R03/R01 TR: 2017 Summer Explorations July 23 - August 31
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 12:15 pm
Summer of 2017 was an interesting one. So many life changes... so many alterations to the plans we originally had. I guess I'll dive right in...
After 81 days in 2016 with Rogue we both had some very specific plans for 2017. The biggest plan was to finally head to the HST Meetup, which at the time was going to be in Arrow Creek. This must have been Fall of 2016. Rogue knew that the 2017 summer would be considerably shorter than 2016 since he wanted to work more and save more money. I had similar thoughts and was under the impression I'd be going to graduate school the fall of 2017. But after further review that didn't happen because financially it made more sense for me to work another year and save more money for school. Hence my summer was free again and I had no real commitments. By the end of 2016 the winds of change began to blow both our ways. Rogue began dating someone at the time.. that progressed quickly and they became a couple. While initially that didn't change our summer plans that would influence and affect decisions down the road.
Our plan was as follows. He and I would go do about 12 days around the Great Western Divide, finishing off such peaks as the Whaleback, Midway, Glacier Ridge and so on. This would be from Lodgepole. From there we would go to the HST Meetup at Arrow Creek in late July by going from Taboose Pass to Sawmill Pass in about 12 days. Neither of us had done those passes so we were interested in knocking both out in the same trip. From there I had a wedding to go in early August and then I'd meet up with Rogue in Miter Basin to knock out some peaks in there. From there we would head to Northern Yosemite and do a large loop through the canyons starting and ending at Twin Lakes. I actually planned to do more in Yosemite in late August/early September by going from Tuolmne Meadows North and then looping back around.
Naturally none of this happened... haha. Literally nothing went to plan whatsoever. It's not often that nothing goes to plan but that is exactly what happened this summer of 2017.
My life changed drastically in April when I started dating... And we quickly became a couple. Not long after, my girlfriend, Janine, expressed interest on going on parts of this summer hike with Rogue and I. The plan would be for her to go with us on the Meetup and Miter Basin section. At the time she was going to transfer to San Jose State University which would happen in mid August. Let's fast forward to July... Rogue had decided to save money and work more and decided to not join me and Janine on the meetup section. Quickly after deciding this he decided that maybe all he should do was go on the first section and the Yosemite section hence cutting out Miter Basin. Fast forward a little more and it soon turned into just doing the first section. Alas.. we were all ready to go and I would only be joining him for the first Great Western Divide section and continuing on with the plan with my girlfriend until she had to leave me after Miter Basin. Solid plan right? Well... like I said nothing went to plan.
It was probably 3 days before I had to leave on July 9th to meet up with Rogue when Janine got sick. This was the kind of sick that I didn't feel right about leaving her for several weeks and then expecting her to meet up with me to start a backpacking trip. So... see where this is going. I ended up cancelling on Rogue. It was a major bummer but that's just how life goes. All of our plans and ideas ended up crumbling in a matter of weeks. He ended up only doing a few days on the first section by himself and realized he didn't want to be out there alone and he had a much happier and better life at home now that he had his girlfriend that he could be with. I ended up visiting him in Bakersfield for a few days before I set off on my hike with Janine.
So where does that leave us... Well Janine and I were on our own and we could follow the itinerary Rogue and I set up or change it up. We ended up changing it a lot due to environmental reasons, injury, and so on. The first piece of the puzzle that came together was due to unforeseen circumstances Janine ended up not going to San Jose State for school that fall which meant she could keep backpacking with me!
Here we are then..Week 1. I kept no journal this summer so everything will be much more condensed and more an overview. This first Week we ended up making it to the Meetup! Which at this point in time after our crazy 2017 winter ended up changing to Bench Lake. Our entire first section was pretty similar to what Rogue and I had planned by going from Taboose Pass to Sawmill via the JMT and heading to the Meetup. Let's begin!
After 81 days in 2016 with Rogue we both had some very specific plans for 2017. The biggest plan was to finally head to the HST Meetup, which at the time was going to be in Arrow Creek. This must have been Fall of 2016. Rogue knew that the 2017 summer would be considerably shorter than 2016 since he wanted to work more and save more money. I had similar thoughts and was under the impression I'd be going to graduate school the fall of 2017. But after further review that didn't happen because financially it made more sense for me to work another year and save more money for school. Hence my summer was free again and I had no real commitments. By the end of 2016 the winds of change began to blow both our ways. Rogue began dating someone at the time.. that progressed quickly and they became a couple. While initially that didn't change our summer plans that would influence and affect decisions down the road.
Our plan was as follows. He and I would go do about 12 days around the Great Western Divide, finishing off such peaks as the Whaleback, Midway, Glacier Ridge and so on. This would be from Lodgepole. From there we would go to the HST Meetup at Arrow Creek in late July by going from Taboose Pass to Sawmill Pass in about 12 days. Neither of us had done those passes so we were interested in knocking both out in the same trip. From there I had a wedding to go in early August and then I'd meet up with Rogue in Miter Basin to knock out some peaks in there. From there we would head to Northern Yosemite and do a large loop through the canyons starting and ending at Twin Lakes. I actually planned to do more in Yosemite in late August/early September by going from Tuolmne Meadows North and then looping back around.
Naturally none of this happened... haha. Literally nothing went to plan whatsoever. It's not often that nothing goes to plan but that is exactly what happened this summer of 2017.
My life changed drastically in April when I started dating... And we quickly became a couple. Not long after, my girlfriend, Janine, expressed interest on going on parts of this summer hike with Rogue and I. The plan would be for her to go with us on the Meetup and Miter Basin section. At the time she was going to transfer to San Jose State University which would happen in mid August. Let's fast forward to July... Rogue had decided to save money and work more and decided to not join me and Janine on the meetup section. Quickly after deciding this he decided that maybe all he should do was go on the first section and the Yosemite section hence cutting out Miter Basin. Fast forward a little more and it soon turned into just doing the first section. Alas.. we were all ready to go and I would only be joining him for the first Great Western Divide section and continuing on with the plan with my girlfriend until she had to leave me after Miter Basin. Solid plan right? Well... like I said nothing went to plan.
It was probably 3 days before I had to leave on July 9th to meet up with Rogue when Janine got sick. This was the kind of sick that I didn't feel right about leaving her for several weeks and then expecting her to meet up with me to start a backpacking trip. So... see where this is going. I ended up cancelling on Rogue. It was a major bummer but that's just how life goes. All of our plans and ideas ended up crumbling in a matter of weeks. He ended up only doing a few days on the first section by himself and realized he didn't want to be out there alone and he had a much happier and better life at home now that he had his girlfriend that he could be with. I ended up visiting him in Bakersfield for a few days before I set off on my hike with Janine.
So where does that leave us... Well Janine and I were on our own and we could follow the itinerary Rogue and I set up or change it up. We ended up changing it a lot due to environmental reasons, injury, and so on. The first piece of the puzzle that came together was due to unforeseen circumstances Janine ended up not going to San Jose State for school that fall which meant she could keep backpacking with me!
Here we are then..Week 1. I kept no journal this summer so everything will be much more condensed and more an overview. This first Week we ended up making it to the Meetup! Which at this point in time after our crazy 2017 winter ended up changing to Bench Lake. Our entire first section was pretty similar to what Rogue and I had planned by going from Taboose Pass to Sawmill via the JMT and heading to the Meetup. Let's begin!