High Sierra Topix

Piute to Golden Trout to Elba to Piute, just got out. Weather a bit warm, gentle rain yesterday afternoon, more active pattern looking possible to my eye. No bugs. Crossings no big deal. Navigation in my beloved Humphreys Basin is such a shitshow… user trails, unsigned trails… I calculated at one point every other person I met was lost! Including me at one point. Let me know any questions you may have. Oh— and I stopped at Hutchinson Meadow— one of the fire pit sites has large bones, like horse or mule, all around the fire ring. No, not creepy at all…

Wildflowers: nearly done, but some remain, including a beautiful white gentian that I need to look up, on the tundra. Wildlife: birds are harder to see now that singing season is over but some were seen including a Prairie Falcon at Elba Lake; good marmot interaction; especially ruffianly and shameless Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels at Golden Trout Lakes, which did indeed have fish; saw a frog which always makes me happy. Also classed under wildlife or possibly New Robot Overlords, this is the first time I've seen this extreme trail running thing? Very fit, young people with tiny vests for their minimal gear, and trekking poles, running very far from the TH. I definitely don't feel like the same species as they speed by me while I struggle along under my pack. But if one single thing should go wrong, they are carrying zero survival gear. I used to day hike long distances but I never would go without a jacket, food and means of purifying water. HYOH or run your own run I guess...

What about the "back"? Did you go back the same way of a different route? I would love to see some photos.

Yes, the trail runners are out there and true, all fine if they do not have an accident. They depend on moving to stay warm and the ability to go fast. All that is no good once you cannot walk. I do think they carry emergency communication such as the In-Reach. They do not seem to have many accidents, so perhaps we worry too much about them. I do not think a lot of backpackers nowadays are truly self-sufficient. The trails are so crowded now that they can depend on someone coming along to help. Light and fast seems to be the new trend.

I came back the same way... had intended to go to Desolation but ended up back at Golden Trout. My photos are still all on my phone but I'll post some when I get a chance

Here is a link to all the pictures (shots of my dog swimming at the kennel first and then trip pictures, which should all be labeled I hope)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kyrifreem ... 317667372/

As I realize I never explained my 'lost' reference:
As I came up the first day I did not know there was a user trail to Golden Trout because it's not on my Harrison map. No big deal, I contoured over the tundra toward the lakes then found the trail. On that trail, I met a gentleman who had stopped and was looking at his map. He had intended to go to Desolation. (Other direction, toward the 14K landmark...) I'm pretty sure I met at least one other party that day who were at least quasi-lost but can't remember.

Coming back up from Hutchinson a few days later, I walked straight off the main Piute Pass trail at a rocky patch and onto the lower Golden Trout Lakes user trail. I immediately met two guys who had done the same thing, I guess the day before, and had camped. They were talking to two women who had just descended the trail and said it was followable though 'more of a footpath'. I went for it. I did not find it followable, the trail disappeared shortly afterward and my InReach is no help with that kind of micro-navigation. I found some awesome campsites by the outlet stream, maybe used by people going up to Packsaddle? But it was still early in the day. Not wanting to retrace my steps and thinking going up to the main trail through slabs and trees would be a PITA though possible, I forged onward cross country, keeping the outlet stream on my right and being careful not to go up anything I couldn't come down. Shortly I got back on a faint user trail and then a bigger one. The side trail to the lower Golden Trout Lake looked untrodden and since it was going to rain, I kind of wanted to camp at this point. Around the corner was a more trodden side trail which suddenly looked very familiar... I had come right back to my first night's camp! It had good shelter so I stayed there again and met the resident marmot.

I was never actually lost as such: I knew my direction and the topography, just not exactly the best route to where I was going, needing a little thought at times (I do feel like kind of an idiot for losing the main trail at that one point though, but I wasn't the only one and those guys seemed experienced). I wouldn't be surprised if people do get actually lost in Humphreys with the proliferation of user trails and unsigned trails and the reliance on electronic devices that has become the norm. On the way back down (a total slog since my big toes had kind of exploded on the first descent to Hutchinson and there are a bunch of those infernal granite stock steps), I met a lot of Labor Day weekend hikers and had some ask me for directions to one lake or another and tried to give them very clearly.

Thanks for the report and photos! That's a beautiful sunset over the Golden Trout Lakes.

I have similar sentiments about trail runners in the High Sierra. On the one hand, I'm very impressed about not only the amount of ground they can cover, but also the terrain they traverse too (I saw one nimbly skip down a class 3 off-trail pass last month, then take a quick dip in a lake before briskly boulder hopping across a talus field and then jogging off). On the other hand, what do they do when an unexpected weather event rolls in? I suppose they could be fast enough to simply outrun it back to the trailhead.

Right, or a twisted ankle? They're not actually immune to gravity, right? There's something soul-destroying about struggling my way upward under a 40-pound pack and these younger, longer-legged speedsters breeze right by me...

On the other hand, at a crossing below Golden Trout right after encountering a couple of them, I saw a little tiny adorable frog. I bet they were moving too fast to see the frog.

Hi Kyri,

Nice trip, and thanks for the link to your many fine photos. We loved all of the animal shots, even your graceful plastic horses, though it took us awhile to figure out the cryptic Jackrabbit, but then there it was! And who is "Barret the Marmot," and how did you guys meet?
We appreciated your plant and flower images; that "bright red plant" you mentioned seeing everywhere is the lovely fall Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium, I think?.

Really nice write-up of a great little trip. [I have to ask-- where are those nice, craggy peaks in your photostream, a bit after the photos from your Sierra trip?] Thanks for sharing Kyri, Harlens.

Wandering Daisy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2024 9:52 am What about the "back"? Did you go back the same way of a different route? I would love to see some photos.

Yes, the trail runners are out there and true, all fine if they do not have an accident. They depend on moving to stay warm and the ability to go fast. All that is no good once you cannot walk. I do think they carry emergency communication such as the In-Reach. They do not seem to have many accidents, so perhaps we worry too much about them. I do not think a lot of backpackers nowadays are truly self-sufficient. The trails are so crowded now that they can depend on someone coming along to help. Light and fast seems to be the new trend.

I still carry basic stuff, even on day hikes. Sure, if you stay on the most used trails in season, you can depend on others, I guess. But who wants to do that with a whole High Sierra to be explored with barely a person to be seen once you get off the popular trails? Backpacking: I am setup to survive in an emergency, and I haven't had to used my In-Reach yet.

There is another discussion of the grass patterns here:

viewtopic.php?t=23315