Ok, Finally I Did That Trip...!
Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 6:59 pm
Sorry this is a little late, but there has been alot going on....
The good news is that the first week of October I finally, after 4+ years of thinking about it, wondering about it, dreaming about it, and planning it, I made it to Tehipite Valley. Before getting to the details I would first like to thank everybody who offered their advice and tips over all this time, especially Buck
So finally a group of friends and other dudes, all of us into the flyfishing nature of the trip, got together and agreed to make this trek. There were 7 of us in total. Some were a little more aggressive about getting there in one day, meanwhile my friend Kerry and I and another guy took a more relaxed approach and split our hike in into 2 parts. We camped at Hay Meadow the first night on the way in, this is almost all the way to the lip of the valley and seemed to be the last reliable water source before the descent. Plus, we were kind of bonking by then so it seemed like a good idea not to push it and we went down the next morning.
The trail was not all that bad, there were lots of downed trees and stuff but they were easy enough to go around and overall the trail was easy to follow. Maybe this might not be the case in the early season!
The views all around, both in and above the valley, are freaking spectacular! And really worth the trip. The hike down (and out) I did not find that bad, although it was no piece of cake either. I only saw one rattler, on the trail at the bottom of the descent.
We made it out in one day. 15 miles with 4500+ feet of elevation gain. Good times. It was tough but the weather was turning colder and looking iffy and I really wanted to get home to my wife with her dad. Overall the weather was good during our week out there except for the first night in the valley when it rained almost all night, but not too hard and at least we were in our tents by then.
On to the pics:
Stoney ancient indian pictographs.
My biggest fish.
Some friendly advice from the Forest Service.
One cool thing was the second day at camp in the valley we noticed this S&R helicopter flying around the dome. Then it started to get lower and came right over us. Oh no, I thought, my wife called them to come get me! :retard: But instead it landed about 50 yards from our camp and unloaded a ranger and an archaeologist dude and then took off. They introduced themselves and were there for a few days to do a survey of the indian sites in the valley. Cool! They spent a couple nights at our campfire enlightening us with tales about the ancient tribes in the area and such, it was really cool and they were great guys (no luck on the helicopter ride back out! ).
All in all it was a really cool trip, and thanks again to all who helped!
The good news is that the first week of October I finally, after 4+ years of thinking about it, wondering about it, dreaming about it, and planning it, I made it to Tehipite Valley. Before getting to the details I would first like to thank everybody who offered their advice and tips over all this time, especially Buck
So finally a group of friends and other dudes, all of us into the flyfishing nature of the trip, got together and agreed to make this trek. There were 7 of us in total. Some were a little more aggressive about getting there in one day, meanwhile my friend Kerry and I and another guy took a more relaxed approach and split our hike in into 2 parts. We camped at Hay Meadow the first night on the way in, this is almost all the way to the lip of the valley and seemed to be the last reliable water source before the descent. Plus, we were kind of bonking by then so it seemed like a good idea not to push it and we went down the next morning.
The trail was not all that bad, there were lots of downed trees and stuff but they were easy enough to go around and overall the trail was easy to follow. Maybe this might not be the case in the early season!
The views all around, both in and above the valley, are freaking spectacular! And really worth the trip. The hike down (and out) I did not find that bad, although it was no piece of cake either. I only saw one rattler, on the trail at the bottom of the descent.
We made it out in one day. 15 miles with 4500+ feet of elevation gain. Good times. It was tough but the weather was turning colder and looking iffy and I really wanted to get home to my wife with her dad. Overall the weather was good during our week out there except for the first night in the valley when it rained almost all night, but not too hard and at least we were in our tents by then.
On to the pics:
Stoney ancient indian pictographs.
My biggest fish.
Some friendly advice from the Forest Service.
One cool thing was the second day at camp in the valley we noticed this S&R helicopter flying around the dome. Then it started to get lower and came right over us. Oh no, I thought, my wife called them to come get me! :retard: But instead it landed about 50 yards from our camp and unloaded a ranger and an archaeologist dude and then took off. They introduced themselves and were there for a few days to do a survey of the indian sites in the valley. Cool! They spent a couple nights at our campfire enlightening us with tales about the ancient tribes in the area and such, it was really cool and they were great guys (no luck on the helicopter ride back out! ).
All in all it was a really cool trip, and thanks again to all who helped!