TR: Labor Day Gold

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giantbrookie
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Re: Labor Day Gold: Hooper Basin TR

Post by giantbrookie »

windknot wrote:Now I'm trying to work out the best way to hit Cirque/Apollo/Orchid and I'm exploring different approaches from both the west and south, perhaps again kicking off at the Hooper Diversion roadhead. I'd love to try to make a loop that goes through the Cirque/Apollo area, around to Rose, then up over Crazy Pass down into Hooper Basin and out.
Matt
Matt,

Check out the latest edition of the Sierra National Forest map. It shows the unofficial stock trail that goes to the Hooper Basin as well as the one that goes to Marcella/Cirque (Apollo and Orchid are still off trail, it would appear, fortunately). The thing to do is to look at the USFS map which doesn't have topo and make a copy of the trail. Then, compare distances between common index points on the USFS map and whatever topo you'd like to use (say USFS JMW/Seki, WP Mt Abbot, or Tom Harrison Mono Divide). Calculate the reduction or enlargment factor necessary than perform the necessary adjustment on the copy of the trail using a variable enlarment/reduction xerox machine or by scanning, Photoshop scaling and printing. Then register the common points, overlay your topo over the corrected scale copy and trace the trail(s) onto your topo; an old school light table will work, but in the absence of this, so will taping the two layers to a window. In many situations I would simply choose the best route based on topo and forget about the trails (this cuts off lots of time and distance in Woodchuck Country), but in this case, I'm betting that the unofficial trail can actually save you some time.

Cheers,

John
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Labor Day Gold: Hooper Basin TR

Post by windknot »

Thanks for the tip, John. It looks like both of the stock trails afford interesting ways to reach Cirque/Apollo, and a route that uses parts of both trails may be the quickest way to get up there (while still keeping the idea of a loop trip intact). I mapped out one such idea that would entail taking the Hooper diversion trail up to its highest point (at around 9150 ft) on that south-facing slope under the Infant Buttes, then instead of following the trail as it doubles back toward Hooper basin, continue ascending N/NW and pick a route that meets up with the Marcella stock trail somewhere near Bear Dome. From there, the trail can be taken to Marcella and Cirque, with off-trail stuff starting at Cirque and continuing through Apollo, Orchid, then over to Rose and up through Crazy Pass, then down through Hooper Basin and back out to the car.

With one of your death march itineraries this could probably be done in a single weekend, but I'm planning it for a 5-day trip with camps anticipated at Marcella, Apollo, Rose, and Harvey. This would provide ample time for fishing at each of the most appealing lakes along the loop (assuming Depressed and the unnamed lake at around 10380 ft NW of it are fishless).

Any thoughts or advice about this rough itinerary are welcomed; I've got at least the entire winter to tinker with it, but I'm already getting restless so I figure I may as well start now.

Matt
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Re: Labor Day Gold: Hooper Basin TR

Post by giantbrookie »

Actually that seems to be a very fun itinerary for a 5 day trip. I thought about that area a lot because before I found out about that Marcella trail, I had a big loop planned as the no. 2 option for this year (no.1 being the Tunepite turned Tunechuck trip). The loop I had planned was a death march and I think raising the fishing time to hiking time ratio makes sense--I would do that if I had more than one trip alloted to me (may be zero in 2009 hence the "trip to end all trips" approach to 2008). My fantasy plan was a Bear Creek-Hooper Diversion Dam shuttle, but it can be done out of Hooper Diversion with the aid of both trails, much along the lines you've conceived above. In my game plan day 1 would hit Marcella and end at Cirque, day 2 would do Apollo and Orchid and end up at Three Island. day 3 would go to Lower Turret, day 4 would head back westward, cross the JMT head west of Chamberlain (to avoid cliffs) passing above the mysterious lake W of Chamberlain before ending up at Chamberlain for the final night. Owing to the existence of the trail and desire to hit trailless destinations, I am thinking of retargeting so that I focus on the Lower Turret and Pinnacles Creek area, but I haven't worked out too many of the details. I'm guessing the most I'll be allowed will probably be a 3 day trip in 2009 (payback for all the work-related travel I do: multiple field trips, one week in Houston, one and half weeks gone to Greece, more than a week in Japan, etc) and this isn't very doable in less than 4 or 5, so I haven't thought through the details.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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