R01 TR: There & Back Again…L Reflection, Center Basin, Forester Pass, Milestone Basin – July 26th to Aug. 3rd 2022

[windknot]

Thanks for the entertaining report and great photos! Got to love that storm lighting. I like your writing style. And going from 54 lbs to 29.5 lbs in two years is a major achievement -- I appreciate the gear reviews. Looking forward to part 2!

[giantbrookie]

Wow, part I is like an entire trip. Improvising and doing plan B mid trip makes for an interesting trip too. I know I've really enjoyed the trips where I improvised off of Plan A and it looks like things worked out beautifully for you.

As for reducing the weight of my gear I guess that isn't coming anytime soon after I saw what my friends brought to Newfoundland a few weeks ago (may actually go heavier with some stuff). In the meantime my son is working to shave a few pounds off my set up.

[Lumbergh21]

if you continue to use the rainbow (I've had one for years) paint some diagonal stripes on floor, silicone sealant, or silicone calk mixed w odorless (well...) mineral spirits. ice rink gone!

I was going to suggest this as well. Since I seam seal my own tents using silicone calk thinned with mineral spirits, I invariable make too much for the sealing part and use the remainder to paint tacky strips on the floor of the tent.

[michaelzim]

PART 2. – Monsoon Milestone with a dash of misty Midway…


Day 6. I spent what I call a “flappy night” in the tent with not much sleep. The gusting wind kept coming and going, only settling down very late in the wee hours. Cloudy skies with a sort of ominous feel to the east soon had me on the trail to Milestone Basin where I hoped to base camp for a few days and get some rest.
En route I kept looking north to the ‘south sides’ of the peaks there trying to make out the supposedly ‘gentle eastern slope’ of Little Joe’s Pass. It’s such a confusion crest of features I never did find it for sure thus axed it as a possible return route.
I did begin to get my first clear views of Milestone Peak, Milestone Pass and Midway Pass ahead, realizing that one of those two was now my likely route back.

Pic. 15. Milestone Mountain, with Milestone Pass to the left and Midway Pass to the right (red arrow).

When I reached the upper Kern River the mosquitoes came out in force and had ‘serious intent’ for the first time in the trip. I plunged south on the trail then shortly after took a right, heading west for Milestone Creek.
To my surprise I found an old on again/off again trail that made the first half of the ascent much easier. It petered out half way but was easy enough cross-country terrain after that.

Once more though there were threatening skies pushing me and after some confusion about just where I was I found the odd shaped little lake at 11,535 ft. and hastily put up the tent with an excess of rocks holding it down. It was a very exposed site at high altitude and I suspected this big “weather event” was about to make its entry.

Pic 16. Lots of anticipatory rocks holding the tent to Terra Firma.

I managed to get everything set up and a snack in while I surveyed my options for exit if the weather refused to become balmy enough for base-camping.
Sheesh!...Forget Milestone Pass! Golly, with a pack on that looked a challenge and a surefire slip fest for me.

Pic 17. Zoom in view of Milestone Pass...Click on the photo, then click that photo to get a super zoom in of the pass!

Midway Pass appeared to be much milder, on this east side at least. The contour lines on the west side were considerably more indicative of steeper surprises though. I would decide later. The rain was beginning to spat with its serious intent.

Rain!!! Crikey…that was rain alright! Almost deafening for a couple of hours nonstop. Then the lightning and thunder…Wow!!!
Is there any other word than pure, unadulterated “VIOLENCE” for that stuff?!
Jagged tendrils of exploding air and light. Percussive booms of huge magnitude. We are indeed puny in comparison.
It was pretty exposed feeling, with once again, not much I could do about it.

When the very distractive percussive party died down a bit I realized there were puddles on the floor of my tent! Aaaaaargh…How could that happen as I had done a very careful job of seam-sealing it. Aha. The tie-up points for the netting on the left and right of the entrance! The intensity of the rain was beating its way through the stitching giving me drips at those two places. I used my pak-towel to soak up one and my cup to catch the other. Hah…yes, those who have done the same. Do NOT kick over the cup!
Sheesh, live and learn.

With great relief the rain lessened around sunset and even stopped for a short while. The light was sparse but impressive.

Pic 18. Harbinger? Not quite.

Pic 19. Evening light, Milestone Basin.

Impressive too was the new waterfall. If you look in the top left area of pic 15. you will see a wet streak on the rocks which is the outlet stream from the top lake in the bowl between Midway and Table Mountain. Ahhhhhh…that was now a raging white torrent with a roar worthy of a dragon. In just a few hours!
Oh!...But I have to cross that to get to Midway Pass. Ooooops.
Before I could process that one the rain re-started and I was back in the tent for a very interesting night.

Keeping up with the “drips” kept me awake for a long time. The temperature plunged and I must have dozed off…until I woke feeling very cold in the lower half of me.
Aaaaaargh #2…The bottom half of my sleeping bag was wet all over the top.
I knew I would knock over the cup so had replaced it with a bundle of ‘soak-up’ clothes. This new wetness culprit was the impressive condensation on the tent walls! I had slithered into the side of the tent while asleep and my bag had merrily mopped up the moisture from the fabric. S - - T!!!
I began to realize that I could be in serious trouble if this scenario kept up. I didn’t panic, but had plenty of “what if” thoughts as I stoically analyzed my predicament.
I’m sure others have been in a similar high altitude jam, and well, it kinda kept me awake for the rest of the night and hyper aware of every teeny nuance of rain velocity.

Day 7. Fortunately. Very fortunately, the rain stopped around 4:30 am or so and the morning dawned on a very wet world with cloudy skies.
Seeing as I had been in exactly this kind of storm just last September near 60-Lakes Col en route to Gardiner Basin (which I aborted too early), I decided to give it until 10:00 am before deciding anything. Midway was in clouds, so no way was I going to try it if I couldn’t even see it!

Pic 20. Misty Midway - somewhere around the red arrow.

Ten o’clock went by but I procrastinated. An hour later it was looking a little hopeful so I decided to “be an idiot and try it!” If it cleared I would go over. If not I would skip it and return to the lower elevations of the Kern River and decide what to do from there.
Thus I crossed the now lessened dragon torrent and headed for where I thought the pass was. Maybe 500 ft. from the top I had to admit that I was being a total ditz. I had not researched the pass. I knew this east side could be a fake-out for a steep and slippery west side. And in the mist!? Duh…I sighed and turned around for the Kern. Half way down to there the Gods had a laugh. The sun came out!

Pic 21. Sun tease on Milestone and Midway.

It did not last long though and half an hour later Midway was in the clouds again. And the mosquitoes were at the Kern again too! Somehow they had survived the overnight pasting.

Taking stock, my choices now were:
1. Head south along the Kern and loop around to Colby Pass, Cloud Canyon and eventually Avalanche Pass back to Bubbs Creek.
2. Retrace to familiar Forester - with that tempting custard class grade.
The choice in my sleep-deprived state was easy. With two passes to do, possibly ravaging skeets along the Kern, and huge losses and gains of altitude, I skipped option one. With still threatening skies I decided it was time to call this trip a ‘wash’ in terms of best laid plans. Going back to Crème Brulé pass again made the most sense.

Golly the steady climb from the river to the high point where the Lake South America trail heads north seemed to be gargantuan. The huffing and puffing of that little venture cemented for me that deferring on option 1. above was the correct decision. I was kind of wasted by now.

Once again the rain and some wind was nagging at me (from the west this time), and Milestone Basin was socked in. I quickly cut the corner to the JMT/PCT, decided I had had enough open exposure for now and made camp just as the trees petered out on the way north to Forester. A little spring had water and the trees cut the wind down some.
Oh…I decided I had better test my backup Platypus Quickdraw filter before the trip ended so I gave it a whirl. Zip! No water came out, just like the darn first two Squeeze filters! I must have a “Hydrophobic Filter Magnet” chip embedded in my credit card. Platypus will of course be hearing from me.

Pic 22. Camp in the trees about 4 miles south of Forester Pass.

I was lying down in the tent by 4:30 pm with the odd spits and spats to keep me there until evening when things began to lighten near sunset. The short but dramatic evening light show reappeared again.

Pic 23. Weather all around.

Pic 24. High-lights to the east.

I finally got a cooked meal down then slithered around in my somewhat damp sleeping bag on the Uberlite skating pad. However, I think I actually got some sleep that night.

Day 8. Blue sky!!! It was a dramatic change and sure gave a welcome expansiveness to that huge open basin south of Forester.


Pic 25. The basin – looking south.

Pic 26. The basin – looking north. (Red arrow is Forester Pass)

BRIEFLY CONTINUED BELOW:

[michaelzim]

CONTINUED...

I was at the top of the pass 2 hours after leaving my campsite, which is a testament to what a well graded trail it is. The amazing thing though, is it’s almost impossible to see from the bottom. Can you see a trail in this photo?

Pic 27. Looking up at the south side of Forester Pass.

The top of the pass was calm this time but plenty of clouds around left dilly-dallying to a minimum. No HST members were there to take my photo so I hustled on and snapped the last picture of my trip, looking north from the upper reaches just below the pass.

Pic 28. View Looking north just below Forester Pass.

After that I was on a mission.
I knew the later I arrived at Roads End the following morning the more likely I was to spend inordinate amounts of time stuck in Bay Area and beyond freeway traffic. So I made miles.

In passing I was somewhat agape at the slews of silt, sand, rock and branches that had fanned out over this section of the JMT/PCT, especially adjacent to the Kearsarge Pinnacles.
The creek from Center Basin was a roar and no way did I feel comfortable crossing it where I had coming south. A log bridge upstream was a blessing.
Center Creek and Bubbs Creek were silted up and very cloudy (see photos in Conditions Section), but the little side creeks were flowing strongly and had clear water for better filtering.

I made excellent time (all downhill!) until some thunder, lightning and rain chased me back up the trail to Junction Meadow, where I hastily pitched my tent in what I later realized was a horse camp. Duh, there was rain plastered horse dung everywhere but I had been too intent to get shelter up to notice. Later, when the sun threatened to come out again in the evening the associated poop flies and gnats had a confusing time with my now much treasured head-net.
I was a’bed by 8:00 pm, but despite a very long day still did not sleep much. Sigh.

Day 9. No rain in the night and I was up and ready to roll by 6:00 am. The visions of freer traffic flow egging me on.

As mentioned in the Conditions Thread I was puzzled and somewhat shocked by the change in the trail once on the steep downhill section below Sphinx Creek to the main valley floor. Unlike the trail above that point it had taken a beating. Clearly the lack of water bars allowed the whole upper half to become a near continuous stream-bed. Lots of small branches strewed over the trail. A couple of corners that had been buried under rock and silt. I had to be much more careful to slow down and not “rolly-poly” on loose rocks and such. No way was it the gourmet freeway I had come up 9 days before. Still quite passable but the damage contrast was very clear to my ex landscaper’s eye.

I made it to Roads End by 10:00 am and was able to leave soon enough to have a long but un-traffic jammed trip back to Ukiah…It’s a long way, but SO worth it...I’m already planning another trip in a few weeks - if the fires and smoke stay away.


Lastly, a few comments on my new gear. Most of it I have already made some sort of remark on. Here’s a summary though:

- Gossamer Gear Mariposa backpack = Fantastic! Really comfortable and fits all I need for even long summer trips.
- Tarptent Rainbow tent = Mixed feelings. A fair and warm weather tent only? I’m not sure if I trust this thing as yet.
- Thermarest Uberlite sleeping pad = The ‘skating rink’ needs to be fixed. Someone suggested silicone repair dots on the bottom. To be researched. Otherwise much more comfortable than I expected and SUPER light.
- BV 475 bearcan = Ideal size for me and easier to deal with than my Bearikade Weekender. The few extra ounces are a minor issue.
- The new, new, Sawyer Squeeze filter = Finally worked as it should!
- The backup Platypus QuickDraw filter. = BOMBED big time.
- SmartWool socks = MUCH better than cotton for me. No chafing. No smelly feet. Very comfortable.
- DarnTough Coolmax socks = Comfortable, but 100% synthetic and my feet began to stink after only half a day! Going back to REI.
- Head-net = Outrageously good buy and will be on all trips henceforth.
- An UL Bogler CAT trowel. = Very strong. Very light. Does the job.
- A few Mt. House and Peak meals splurges. = (For the food section some other time). Generally over-rated in my opinion. OK I guess.
- NO hiking poles! = A very good decision…for ME. Maybe not you.

SEPARATE REPLY TO THE COMMENTS TO FOLLOW...

[sekihiker]

All that rain can get you down, especially when your gear gets soaked.
It's amazing what we can go through and still come back for more.
Thanks for the entertaining report.

[shawnterustic]

Wow - what a trip! I had the ol' surprise-puddles-in-the-tent thing happen a few years back during a full day of raging storms...fun times! Thanks for such an entertaining report.

[torpified]

That was epic! Props for resilience in the face of the unexpected complications. And while one should never laugh at live dragons, my favorite parts of your fine report were the ones documenting your reactions to the most torrential of the unexpected complications. In retrospect, did Pic. 19 (or being there to take it) make the weather disruptions worth it?

[michaelzim]

OK, some comments on comments - for which, thank you!

@SSSdave Yes! You describe that exposure "queasiness" exactly. For the life of me it has little 'conscious' control. I can force myself to look down a vertical drop but my 'gut core' seems to insist on doing loop-de-loops regardless of what I think. For sure it has become more prominent with age probably because my balance centers or whatever are fossilizing at a steady clip. Sigh.

@thegib You described that 'weather event' from your location and the real action being over 'crestways', etc. Yep, it all came in from the east, so given convection I guess the air mass moved in from the desert, hit the wall of the eastern Sierra crest and let loose. In the days after it was the opposite as the weather always moved in on me from the west. Maybe the whole smorgasbord became 'localized' after that and stuck around the high ground making daily dampness a new Sierra's phenomenon for me!?

@cgundersen Cameron. Yeah, for sure Ian would have kept going over Little Joe and Midway passes. He is in a stratospheric league compared to me with regard to rocks, edges and high places. My secret nick-name for him c/o our Tunemah trip was: "Hyrax Harlen". (And yes, I did go to a Brit style boarding school, where everything and everyone had a nick-name!).
With regard to: At the same time, I don't know how you keep going on minimal calories. Those were some pretty stiff climbs and you cannot survive on exhilaration alone. Or can you?
Ummmm, you are correct. Exhilaration (+ adrenaline and its kin) did not keep my calories needs magically topped up. When I got home I weighed 10 pounds less than when I left. Using the @giantbrookie method (please correct me if I got this wrong John) of having a meal, etc. and weighing oneself the next morning, I had lost 7 pounds...which is probably accurate.
I kitchen-scaled the mixed food items I brought back and that came to 1.5 pounds. So in total I consumed 7 minus 1.5 = 5.5 pounds of 'food' in 9 days. Not a helluva lot I guess?!
So yep, unsurprisingly I lost weight! I just don't seem to get hungry?!?

@mkbgdns and @Lumbergh21 With regard to 'seam sealing' stripes on the floor of the tent to stop the ice rink festival. I talked to the (always helpful) owner of Tarptent about this as had heard that such floor treatment catches dirt and gets icky. He uses a wadge of "non-skid cutlery fabric" under his pad. I had thought of non-skid rug stuff in the same manner, but it may bunch up.
The better solution would be to 'paint' stripes on the Uberlite pad but Thermarest has not replied yet to my query about if that would void the lifetime warranty. In all though, the 'ice effect' belongs outside my tent, not in it.

Thanks again ~ Michaelzim

[Harlen]

Hey Michael, great trip! You got to Lake Reflection and high up in Milestone Basin--those places alone make it a fine trip, but you saw so much more. The view from wherever you topped out on the Little Joe Ridge must be a great vantage point too. Lizzie and I wondered how your sensitive ears fared during the crash and boom of the thunder storm. We hope hope that you suffered little, or not at all?
We love many of your images, an d especially the storm shots and the black and whites, looks like you have found the perfect camera at last.
Cheers, and good luck on your next trips, Ian and Lizzie.