Snow Camping Trip Report

Discussion about winter adventure sports in the Sierra Nevada mountains including but not limited to; winter backpacking and camping, mountaineering, downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, etc.
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Fly Guy Dave
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Snow Camping Trip Report

Post by Fly Guy Dave »

Yeah, this was last year when we had a ton of snow...so unlike this year, but I thought you folks might appreciate this. I mostly find myself up in the Sierras in pursuit of the elusive trout-fish, but any excuse to go up into the high country is good enough for me. Every year some friends and I venture out a do some snow camping for a long weekend. There are usually four of us, but due to various circumstances, only two of us went last year...two of us and my friend's malamute.

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Yes, she carries her own weight on these trips...well...her food at least...

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PLENTY of snow at Echo Lake Lodge last year

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The lake was frozen over thick as well.

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It always takes a few hours of digging, but we finally dug out a big enough snow cave to sit, cook and sleep in. The outside view...

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...and the inside view.

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After all of that hard work, a good dinner and a toast with an appropriate beverage was in order.

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The next day we did a lot of sledding, cross country skiing, hiking and picture taking, with views like this of some cool looking lenticular clouds.

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The sunset on a very fun day. But I figure the whole adage of "red sky at night, sailor's delight" applies only on the ocean and not in the mountains, as the next day we woke up to this:

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It was more windy that snowing, we've dealt with a lot worse in the past, but it made for a rather grim hike out.

We're going again this year, hopefully with a larger crew (more to help with the digging), but it might be more of a camping trip than a SNOW camping trip.

Enjoy!
Last edited by Fly Guy Dave on Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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ScoobyMike
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Snow Camping Trip Report

Post by ScoobyMike »

I was on Echo lake super bowl day. I had planned a long snow shoe hike out past the end of the lake. Turns out that a fellow stuck his 4WD pickup (with bald street tires) on the unplowed access road to the lodge. He had been there over night. It took a couple hours to bring my Jeep in and pull him out. There was actually a couple of feet of snow and the lake had plenty of ice.
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Fly Guy Dave
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Re: Snow Camping Trip Report

Post by Fly Guy Dave »

Good to know about the snow at Echo. We usually choose a spot that has some elevation, to ensure maximum snow depth. We've gone around Loon Lake before, as well as the Carson Pass area. I was at the Sno Park lot at Echo two days ago and I saw around a foot of snow in the areas that hadn't been enhanced by plowing. Yikes!

Now that I look at that "sunset" picture in my post, I realize what a dumb @$$ I am...that's the SUNRISE, not sunset. DOH! #-o
"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man." --The Dude (Jeff Lebowski)

Some pics of native salmonids: http://flyguydave.wordpress.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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ScoobyMike
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Snow Camping Trip Report

Post by ScoobyMike »

Super Bowl Sunday
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Snow Camping Trip Report

Post by ScoobyMike »

Buck Lake the week before:
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