Time to be a trail rat

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Jimr
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Re: Time to be a trail rat

Post by Jimr »

Took me 6 and a half hours to do 1.8 miles when I crossed Alpine Col because I took the wrong side of the lake which turned into the worst bolder slog I have ever done
Was that Goethe Lk or the lake SE of Alpine Col? I can't imagine you traversed the W side of the unnamed lake S/O the col, so It must have been the E side of Goethe. If so, I feel for you. I did that slog last year from N to S. Spent 3 1/2 hours in the boulder field. What a B@ll buster that was. There was one precipitous snow slope on the E side of the unnamed lake S/O the col we had to up climb around and pass at the top through the sun cups. I can't imagine the snow you had to traverse this year. Keep safe. I look forward to future posts and pics. I'm probably one of the few who are not envious. As much as I love the Sierra Nevada, I'm done with the back country after about two weeks.
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Re: Time to be a trail rat

Post by Cross Country »

I wonder how many people know how to pronounce the german name "Gueta".
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Re: Time to be a trail rat

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I thought it is closer to "Ger-ta," but not quite
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Re: Time to be a trail rat

Post by RoguePhotonic »

Resting in Mammoth now at the Sierra Nevada Lodge. This is my major luxury part of the hike that wont come again. I'm mixed on the next section as I know the snow is major. I may have allot of trouble dropping from Cecille Lake into Iceberg Lake but I guess I will find out!

It's been both great and hard. At this point the cross country is never a pleasant thought as it just takes so much out of you mentally but push on I will.

As for Alpine Col it was Goethe Lakes on the Eastern shore. It was amazing how long it took!

Well will be off to Yosemite Valley tomorrow. I have 8 days planned for this next section so my pack is heavy once again. And I picked up two new books here so ugh!
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Re: Time to be a trail rat

Post by Jimr »

Ahh, that stuff. The talus for which all other talus is defined
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If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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Re: Time to be a trail rat

Post by RoguePhotonic »

Yeah there were times I had my body completely stretched out friction climbing between rocks trying to get up.

Time to get back into the wild. I keep debating to take Nancy Pass or just cheat and take the Minaret Lake trail. Who knows what I will do but even Ropers book says do not go from Cecille to Iceberg Lake until mid afternoon with the snow. I have cut foot holds in the snow on this trip already but it's so hard to do if your climbing down! I also have glissaded on rock hard snow which took some nerve but with such a heavy pack it's not a good idea.

Time will tell. Off I go!
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Re: Time to be a trail rat

Post by RoguePhotonic »

Just saying I am alive once again! I'm back at VVR again 83 days into this trip. Had major changes when I got to Tuolumne Meadows but that section from Mammoth to Yosemite Valley was glorious beyond words!

I went one day into the last bit of the Sierra High Route and camped at the Great Sierra Mine due to the no camping locations and when I woke up in the morning I just thought "You know... I am just not feeling any more major cross country right now". So I turned around and planned a different and easy route around to the South which turned out to be a good thing because that major storm hit right after that so it would have sucked on the High Route.

I went to Cathedral Lake then did a summit of Cathedral Peak. Yes with no climbing experience and no gear and alone. Now you can call me crazy like all the climbers up there did but I made it to the summit and down alive! :cool: Then I had planned to summit Cockscomb but the weather was too bad for that or Clouds Rest so I went to Echo Lake then up Echo Creek to Nelson Lake and Reyman Lake which had me in camp most days before it rained on me.

Going forward with the major bush Whacking route down Goddard Creek then Cartridge Creek and Murro Blanco so should be fun. I think I am going to go ahead and go to Tehipiti Valley while I am at it since it's later season and there is no reason not to!

I'll be here one more day then I wont have anymore internet until I get home so we'll see what happens!
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Re: Time to be a trail rat

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Great to hear from you! Thanks for the update. Sounds like you are really having a wonderful experience (good days, bad days, interesting days, boring days, challenging days, easy days) and making good decisions.
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Re: Time to be a trail rat

Post by Cross Country »

I'm not one of the climbers and I think you're a little bit crazy (not literally). I really respect what you accomplish. What you do would never have been my cup of tea but I still respect the hell out of it. My goals were to reach the best looking (on a map), most difficult to reach fishing spot (normally a lake) and fish it. I would go the easiest route (of the difficult routes). Being there, fishing there sleeping there living there (temporarily) - that was my thing. You overcome serious challenges and your the man.
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Re: Time to be a trail rat

Post by RoguePhotonic »

I wanted to do a summit of Mt. Goddard on the way back but i'm not sure if I will because of the extra days of food and lack of knowledge on routes. Earlier I was thinking of doing the route over Wanda Pass but it would be a detour and getting back on route might be hard. Rick Sanger told me about the typical Western ridge route but I know nothing of it. Either way I am already planning to have 9 days of food as I leave here so I might just skip it. I'll just make up my mind today.

My planned route back was going to have me resupply again at Silver City Resort but they have almost no food at all in there and certainly not good stuff for hikers so not sure what my plan will be leaving Cedar Grove.

Time will tell.
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