. Anyways.. back to this TR. This was my second year with Rouge and it was one hell of a year. For the most part.. less crazy and intense than 2014 but that's because we didn't go through the bloody Enchanted Gorge again! The adventure started on the 2nd of July for me. Some neighbors drove me down to Sacramento where I stayed at some friend's house all day waiting for my Amtrak the next day. I watched Back to the Future all day since that was what was on TV and I figured might as well get a little move time in considering I won't be seeing another TV for a month and half! The following day I woke up very early to catch my Amtrak to Fresno. And that's where the fun began.. So as a synopsis. Rogue and I met up that day (July 3rd) and we both barely made it to VVR. From there we officially started our trek on the 5th of July of out Florence Lake. We headed up to the lakes on the West Side of Mt. Hooper. From there we traveled to Humphrey's Basin and then cross country through Darwin Bench before heading into Ionian Basin. From there we crossed over several passes to get to Ladder Lake. After that jaunt we made our way to South Lake to Parcher's Resort. From Parcher's we went back across Bishop Pass and a grand loop of the Palisades ending up at Parcher's about 12 days later. The next section took us back to Lake 10,565 and Island Bird Lake. After climbing numerous unnamed peaks we then took the Sierra High Route to the Kid Lakes. After that we ended up at Cedar Grove only to be evacuated out due to the Rough Fire. We hitched our way to Lodgepole where the trip soon came to a close for me. Rogue went on to do another 2 week section around there. On August 19th I was picked up by long time friend (my 4th grade teacher) and then we road tripped up back to Tahoe detouring into Yosemite. So without further delay... Here's Week 1!
Day 1- July 3- Sacramento to VVR
The adventure begins in Fresno or technically on the Amtrak somewhere North of there. Rogue messages me & says his car is overheating. I’m like Oh ****! This is perfect. Just what I wanted to hear. I now have the horrible visions of me being stuck in Fresno with nowhere to stay and no way to get to VVR. This was a perfect start to a Trial Report for sure. Eventually I got to the station & I sit & wait for better news. Soon, Rogue calls me & says the radiator was completely empty & that he refilled it. We may be able to make it just yet. So I hoped that all would be well & after 20-30 minutes of reading about the Pythagorean's I got a call from him saying he was there. His car as overheating again but we could tell if was an issue of just putting in more coolant each time it ran out. This time he didn’t wait long enough for it to cool & we had an explosion of coolant out of the radiator like a volcano. We decided to try & make it up to VVR. We knew it would be a challenge but as long as we had coolant we figured we could do it. We had to stop 3 times before reaching VVR & repeat the procedure of cool off & top off on coolant. It was fairly hot but not excessive. Once we went over Kaiser Pass (9000+) we knew we could make it. Finally in the cool mountains in the forest. God.. It felt so good to be out of the valley & finally on this trip. We just barely made it to VVR for dinner b/c of some very inconsiderate driver that wouldn’t let anyone pass. VVR was as wonderful as last year w/terrific food & great stories between all the hikers. We definitely slept well that night.
- My entire life for the next 50 something days.
- Lovely radiator issues.
Today we went to take care of our permit after enjoying a delicious burger for lunch. Securing the permit went smoothly & we were back to VVR. The rain was off & on to the station but it was mostly clear after. We feasted our last glorious dinner on the famous VVR BBQ which is needless to say legendary. Even better ribs than Roy’s last year which was no doubt a feat. We were treated to an astounding sunset with color that was unimaginable & some thunderstorms that were going off in the Mono Creek area. Unfortunately the lake was quite low again but higher than last year. We slept soundly once more. It was our last night amid this many people for a very long time.
- VVR Sky putting on a show
Today was finally the start of the trip! The day had finally come to embark on an epic journey. What lay before we knew was going to be hard, rough, challenging, sweat-breaking, but undeniably glorious and full of adventure! We were woken by the hilarious sound of a girl directly next to us in her tent yelling… “Ahhh! How the **** did you get in here?!” She had the lovely squirrel as her guest that morning. We enjoyed a good breakfast burrito with some other hiker. It was a sad goodbye at VVR as we knew we would not be returning. All of that delicious & glorious food would have to wait till next year. We made our way to Florence, parked the car & started out on the OHV road somewhere around 10, which wasn’t too bad, but it was hot enough. We immediately had to ford the creek which was actually quite refreshing as we had miles upon miles of uphill with close to 4000 FT of gain. Soon we reached the trailhead & the uphill monotony began. We were able to follow a trail practically the entire way. With 14 days of food and it being the first day with an excessive amount of climbing we were hurting bad. The trail was steep in many spots & constantly uphill. I had suffered my first gear failure that day... One of my socks formed a hole and I tried to get rid of the thread I made the hole even bigger! We eventually leveled out and enjoyed the view of the Infant Buttes. The trail followed up to the drainage of the lakes on the west side of Mt. Hooper. The plan was to camp at Hooper Lake which was over 10,500 FT, but when we reached the first lake we knew we were definitely done for the day. It was over 9000 FT so we did at least 3000 FT of gain through the heat. Harvey Lake was pretty and quickly we set up camp & were surprised to see people there as a guy came through our camp saying he was scouting for hunting season. We even saw several fisherman on our way up that day hiked to the lakes. We thought the area was more remote but apparently not. We gathered up firewood & had what we thought was going to be the last good fire on the section & for a very long time. We quickly ate dinner & realized tomorrow would be very trying as the plan was to climb Mt. Hooper with our full packs. The mosquitoes were present but surprisingly not horrible. Soon we went to sleep among talk of virtual realities.
Day 4- July 6- Harvey Lake to Lake 10,900 FT (Senger Lake)
On Day 4 we resumed our climb up the drainage which was now a cross country trek. We passed several pretty lakes including Hooper & after studying the hideous routes up Hooper we decided to not climb it & take our chances up the North ridge. Soon after I fell & suffered some nasty road rash on my knee which over half a year later is still a visible scar mark. We soon made our way up to the saddle point on the North ridge. The climb was straightforward although toward the top it was completely technical class 3. We surmounted the saddle & I christened it Hooper Pass! The North ride was right there with only 700 FT of climbing but we were defeated to see it looked difficult & potentially Class 5 at the summit. Thus, we skipped our first peak. The view though across was superb. All the way to Humphrey’s & everything in between including 7 Gables, Gemini, Senger, Gabb, Hilgard & more. What a feeling to know you climbed many of those peaks. I managed to get some reception on the pass and checked the radar & weather forecast. Thunderstorms were going off all across the Sierra & we could see Humphrey’s Basin getting it’s fair share of bolts right then. But the forecast called for something more interesting…Snow! In July…What the hell! It was supposed to mostly come in the day we were supposed to climb Humphrey’s. Prospects were not looking good but we had no choice so we knew we would press on. We made our way down some technical Class 3 slabs & eventually off the pass. Looking up at Hooper’s summit block made me annoyed that we didn’t climb it. I shall have to return. We made our way further down to our lake which was directly above & to the West of Selden Pass. Skies were getting ominous but we found a camp soon enough. A very pretty lake with nice views all around. It sprinkled some for a while but we never had anything major. We could see the storm going up to Lake Italy just like last year when we weathered 3 full days of intense storms there. It clouded over at night & then cleared up. The mosquitoes were once again fairly tame which was incredibly surprising.
- Pretty Neil Lake
- Hooper Pass
- North Ridge of Mt. Hooper. Spicy Class 5 awaits
- The view from Hooper Pass was phenomenal
- Gorgeous light on Senger Lake
- Now that's a sunset
Today our our objective lay with climbing Mt. Senger & dropping down to Blayney & meeting up with our friend Derek. We got a decently early start & made our way down a steep chute to the JMT about 200 FT below the pass. We made short order of the pass & began the trek up Senger. We encountered lots of large & annoying talus with steep granite slabs. It was certainly not a Class 2 let alone a Class 2 walk up. Another lovely description by Secor it was quite untrue. We did some Class 3 to avoid more large talus & eventually gained the horribly sandy and loose slope to the saddle. I pushed on and reached it with Rogue 10 minutes behind. We finally made the last talus push to the summit. An excellent view we had from the summit overlooking the lovely area we were in last year. We were the first ones on the summit this year. We saw Derek’s entry from last year & saw that his route didn’t look fun at all. We made our way down soon enough & traversed the remaining snowfields all the way down and ended up in major Class 3 boulder fields. It was a long way down & we finally made our way up the pass & back to our packs for a very late lunch. While on the summit I checked the forecast again and saw that the snow was coming but from a Pacific Storm from the Gulf of Alaska!! Oh man… I knew this would be something. To have a storm like this in July was beyond my wildest imagination. I'm a weather junkie... I've been studying meteorology and climate for over a decade and that's what I finished my degree in at Berkeley. The lows were forecasted to be below 32 & around 28 in Humphrey’s. It would be a true test of will. But for now we were back on the trail (JMT) grinding our way downhill to Blayney which was a long way’s down. Senger was at 12,200+ & Blayney at 7,700 so that was an almost 5000 FT drop in one day. At least the pack was slightly lighter & the shoulders more accustomed to it. Storm clouds built all day but didn’t amount to anything for us as everything was clearing out by the time we got to Blayney. The trudge down was long as we got there around 6:30-7. At least I wasn’t in as much pain as when I did it with my friend 3 years before when my shoes broke down. We looked for Derek but to no avail as he was not there. We figured he would show up later in the night. We found us a spot where I fumbled with my tent for far too long because I was just so dead beat tired. Eventually we had dinner which was an incredibly satisfying Mac & Cheese with a Tuna Packet I got out of VVR. Rogue said he was going to the Hot Springs & I somewhat reluctantly agreed to join him as I knew crossing the river would not be fun again in the dark the 2nd year in a row. It was uncomfortable but manageable & the reward was definitely worth it. Soaking the tired and sore feet in the hot spring was heavenly. We met a PCT’er that was camped directly there at the spring from Belgium who had very little gear. He didn't even have a sleeping bag! We told him about the snow so he got a fair warning. We made our way back as it was quite dark now & still no sign of Derek. Just as were about to head to sleep we saw a backpacker with a red light come into the area. We thought it might be Derek but because we were so tired we didn’t even yell out to him. That would prove to be a funny mistake.
- A view I've seen multiple times now looking into the heart of the Mono Divide amid the ever present storms!
