2013 Expedition

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norcalhiker
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Re: 2013 Expedition

Post by norcalhiker »

Following along. Always impressive. Have a fun, safe summer!
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SSSdave
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Re: 2013 Expedition

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RoguePhotonic wrote:Well got into VVR a day early which is never a bad thing.

So what have I been up to? First of all I have to say you bastards! lol. If I had known going around Lake Eleanor and up that creek was so bad I wouldn't have done it! I camped my first night in about half a mile past Frog Creek. It then took me 4 hours to just reach the inlet in a total bush whack micro cliff nightmare! It ended up taking me 4 days to reach Twin Lakes. ... :p
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=37.99278,-119.83247&z=15&t=T" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No one goes up Eleanor Creek that way for a good reason. Pretty obvious just looking at the topo. One has to climb about 1000 feet above the reservoir minimally to get around the glaciated bedrock brush especially manzanita infested steep canyon wall. Frog Creek inlet is a nice place to be when trout season opens. Most sane approach is to go to Laurel Lake and then drop beyond the noname ponds. Still not a route for amateurs that can't read a topo carefully because getting off the least gradient route can easily deliver mini cliff outs.
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Re: 2013 Expedition

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Update on Rogue:
Despite all your hopes I am still very much alive out here although I think a am more skinny than I have been in many years! Got 28 peaks climbed so far including one that I was the first to climb it in 33 years so yes I do remote stuff! 41 days left if all goes well!
“The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong - that’s when adventure starts.” - Yvon Chouinard
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RoguePhotonic
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Re: 2013 Expedition

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Lol you beat me to it Chris. Yep alive and well. Been following most of my route pretty close. The next section will take me out longer than any trip before. Hopefully the weather will hold out well enough although I have already had 34 days of rain.Ill see if I cam post more in a bit. They dont keep the net on here all the time.
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Re: 2013 Expedition

Post by TRAUMAhead »

Who's picking you up?
“The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong - that’s when adventure starts.” - Yvon Chouinard
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RoguePhotonic
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Re: 2013 Expedition

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Havent made any plans yet on getting picked up. I think I am not going to hike out the east side like planned. If I do I will either have to arrange for someone to meet me which could be bad. What if it snows hard and I get delayed? Or they close the road. I would have to hike out and I wont have the food for that. So not sure what I will do but I think after Glacier Lake I will go back and end at Lodgepole.

As for Eleanor and other areas I do admit I did not research enough. Its like coming down to woods creek from arrow pass. I had to down climb some nasty class 4 because I did not know more than you can just get down there.
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RoguePhotonic
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Re: 2013 Expedition

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Got into Lodgepole last night. I guess this time while I have time I should post some more details while I have the chance.

So when I left VVR I got a ride from some Sierra Club group dropping their cars off at Florence. As a result I did not start hiking until 5pm and made it to Boulder Creek by dark. From here I did almost everything just as planned other than after climbing Mt. Shinn and doing lots of class 4 & 5 I was too lazy to do Ward. I was too lazy to do Reinstien also. But the rest was as planned. When I got to Leconte canyon I had my first bad experience with a backcountry Ranger. (Miles?) He made a point of saying my permit was not valid because it said Yosemite on it and also wanted to enforce the fact that a hike like mine ia illegal because I am spending more than the legal daya in the park. He wanted me to go to Bishop and get a new permit which would have been a major hassel and cost too much so I had no plans of doing so at first I had every intention to come back and see him again even with no permit but the more I thought about it the more I thought it was better for both of us if we did not meet again which I will note in a bit. If he ended up giving me a ticket for something then I would not respond to it until I was out of the Sierra which by then it would probablt default to a warrant for my arrest and who knows what sort of fines would then double up. And if he said I had to leave the Sierra I would not go without a fight so like I said better for us both.
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RoguePhotonic
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Re: 2013 Expedition

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Going back in over Bishop Pass I did what I planned until I was at the lakes below Giraud Peak. I decided it was crazy to try and climb it and then the same day drop to Palisade Creek so I skipped the peak. I did everything else as planned until I added a day at that super remote lake West of Lake 10,565 which I now call Island Bird Lake. I wanted to climb the highest peak by it but the weather only allowed me to climb the highest peak on Windy Cliff which was the one that the register had not been signed in 33 years. At Marion Lake I also climbed Red Point. I skipped going to the lake by Windy Point so no fishing report! The next day was a long one. I dropped down Cartridge Creek and luckily the fire was a few hundred yards clear of my exit of the creek which took 8 hours. I began up the middle fork and stopped to eat dinner. I then kept hiking into the night to get past the ranger station under the cloak of darkness. I went up the first pitch of switch backs to the camping there and got to camp at 11.30pm. Then out for my next resupply.
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RoguePhotonic
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Re: 2013 Expedition

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Going in again I crossed Thunder and Potluck then climbed Mt. Sill which was though. I took the wrong route and ended up on a class 5 face. I was trying a really hard move when my only foot hold broke and my body slammed hard agaimst the rock gashing me from waist to the center of my chest. That route was now impossible so I found another class 5 face and had a hand hold break violently on me gashing my hand up so when I made it to the top I left a smudge of blood in the register. From here I went to the lake SE of Taboose Pass where the weather turned on me and I had to change some plans. I climbed Mt. Goodale and relocated to the lakes near Stripped Mt. I did Stripped which was also a bit tough. I took a class 5 chute that had a couple friction climb moves because I had no foot holds so it was one foot forward flat on the wall and the other behind and up I went. Intense but fun. Then it was over Arrow Pass and did the peak and of to Cedar Grove for resupply.
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RoguePhotonic
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Re: 2013 Expedition

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Heading up Bubbs Creek I heard a woman yelling help! Help! A bear! I thought is she serious? Does she think I am a bear? But she kept yelling for help until I see her sticking her head out of her tent with a bear 30 feet away playing with her bear barrel. So I calmly walk over toward the bear clapping my hands and off it goes with no problem. It was all quite funny. At least she was quite beautiful. ;) then I went to the Vidette Lakes and over deer pass and harrison which were both horrible! Talk about two major stamina passes in one day. I did Mt. Tyndall and dropped down Whitney Creek. The Kern Hotspring was crowded to the point that the first nigjt it was 12am before I could get in and the second night I could not use it at all. I went over Crystall Pass and did Mineral Peak and stayed at the upper Crystal Lake where I got about 2 inches of snow. I stayed quite warm though. Because of the lingering snow I decided a summit of Sawtooth and doing Bilko Pass was too risky. So I took the timber gap to redwood meadow which sort of sucked because they had the water turned off and I had already set up before I knew it. I looked all over and even tried tracing pipes to the source before I gave up. I just couldnt cook dinner since I only had a half liter. I had planned to hike to Merhten Creek and then out but I got word that no shuttles are running so I kept hiking over te panther gap and out to lodgepole last night. Since thw shuttles arent running I douvt I will walk to the lodge again for internet so hopefully my next post will say success!

I see cold weather the next few days but hopefully it will get better. I have a hiking partner for the Kaweah Basin trek so that should be fun.
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