TR: Humphrey Basin July 1-4

[dil950]

Hi all! Thanks for all the suggestions on campsites and what to do if lightning shows up. It actually did haha.

Day 1: I decided to try taking a pack mule up and hiking back down. I know it’s cheating but my covid lockdown fitness program didn’t go according to plan. The north lake side was as good as it gets. Mosquitos weren’t crazy (although present). Brookies were surface feeding all over the place in Loch Leven. Seems like all the creeks were flowing but Mike (Bishop Pack Outfitters) mentioned flow was like sept levels. No snow except a few patches on the side of Paiute pass. Nothing on the actual trail. Made it it up Muriel Lake in under 3 hours. Managed to setup my tent right before the rain started. The rule for this week was rain starts at 2-4. Once the rain started it didn’t stop for 2 hours. Was glad I setup my guy lines because the wind was definitely pushing the poles around. Mosquitos showed up after the rains stopped but were ok as long as the deet was on. Night time temps were in the mid 40s but not too bad with my 32 deg quilt and jacket on.

Day 2: went up to Goethe Lake. No snow in sight and jumping over the creek between Muriel and the hill to Goethe was prob easier than it should have been for this time. The Boulder hopping between lower and upper Goethe was more than I had expected. Maybe I didn’t take the easiest path but it basically went from half of lower all the way to upper. I started hear what sounded like a string of f bombs over the next few hours at upper. Turns out two guys were coming down alpine col. They said it was the worst thing they’ve ever experienced lol. Made me embarrassed I was annoyed at my half a lake of Boulder hopping. Went back down around 2:00. The rain started again except it seemed like it only impacted Paiute canyon. Didn’t rain at Muriel so I had a perfect evening without too many mosquitos.

Day 3: went to summit lake. Saw clouds in the morning but my bivy weather report had less than 20% rain. Learned don’t trust weather reports. Around 2:00 I saw dark clouds coming over Muriel and Goethe but figured it’s not going to get too bad. Once I heard thunder decided it was time to pack up. The storm moved in fast and once I started hiking the lightning and hail started. Decided there wasn’t really a safe area so I took my chances on the side of the hill under a large boulder with an overhang. At least I was going to avoid the hail. The storm moved directly over me and once I heard the thunder stop for a minute I decided to make a break for my tent. I made it to the tent. The rain actually stopped and there was a break in the clouds. Had dinner and saw 3 guys + dog who just got in before the storm head out to Goethe. That ended up being a big mistake. I was thinking man it’s good to be young since they ran up the hill to Goethe in half the time it took me. But once they were at what I assumed was lower Goethe a 30 mph gust of wind came in and the rain started instantly. I jumped in my tent and the real hail started. I think I saw some some almost a cm size come down. I eventually heard a dog go by so at least the 3 guys got down. Next day I saw them and they said they were on the boulders when the storm started and ran down. But they still took some pelts from the hail. At least they were ok.

Day 4: hikes down over the pass. Pretty much the same as going up except I had a pack on me and no horse. Still, almost all down hill so wasn’t bad except felt the sun more. Noticed the creek crossing near the north lake camp ground is just low enough to cross without getting wet. Imagine this must be another result from the low snow pack. Wildflowers are out but seems like hasn’t peaked yet.

All in all fun trip and seems like this might be the perfect time to go to 11k.

Here’s a trip summary vid. [youtube_vid] https://youtu.be/wNiw6yPjjiI[/youtube_vid]

[balzaccom]

Cool! That's a wonderful area. Sounds like the same weather we had a but farther north. Glad you enjoyed yourself!

Just curious... How much did the mule cost?

[dil950]

Cool! That's a wonderful area. Sounds like the same weather we had a but farther north. Glad you enjoyed yourself!

Just curious... How much did the mule cost?

It’s basically 350 for a lead packer + 250 per mule per day. The mule can be either riding or pack. I’m guessing each mule can hold about two people worth of stuff. (They were able to fit mine and another persons pack on the same mule) So if you ride it would be 850. If you walk, it would be 600… but you could potentially split that with somebody else since the number of mules is the same. It doubles if you need them to come pick you up or your stuff. I ran into a group that used mules to go up and couldn’t take the weather. They came down the very next day and sent the packers to get their stuff. That’s an expensive rain storm.