High Sierra Topix

gdurkee wrote:But you don't eat the sheep with the lemon.

Of course you do! Try a search for lemon rosemary roast leg of lamb and you will get plenty of recipes.

Just don't eat the sheep in the Sierra!

Will be interesting to see how this thread progresses.

Does the lemon juice smell put the sheep (and marmots?) off licking/gnawing your boots/backpack for the salt?
A friend of mine was bivving in Canada (Banff I think) a few years back and woke up to find himself being licked by an elk.

All Hands:

Note that I edited the original post with the answers. Pretty fun, huh?

George

Killer good stuff George….I thoroughly enjoyed this.

I knew about High Sierra heavy metal contamination (small concentrations but present nonetheless) but I figured it travelled no further than foothill locations. Most find it hard to believe heavy metal can become airborne. Surprises me mercury can be airborne from as far away as China….incredible!

Love the answer to 27a. Was anxious to read that one along with my favourite….lemons as a piss deodorant.

Was also perplexed about question 31.

Finally question 34. I guess a granite rock just isn’t a good enough substitute for an anvil. I heard that Norman Clyde finally got tired of carrying his anvil, and chucked it one day before reaching the top of Shepherd’s Pass…..LOL

Thanks again George,

Flip

Very nice test. I failed ,for the most part. As for 33, they put lemons in the water at most restaurants. Maybe still sheep pi$$?

But now that it's published, those that come behind you have a cheat sheet!

Thanks, George. That was a lot of fun !

George,

A few days after you posted the list of questions I encountered tracks going away from several trees and just stopping. This was light, fresh powder. I can't see how a grouse could take off without leaving marks on the snow with their wings. I thought maybe some little critters were getting snatched by a raptor. But would still expect marks from the wings.

Mike

Mike:

Actually,I did see a soft disturbance in the snow at the end of the tracks -- likely the wings touching. When I took wildlife Starker Leopold told us about that. I guess Sage Grouse do it -- often killing themselves in the process when they dive into an icy layer. Oooops. This was the only time I'd seen it. A Red Fir stand at Ostrander in Yosemite just after a snow storm. But they must jump enough with their feet to clear their wings from the surface before making much of a mark -- or none.

Flip:

I'd always wondered where the name Anvil Camp came from! He probably used it as a pillow... .

When they get those huge windstorms off Mongolia, you can see satellite photos showing the plume of dust (and, presumably, pollutants from China) stretching all the way across the Pacific.

Re: 27a: Several of us b/c types recommended closing the upper Kern to fires 30+ years ago. There's been a number of research projects on Foxtail tree rings around Wallace, Wright & Siberian Outpost. Neat stuff. If you go to Wallace Lake you'll notice a very clear band of dead trees/snags above the current living trees -- they stand as snags for hundreds of years after dying. The ones there are likely from the cold of the Little Ice Age (though cold may not have killed them, they just stopped reproducing during that period). Tree line lowered but may be going up again.

g.