R03 TR: Convict Creek July 2012

[sparky]

I headed north on the 395 with 5 days of food trying to decide between 2 hikes I had planned. Convict Creek and the Silver Divide, or Taboose Pass to Lakes Basin. A 6000 ft decent on the last day just sounds bad. I went to Convict Creek. A project at work was put on hold for a few days, so I threw this trip together last minute. Right when I was setting out I remembered a meeting I had to go to...something was nagging at me while I packed before I left! So my 5 day trip I drove 6 hours for turned into an overnight I thought about skipping out on it, but when my knee started acting up that sealed the deal.

Well with the time I did have, the scenery was spectacular. I came here many years ago, and retraced my steps which was cool. The rock in this area is really awesome, and taking pictures was fun. It would be nice to just spend 5 days in this canyon to photograph!

So I was on this slope, and I could tell things were going to get loose, so I opted for rock. I was going up some class four for a ways, then I got into piles of delicately balanced shards that were wanting to break a bone, so I needed to down climb some. I got to a place to toss my pack down, only I didn't quite make sure to batten the hatches. In my defense I didn't expect it to tumble, I aimed for perfect placement, the pack was supposed to wedge into this slot. Only it tumbled...a...long...way. In this weird slinky type motion the pack seemed like it had a life of its own and was marching its way back home saying "I am out of here!!" I barely caught the glint of my camera flinging out and hitting rocks hard ricocheting this way and that, accompanied by a pair of gloves, my steripen, and a water bladder. Yard sale!

I imagined my camera was toast. I followed the bread crumbs....battery, another battery, lucky to bump into the sim card I need that! And there she was, with just a banged up door and a gash on the side in pretty much perfect order. It should have been shattered! I gathered up everything else, and thought hard about how stupid that whole thing was.

Unique area, and glad I had a camera this time around!

[rlown]

Very nice!! pic 3.. how scary is the earth to push that baby out!

Nice report

[maverick]

Got to love the colors of the rocks, cliffs, and mountains in this area. Very cool pictures
Sparky, but you need to advertise the make of the camera because not many camera's
can survive a serious fall like that and then take photo's again!
The main thing is you got out in one piece to tell about it!

[sparky]

The twisting layers, and melted wax look, crazy forces at work there for sure!

The camera is a Nikon coolpix L24, pretty much the cheapest nikon p&s. She just took a couple lucky bounces is all. It is quite light, so that probably helped out a bit.

I had an Olympus a couple years back, my first camera. I bought a mid priced model, thinking I would get a decent camera. 2 weeks after I bought it and one trip to Yosemite, it was gently knocked over in sand at the beach never to work again.

[balzaccom]

Lovely photos! Thanks for sharing them!

[windknot]

Wow, nice shots. Thanks for the report!