High Sierra Topix

I can't say that I recall a difference in air traffic at that time. Generally the only time that I pay attention to it is when it's loud enough to bother me (helicopters) or it obscures part of the sky with criss-crossing contrails - or the time on Whitney that an F-14 circled the peak. What a sight!

I can't resist showing my age:

We were out in the backcountry (Merced drainage in Yosemite, I think) at the time that Richard Nixon resigned (9 August 1974), and only just happened to run into a party going in as we were on our way out on the last day. They greeted us as usual, passed by, and then skidded to a stop, saying "wait! How long have you been out!" Then they told us the President had resigned. It was a total shock, because he had been loudly maintaining his innocence when we left.

An interesting comment on the timeliness of news coverage: we bought a newspaper immediately (as soon as we passed the first store), and the only confirmation we could find was a very small item, well back in the paper, about something "President Ford" had done. Very strange!

BSquared wrote:Then they told us the President had resigned.

I was on the HST at that time. My parents were to pick me up at the end of my hike and then we'd all go north on a family vacation. BUT, she worked for the phone company, which was talking about going on strike, and if the strike happened the vacation was off. So, I asked a party coming in if they knew about a strike, and they said no, but the president resigned. I thought things must be bad at the phone company if its president resigned, having forgotten all about Watergate.

We did it South/North from Crescent Meadows. We dropped most of the extra food we were carrying at Wallace Creek and day hiked Whitney from the west from above Guitar Lake.

Problem was we ran out of food at Tyndall Creek but met our resupply at Kearsarge Lakes the next day late -- and VERY hungry. After that it went as planned. And yes the last few days were a bit of let down but upper Yosemite was beautiful on way out.

Next time will be N/S. Mainly to see the view we probably missed by not turning around.

SPeacock wrote:We did it South/North from Crescent Meadows. We dropped most of the extra food we were carrying at Wallace Creek and day hiked Whitney from the west from above Guitar Lake.

Problem was we ran out of food at Tyndall Creek but met our resupply at Kearsarge Lakes the next day late -- and VERY hungry. After that it went as planned. And yes the last few days were a bit of let down but upper Yosemite was beautiful on way out.

Next time will be N/S. Mainly to see the view we probably missed by not turning around.

I turned around at the top of the golden staricase and got a gorgeous view of the Palisades. I wonder how much other stuff I missed. I know I missed a few views of the Minarets.

I did it from Crescent Meadow to Whitney, to Whitney Portal, back to Whitney, and then north on the JMT. I should have paid someone $100 or so to haul 8 days of food up to the summit and meet me there. 6000ft down and then back up the next day was interesting, but I won't do it again.