High Sierra Topix

RoguePhotonic wrote:I'll have to give some thought to when I get to Red Rock Basin. Basically I have Florence Lake listed just in case I have to walk the whole 14 mile road from VVR. It's very likely though that I can get a ride some or most of the way. If I can do this then I will hike in as far as I can the first day. Hopefully to Thompson Lake. My hope was that one of those little tarn lakes would have some water still and maybe one will. If not where I go will depend on how I feel. That section is going to be brutal! 16 days of food and enough fuel to last a month and a half since I cannot get any at Parchers. I'll probably dump all the food I possibly can and eat like a slave.

I'm sure you will see me kicking back around VVR on July 18th. Just look for the olive green Hexamid in the camping area!

In Red Rock Basin, Lake 9840+ (just south of the E in "FOREST" on the 7.5' map) and the biggest lake east of Point 10124 are both going to have water. Most of the smaller tarns in the basin will be, not necessarily dry, but stagnant and unappetizing. Lake 10187 in Reddys Hole is extremely shallow, to the point that we had trouble getting water when we camped there.

Thompson Lake is just off a 4WD route (the Dusy-Ershim road, which splits John Muir from Dinkey Lakes), so it gets the off-roading crowd. Not that pretty anyway, IMO. Lost Lake is much nicer if you're going to be up that way. Then again, the Thompson Pass trail is so poorly (or un-) maintained that it's not that much more effort to head off-trail to Mt. Shinn Lake.

If you don't have the juice to do a full day's hiking from Florence Lake, there are really nice campsites on the slabs east of Boulder Creek at around 7600-7800'. That's assuming Boulder Creek has water (I've never seen it dry, but who knows this year). Pretty area, good views, and solitude just a short hike from Florence.

Have a great summer. Be safe. I look forward to your pics and stories.

Rogue:

Looking forward to your trip reports. I'll read them with envy. This weather year reminds me of 1977, when the high passes were almost clear of snow by June 1. No matter, it was good hiking the entire summer!

Be safe and enjoy --

Mike

P.S. -- for you, these are the good old days.

Have a fabulous trip and stay safe!

Safe, fun, and exhilarating travels Rogue. Take care.

Bringing this up front. Rogue should be working on trail crew now. Anyone heard from him??

Still alive out here and doing well. Just finished 6 days with the trail crew and now I am heading out again. I will post more details of the trip when I get to VVR in 6 days.

That itinerary makes my brain hurt.

Rogue, about Black Kaweah. Roper lists it as class 3, which means it is really class 4 for mere mortals. Lots of people climb it with ropes. Secor says "even its easy routes are challenging", and "has a well deserved reputation for loose rock...caution is advised..." and being "constantly vigilant." The legendary world class climber Norman Clyde called Black Kaweah, "One of the most difficult and dangerous peaks of the High Sierra." Plan well.

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. As a result I did Bigelow Peak but did not cross over Dorothy Lake Pass. I made the rest of the loop back to Eleanor as planned.

When I went back in I decided I did not want to go up Frog Creek not knowing what sort of mess was waiting for me so I went out for Moraine Ridge through Jack Main Canyon. I did everything else as planned until I went up Matterhorn Pass. The wind must have been blowing 100mph and I could hardly stand up. I was blown to the ground once and bashed my leg up. I also could not find the route down and ended up climbing up the ridge a bit towards the Matterhorn. Every step was very scary with the wind trying to rip me off the cliffs. Class 2 pass my ass lol. I made my way down nasty class 3 cliffs! I skipped the Matterhorn itself because the conditions were too dangerous.

I froze my ass off most of those nights waking up with the creeks all frozen with my 32F bag. I did Stanton Peak but was too lazy for Grey Butte. I did Mt. Conness as planned. I skipped Mt. Lyell because it looked like too much snow to go without Crampons. As a result I jumped over to the Lost Lakes.

We cleared allot of big trees on trail crew before I went out again. I followed the last section almost as planned. Both Pika and Franklin Col were nasty passes! And I did them both in the same day! I made it over the summit of Red Slate Mountain with my full pack and ended up camping at Lower Mcgee Lake. It wasn't until after breakfast that I even made up my mind if I was going to climb Red and White Mountain but I went ahead and did it. Talk about one of the most loose nasty sharp rock peaks I have ever climbed! Heard about 5 rock falls in the two nights I was in that area.

I made it into VVR from Lower Mcgee Lake today. I decided to skip Crocker Col since I sent home my ice axe and I figured it would still have allot of snow. I thought my time was better spent in the Hopkins Recess anyway.

Other than all that it has been pretty smooth. I'll be around here before I go out for a 5 day loop and then that 8 day loop so I will be checking in more often.

As for Black Kaweah I figure it is nasty. I ran into a girl that has done the SPS list and she said she would never climb Black Kaweah again! That is along time from now so we'll see if I stay alive that long!

Thanks for the updates Rogue.

Rogue wrote:
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.

See you enjoyed some of Yosemite's finest by bushwacking in the Bermuda triangle area.