A Storm Is Coming

Grab your bear can or camp chair, kick your feet up and chew the fat about anything Sierra Nevada related that doesn't quite fit in any of the other forums. Within reason, (and the HST rules and guidelines) this is also an anything goes forum. Tell stories, discuss wilderness issues, music, or whatever else the High Sierra stirs up in your mind.
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Hetchy
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A Storm Is Coming

Post by Hetchy »

Sierra travellers beware. (I get excited by weather so the enthusiasm might show thru.. a bit)
Sunday February 15th a big storm is gonna hit the central coast where I live.. when that happens y'all up there in the Sierras have about 6 hours before the Head of the Tempest reaches you.
I have a feeling about this one. The deer are milling about the dead tanoak I felled on the ranch not an hour ago.. strange, the ants are gone, the quail have taken to the deep bush.
Not to be alarmist, but I got that feeling in my bones that this might be a good one.
I don't have TV and the only satellite pictures I have seen on the net are attenuated to the west,(we lost GOES-east Sat and GOES-west is doing double duty). I know there is something brewing out there beyond the edge of the screen, over the horizon so to speak.
Having lived in the "mounthills" of Santa Cruz for seven years in the same place, I can tell when the wildlife is getting ready.. (kinda the way the deer were trying to tell me I was gonna get squished by snowmelt in Jackmans canyon in 2004!)
This will be the first big "blow" of the season for us here way out west and my chainsaws are sharpened, gassed, and oiled up.
I am only at 1500 feet but sometimes it might as well be the boondocks cause there is only one way in and one way out.. on a dirt road... lined with bettle killed and weakened trees.
This ain't gonna be like New Years Eve storm of years back(Thank God, the kitchen roof almost went!) But I think it will be a surprise to many.. including my new landlord who has never wintered here in the SC mountains.
It might not be Everest here, but it has it's own unique character, and it is not uncommon for us to get +75 MPH winds from storms particularly when the Low pressure system sends them pinwheeling towards us from the south.
Y'all up there in the Big Mountains; I wish you well and will post here after she comes ashore at mid morning Sunday.. if I still have phone and power that is.
I could be wrong or the dropping air pressure makes me high or something.
But I can't help the strange feeling that big a storm brings..And I got that felling and it is cool!
Brace For Impact Baby! Hetchy
You can make more money, but you can't make more time.
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hikerduane
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Re: A Storm Is Coming

Post by hikerduane »

Well, we received over 2' of snow here in the extreme norhtern Sierra this last week, have to wait until Dave checks in to see what he got, a little further north.

My laundry is done, snow thrower lined out for anything coming in tonight, firewood still in good supply and the wood shed squirrel is holding the shed down.:) I hope it doesn't turn to rain for very long up here, last time, my well almost got over run. The creek I am on, has a tendency to flood when a snow storm turns to heavy rain. I lost a big pine the last time the creek flooded, which came across the creek and flooded the lower part of my lot and had Pooch standing in water in his doghouse until it was time to feed him that one New Year's day before I went to work. Poor guy. With the diverted creek water, my 6' high dog pen fence got reduced to 4' on one side. What a mess, with the silt dropping out as it slowed down when it spread over my property. One good thing, a neighbor across the creek logged his property the next summer and the logger who I knew, called me at work and asked me if I wanted to sell the tree. I got $500 for the tree where it lay. Paid for a new deck. NOAA forecast doesn't say a lot.
Piece of cake.
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Hetchy
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Re: A Storm Is Coming

Post by Hetchy »

Now you got it down Hikerduane! I should be selling the trees that keep falling around here!
So far the wind ain't so bad but she's a real soaker here at 1500. Up on Loma Prieta (Yes the same one from the Doobie Brothers song!) it looks like Tahoe with the ski runs.
I might have to fire up the Willys M38 Jeep and do a "Storm Patrol" as I like to call it. Wheeling around in the Snow up there round the towers with no doors and a bikini top(on the Jeep not me!.. glad I clarified that one HaHa!) I can usually clear the road faster than caltrans 'cause I live so close. Plus it is a total blast. Bring it on MamaNature.. OOO I am gonna set up the Chouinard Pyramid and cook up some vittles on the Trangia! YeeHaa. (Yes this is how I am all the time.. now you get the idea why I have no roomates.. Ha Ha!) :) STORM PATROL!! Hetchy
You can make more money, but you can't make more time.
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hikerduane
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Re: A Storm Is Coming

Post by hikerduane »

:) I'm thinking this summer of taking the doors off my old Chevy Luv rent-a-wreck when I go cut firewood I don't need. I've been busy all morning, shoveling and throwing snow. Looked out my door this morning and the snow had slid down onto the roof over my deck and was hanging down 4'. I just had to put my boots on and hit it with a shovel. Woomf!:)
Piece of cake.
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Hetchy
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Still Raining Here.. The Big Gear Water Test Rolls On

Post by Hetchy »

My God! It is still raining here! Has not let up in 24 hours. The horses are pissed.. kicking the barn they want out.
I was able to do some "water testing" of my tents, and let Mama Nature decide which one gets the nod.
Sadly the ancient Sierra Designs Divine Light can no longer hold back the tide. :( I Guess you gotta pension off gear sometimes.. Had that one since the late eighties.
The new Eureka Solitaire performed flawlessly though. :) Even with the rain splashing up under the fly not too much made it inside after 12 hours Not bad for a cheapo (sorry, frugal) tent.
Of course the Choiunard Pyramid (circa 1993) performed flawlessly,(Thanks Yvon). What could fail on that thing?
Indeed, the pyramid is still hanging tough with a little creeklet flowing happily through the middle of the floorless bugger!
The Golite pack is "relatively" water tight after seam sealing and tromping around the horse trails. But I am still gonna keep everything inside in a garbage bag.. as Colin put it: "The Sanctum Sanctorum".
Happy to find out the new Bearvault 500 kept spare socks and clothes dry as well as my old Garcia Basecamp.. though I have yet to swim a creek with it.. the ultimate test, which the Garcia passes flawlessly.
Of course the Marmot Precip Jacket still continues to impress me.
Wow! This rain is handy for testing gear.. maybe I will put the Petlzl out there in a puddle and see what happens to it...Maybe not.
The Pentax Optio WaterProof Camera is at least, for now, still Waterproof.. I am running out of stuff to test and them horse trails are getting slick!
Nice thing about this rain is you can just put some drink powder in the cup and hold it under the eave of the porch where the rain runs off into it to make koolaid. :)
I just hope a tree falls down soon so I can perform delicate surgery on it.. with my chainsaw! I like to pretend it is like life and death.."I gotta get this tree out of the way so we can get the penicillin through to town!" (Yes, I know I am going to be 40 this Year.. gotta act all serious...NOT! :)

Cheers, Hetchy
You can make more money, but you can't make more time.
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Timberline
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Re: A Storm Is Coming

Post by Timberline »

Yo, Hetchy!
Gotta love that you're havin' so much fun in the rain. . . . Only thing missing is a webcam & link so we can all watch the fun together! Not too late to set one up, issit? :lol: :thumbsup:
Let 'er Buck! Back in Oregon again!
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Strider
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Re: Still Raining Here.. The Big Gear Water Test Rolls On

Post by Strider »

Hetchy wrote:through to town!" (Yes, I know I am going to be 40 this Year.. gotta act all serious...NOT! :) Cheers, Hetchy
Never confuse maturity with restriction!
'Hike long and perspire'
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hikerduane
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Re: A Storm Is Coming

Post by hikerduane »

I have a SD Halfmoon as old as your tent, it is still going strong, although I got SD to replace the fly over 10 years ago. How is that Eureka holding up? I hate the lack of headroom in them. My first Eureka was only around 33" high I think. A pain to use when wet. I only tested my 10 year old snow thrower this weekend, worked flawlessly.:) The snow was so fluffy, even in the over 2' of fresh snow, my snowshoes still sank in around 18". I took the trail up to our small local store and I was sinking in without my snowshoes on almost hip deep. I had to rest twice in less than 100'.
Piece of cake.
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Hetchy
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Re: A Storm Is Coming

Post by Hetchy »

I'm jealous.. you are playin in the powder and I am getting pummeled by hail down here! It has not stopped raining since Saturday night. The clouds roll in off the Pacific, climb the first ridge and WHACK right into the ranch.. we face South West! I just hope the people up in the burn areas ain't having mud slides as the rain gage overflowed this AM. I can only wish we had snow! I would be like a ferret on a caffeine buzz!
Wow! The hail on the tin roof is unreal! I was gonna sleep but jeeez , I guess I will read till the power goes out!
Oh yes, the cheapo Eureka is still faily dry.. uh before the last batch of hail. I aint going out there to look now HaHa sounds like the end of days out there. ..Like I said... Brace For Impact Baby!
My snowshoes are all beat up from walking in the rocks too much.. too lazy to take em off sometimes. I am gonna hit REI someday on a sale and replace em before next year cause this year I will be on the PCT in the desert in May.. Not much use there!
Hey do they make a hail blower?! I am gonna need one if this doesn't quit soon! :)
Last edited by Hetchy on Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You can make more money, but you can't make more time.
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Re: A Storm Is Coming

Post by ERIC »

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