Re: TR: PCT-SHR Donner to Piute Pass Jul 13-Aug 10 2016
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 4:19 pm
August 4 — Day 23: 7.5 hrs, 12.5 miles, +2050/-4800
What da heck? No IPA 395?!
Saddle between Cecile & Minaret Lakes to Reds Meadow Resort
On my way at 7:00 AM. Picked my way down the saddle due north of the small lake NW of Minaret Lake — Class 2 all the way, no problem. Lots of people camped down there. Helped a couple of hikers with a dog (perhaps responsible for the howling yesterday afternoon?) in possession of a woefully inadequate map (I think the city of Merced was on the thing) plot a route up the saddle where they could pick up use trails for the rest of their excursion to Ediza Lake. I made a detour over to Deadhorse Lake by contouring around beneath Riegelhuth Minaret, and then made my way up to Nancy Pass. Nothing extraordinary along the way — just some steep terrain and lots of equivalent choices on getting from one point to another. There is a use trail that I picked up in the trees below the pass that leads to the top. The chute leading down the south side of Nancy Pass is pretty steep with some loose footing in places — I would say definitely Class 2 with some spots where I used hands for balance with the obvious caveat that I was enjoying my twenty-third straight day of ridiculously glorious weather in ideal hiking conditions. The bottom of the chute is a bushwhacking delight, compliments of Old Man Willow. I concur with Wandering Daisy’s assessment of this as “a most unpleasant steep slope of brush and scree.” http://highsierratopix.com/community/vi ... 61&p=34239 I sought relief by hugging the rock wall and heading left/east into a wooded area with a reasonably sparse understory (right side of photo below). The near free-fall to Devil’s Postpile and Reds Meadow was filled with people toiling their way to Superior Lake and the Beck Lakes. My resupply package was where I expected it to be again, right there at Reds Meadow Resort. To my consternation, however, they were out of Mammoth Brewing Co. IPA 395 or had stopped carrying it — in the photo below, witness the curious excision of all Mammoth Brewing Co. selections at the bottom of the left column yet 395 remains at the top. All that daydreaming for naught… Shower, laundry, a delicious burger and salad with Stone Arrogant Bastard as a worthy replacement brew, 26th wedding anniversary phone call home to Stacey, and then night-night.
Dennis
What da heck? No IPA 395?!
Saddle between Cecile & Minaret Lakes to Reds Meadow Resort
On my way at 7:00 AM. Picked my way down the saddle due north of the small lake NW of Minaret Lake — Class 2 all the way, no problem. Lots of people camped down there. Helped a couple of hikers with a dog (perhaps responsible for the howling yesterday afternoon?) in possession of a woefully inadequate map (I think the city of Merced was on the thing) plot a route up the saddle where they could pick up use trails for the rest of their excursion to Ediza Lake. I made a detour over to Deadhorse Lake by contouring around beneath Riegelhuth Minaret, and then made my way up to Nancy Pass. Nothing extraordinary along the way — just some steep terrain and lots of equivalent choices on getting from one point to another. There is a use trail that I picked up in the trees below the pass that leads to the top. The chute leading down the south side of Nancy Pass is pretty steep with some loose footing in places — I would say definitely Class 2 with some spots where I used hands for balance with the obvious caveat that I was enjoying my twenty-third straight day of ridiculously glorious weather in ideal hiking conditions. The bottom of the chute is a bushwhacking delight, compliments of Old Man Willow. I concur with Wandering Daisy’s assessment of this as “a most unpleasant steep slope of brush and scree.” http://highsierratopix.com/community/vi ... 61&p=34239 I sought relief by hugging the rock wall and heading left/east into a wooded area with a reasonably sparse understory (right side of photo below). The near free-fall to Devil’s Postpile and Reds Meadow was filled with people toiling their way to Superior Lake and the Beck Lakes. My resupply package was where I expected it to be again, right there at Reds Meadow Resort. To my consternation, however, they were out of Mammoth Brewing Co. IPA 395 or had stopped carrying it — in the photo below, witness the curious excision of all Mammoth Brewing Co. selections at the bottom of the left column yet 395 remains at the top. All that daydreaming for naught… Shower, laundry, a delicious burger and salad with Stone Arrogant Bastard as a worthy replacement brew, 26th wedding anniversary phone call home to Stacey, and then night-night.
Dennis