Signs Missing on the High Passes?

[ndwoods]

I was on Silver Pass around Sept 1 and there was a brand new pole and the old sign. On the way out around McGee Pass we ran into the ranger who did it. He had put up several in a couple weeks....chopped down trees, cut off all the branches and set them in the ground. Did a really good job of it, we told him we were grateful. If nothing else, it's an easy way to reset your altimeter...
Dee

[JM21760]

On a side note, I had 2 signs from Mineral King when the Park Service took over from Sierra Nat'l Forest. One was Mosquito Creek, the other was Spring Creek. They were engraved with the Nat'l Forest designation. NPS replaced the signs, and we scored those 2. They were from crossings on the valley floor.

[gdurkee]

Regarding summit registers:

Maybe 10 years ago, there was a project to retrieve most of the "historic" registry books and in many cases replace the registers themselves with specially made boxes -- the name of the peak and elevation (I think) was stamped on the box. The old books (many with entries going back to Dawson, early Clyde and even before) were sent, I think, to the Sierra Club library. There's a chance, though, they ended up at the Bancroft. Can't quite remember -- one or the other for sure.

A bunch were replaced and a huge chunk of the original books were removed. One of the climbers replacing them died near the Palisades and I think the project kind of sputtered after that.

I've heard of a few registers disappearing, but nothing very widespread. In addition, many times the person is on the wrong summit spire (or the register is) and didn't check the other.

Don't know the story of that metal post on Sawtooth. I haven't been up there in years. I'll mention it to the trail guys next spring. Bad place to be in a lightning storm.

George

[JM21760]

Right, no register on Muriel Peak. Peak 11998', Blackcap basin, and the popular peaks, Tahoe area. Tallac, Rubicon, Dicks, Pyramid.

[Snow Nymph]

I've been bagging peaks all summer, and registers that were signed by friends were gone as close as 5 weeks later.

Merriam/Royce - found canisters, but nothing in it. Snwburd and group signed it early Aug, Calhiker signed it a few days later. By Sept it was gone.

Hilgard - Snwburds group signed in in early Aug, when I got there in Sept I only found the empty silver can

Julius Ceasar - Calhiker signed it in Aug, gone in Sept. Maybe someone moved it and it was buried in snow, but I looked at his photo, and I know I looked there.

Pilot Knob - Sierra Challenge, one of the guys left his map for us to sign. Nothing in the register.

San Joaquin - found the piece of wood and old pencil only. Snwburd had a picture from '01 or '02 of the register on that piece of wood.

Gibbs - no register . . . Others reported no register also

Barnard - Bishophiker saw old signatures as far back as the 30s in Jul '03. I was there July '04 and it was gone. We looked for almost an hour.

Others missing: Williamson, Trojan, Tunnaboro (empty can), Feather. . . . heard Morrison's register is also gone. . . Baldwin's entries started ~June of this year . . . .

[wingding]

Yes, the situation with the missing registers is widespread and some of the missing registers go way back.

No register on Starr and that one was just replaced a few months before it was taken again.

[gdurkee]

Hmmm. Interesting. The bad news is no one's really in charge of them. If someone's interested in following up on this, the best bet is to call the Sierra Club and track down whoever does the upkeep -- I think they're the only ones who take some responsibility for them. Another thought is to try someone in whatever that split-off group from the SC Peak Bagger's section (can't remember their name, though I run into them all the time) based in Southern California and see if their members are noticing this as well. If it's just a couple of individuals, maybe comparing notes, you can figure it out.

Were it to go that far, I'm not even sure what the vandals (if any) could be charged with. Maybe vandalism of government property, just because there's an informal but long lasting agreement with NPS and USFS.

Anyway, good luck. I can bring it up with the other b/c rangers at Sequoia Kings in the spring. The loss of the older books, if that's what's happening, would be annoying.

George

[cmachler]

Southern CA summit registers "managed" by the Hundred Peaks Section of the Sierra Club go missing all of the time. I always try to take a couple containers and notebooks with me when I go hiking.

Based on email exchanges I've had with HPS folks, I'm not impressed with their idea of "managing" the registers. They love to have the HPS name attached to them, but they don't seem very proactive in maintaining them. Their list of missing or insufficient registers is rarely updated. Plus, they don't want anything to do with archiving old registers.

There was a discussion a while back on summitpost about missing canisters. It's an intereseting read.

[Randonnee]

I had planned on replacing the missing canister on Carson Peak last month but was weathered out on the day I had set for the task. So come spring I plan on putting it in place. Unfortunately the snow will most likely destroy the unprotected register.

When I planned this I spoke to the ranger for the area and asked about required permission and such. He was unaware of any policies or any "responsible party." I was told they did not see any harm with someone placing a new register on the peak.

Based on that discussion I would venture to say that there is no organization that "manages" the summit registers in the Sierra.

[quentinc]

I think it's the Sierra Peaks Section of the Sierra Club that "manages" those registers.
I'm really surprised to hear Snow Nymph's report that Royce and J. Caesar are gone -- they were there in late August when I was there this summer (Feather wasn't, though).