially if it doesn’t snow! Not as many as last year but not over yet...Yep kind of love getting out there!
Kristine

Re: 2019 Season Review

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2019 9:10 pm
by balzaccom
This was a tough year for me, because my wife and hiking partner has been fighting some issues with her foot. That said, we've still managed to hike about 200 miles, spend almost two months in our sleeping bags, and see a whole lot of places that we hadn't seen before.

And I put in a few days on trail crews as well---always feel good about that.

Re: 2019 Season Review

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2019 10:55 pm
by wildhiker
Wandering Daisy, your "not my best season" would absolutely be my best season if I could get out that much! I admire that you are able to do it. It always seems to me that I never get out into the mountains as much as I would like.

This summer was bracketed with important family events: 2nd daughter's wedding on June 22 (in D.C.) and 1st daughter's new baby on September 6. Plus my 50th high school reunion in mid-September.

Four Sierra backpack trips this summer plus some car-camping nights before or after. We waited until mid-August to go high in order to (successfully) avoid snow and mosquitoes:
1) One night wife and I to Kibbie Lake in Yosemite on the last weekend in June. We intended to go to Rancheria Creek from Hetch Hetchy but decided the trail would not be safe at Wapama Falls due to high flow after calling the park. We did swing by and do a day hike out to Wapama Falls after our backpack which confirmed the wisdom of our decision!
2) Two nights in Yosemite in second week of August (camps at Nelson Lake and near Tuolumne Pass) with wife, daughter, and her new husband, who is a backpacking newbie (and definitely liked it).
3) One night wife and I in upper Truckee River area out of Carson Pass late August.
4) Five nights solo loop out of Tuolumne Meadows around Labor Day weekend with lots of cross-country in Yosemite & Ansel Adams Wilderness - camps at Parker Creek, unnamed lake SW from Gem Pass, tarns on creek coming down from Donohue Pass near JMT, unnamed lakes on Maclure Creek, and Ireland Lake.

Wife and I also spent one or two weekends each month at our cabin off I-80 and did day hikes in the Grouse Lakes roadless area, crest areas north and south of Donner Pass, and several spots around Lake Tahoe. We finished the summer with day hikes in lovely aspen and maple groves turning color in the Wasatch and Uinta mountains in Utah while visiting our son who lives in Salt Lake City the first weekend of October.

Best thing about this summer was NO WILDFIRE SMOKE! I kept fearing that fires would break out in July, August, and September and choke the mountains in smoke like they have in the past few years. Although the heavy snowpack curtailed early season hiking for me, at least the later season had clear skies. And it also seemed to me that there were fewer days than normal with thunderstorms this summer. Second best thing was WILDFLOWERS! They were profuse all summer long, once the snow melted.

-Phil

Re: 2019 Season Review

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 9:50 am
by c9h13no3
wildhiker wrote: Tue Oct 29, 2019 10:55 pm Best thing about this summer was NO WILDFIRE SMOKE! I kept fearing that fires would break out in July, August, and September and choke the mountains in smoke like they have in the past few years. Although the heavy snowpack curtailed early season hiking for me, at least the later season had clear skies. And it also seemed to me that there were fewer days than normal with thunderstorms this summer. Second best thing was WILDFLOWERS! They were profuse all summer long, once the snow melted.
Yeah, I thought it was generally a pretty great year for everything except fall color. The snow doesn't bother me, I love playing around with crampons, axe, skis. Toys are fun. And yeah, the wildflowers and visibility all summer long was awesome. I never had a crappy & hazy summit view.

I always think of wildflowers as a low country thing, but this year I shoulda taken more trips with those in mind. I knew the waterfalls would be good, so I hit up those spots. But that's only half of the wet-winter scenery bump.

Also, all of you with jobs that don't wreck your weekends really make me envious. Everyone gets out more than me :|

Re: 2019 Season Review

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 12:58 pm
by rs44
Mixed season. The first where I really got into hiking (following a great trip to Desolation and Kaiser in 2018). I live in Chicago, so it's costly to get to the Sierra (not to mention hard when balancing work interests...)

December, 2018: Went snow-shoeing for the first time and successfully climbed Castle Peak and Basin Peak.

Mid-May, 2019: Planned a trip to the Trinity Alps that would culminate with an attempt on Shasta via Avalanche Gulch. Got really unlucky in timing - my trip, planned far in advance, coincided with the 10 day snowstorm. Made it halfway on Canyon Creek before getting turned back by an impassable stream coursing over the trail. Next day tried a trail whose name I forget and slipped on a log into a cold creek and, soaked through, decided not to continue hiking in 35 degree weather. Lastly, started Shasta in near-white out conditions. Those improved by the wind and weather turned me around at 50/50. Probably should have forged ahead to Lake Helen.

July 5: Reached Shastarama Point
July 6: Climbed Shastina
July 7: Climbed Mt. Shasta via Avalanche Gulch. In much better shape and had a great two days of acclimation. Perfect conditions, too.

Mid-July: Went to Yosemite with the girlfriend (who decided she didn't like hiking, unfortunately)
July 12: Hiked Eagle Peak and El Cap
July 13: Came a couple miles short on Cloud's Rest for, oddly, boredom (this actually turned out to be serendipitous due to car problems that required police help)
July 14: Hiked Mt. Dana
July 15: Hiked Half Dome

Aug 4: Hiked Echo Peak, Indian Rock, and Angora Peak
Aug 5: Hiked Mt. Tallac
Aug 7: Hiked Dick's Peak, Jack's Peak, and Half Moon Lake
Aug 9: Hiked Mt. Price and Mt. Agassiz from Lake Aloha

Late September trip to the Palisades. Again got stung by weather. The day before we arrived it was beautiful and warm. We arrived with a shift in wind that brought dustings of snow and 10 degree weather (negative wind chills on the peaks)
Sept 28: 500 feet short on Mt. Agassiz. Got relatively bad altitude sickness
Sept 29: Middle Palisade attempt where I came up well short because of overnight snow.

Working on trip reports for each. I know it's now many months since each, but does it provide any value to post the TRs as I complete them? More than happy to do so if there's worth in it!

Re: 2019 Season Review

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 2:19 pm
by c9h13no3
rs44 wrote: Thu Oct 31, 2019 12:58 pmdoes it provide any value to post the TRs as I complete them?
Yes, it has value. Obviously, information has more value the more timely it is. But especially for stuff like Shastarama Point (Bob Burd hasn't even gone there!) and the more obscure Desolation peaks, a good trip report will be useful long into the future.

Re: 2019 Season Review

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 5:12 pm
by stevet
Just the one hike this summer.