Moments in Dirt and Ink

Death Valley National Park (map link) (Not all of Death Valley National Park requires a fee, but this is within the old monument area where a fee is required.) There is no official trail up Corkscrew Peak, but it is sufficiently striking looking that someone decided it needed a roadside sign. I parked beside the sign where I found one of the many thin trails that converge onto a well worn use trail that climbs to the top. It's almost as good as an official trail. I was being promised morning weather including a chance of snow. I could believe it the day before as I explored Rhyolite under thick clouds, but I did the morning trail finding under an arc of solid blue. A very visible use trail going off to Corkscrew Peak in the distance. A couple puffs of cloud appearing over the top of Telescope Peak, far across the huge valley. The route drops into a wide wash where I could see remnants of trails from previous years. They all go the same place, into a short canyon with ...

Kings Canyon National Park Inyo National Forest Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7 Two more days in the plan, but probably only one more day for the execution. I expect to stare at one more mountain that would be a perfectly reasonable climb, and then not go up it. The climb would make it late for getting out, so staying one more night would be nice, and the extra day would make time to go up one more little peak on the way out. Or I can just hike out today. I have minor, but unfounded, worries about leaving the cats with a first time carer for a week. The one needing pills can be a nuisance. So I may bail on the plan. Meanwhile, out in the Dusy Basin, it is looking like a very nice morning indeed. Surrounded by mountains, it is time to find the pass. I guess the bit at the left. Climbing higher, but still a few trees. There are lots of lakes, creeks, po...

Inyo National Forest Sierra National Forest Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7 A poor sleep, nothing to do with the moment and everything to do with being in a cycle of poor sleep, showed that all my little roof blocked was the very bright moon as it crossed the sky and then the view of the stars. A few clouds played, but mostly it was clear. Home seems to like to cloud up and rain at night, but these mountains like a good afternoon clamber with clearing at night. Still, the late evening activity hinted that there might be a little more to the current weather than just what the mountains generate. Morning is clear and George is shaded by the mountains with plenty of fish jumping. George Lake and a pothole beside it sit in shadows reflecting a morning sky. The trail along the side of the lake has a tree, still green, fallen across where it is difficult to get...

Inyo National Forest Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7 In planning the loop through Evolution Basin, a location commonly claimed to be a favorite along the Pacific Crest Trail through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, most will get a shuttle or plan to hitchhike between the North Lake and South Lake. Not me. I planned to connect the two by the Tyee Lakes Trail and the George Lake Trail and the short up and over seems like a good start day for the trip. It needs to be short because there is also the matter of the long drive up and grabbing a permit on the way. This year, walk-in permits are being released at 11 AM the day before, but they are still free for Inyo National Forest. Arriving at the Interagency Visitor Center a mere 23.5 hours after the day's permits were released, I easily got one of the 10 total, 6 that may be reserved, that are offered. This is also a nice t...

August 1991 Inyo National Forest Sequoia National Park I was the ripe old age of 14 in 1991, so my first trip up to Mount Whitney was not my own plan or execution. Instead, it was part of the intermediate backpacking unit at Camp Mountain Meadows. Or at least slightly higher than beginner. It may well have been my third backpacking trip ever and the previous one did not go entirely to plan . The first one was when I was 9. This one also did not go as planned, but in two ways inconsequential to getting to the goal. First, permits had not been reserved for our group, so the original plan to go in at Onion Valley and proceed south had to be scrapped when walk-in permits could not be obtained for a group the size of a Girl Scout Camp unit. Instead, we camped out at the Cottonwood Lakes backpacker camp at the trailhead (which I remember being quite crowded) and Klikitat got up at 4AM to sit next to the ranger station to be first in line when they opened. I think she said the s...

Inyo National Forest Manzanar National Historic Site DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 The sun gets up appropriately early when camped out around The Pothole. My bear canister seems inappropriately empty. Apparently I did not quite figure out that I needed one more breakfast than supper. There is no breakfast for me in there. Ralph has about a pound of oatmeal he has not eaten yet, so there is plenty to eat. But where are the raisins? Where is the cinnamon? Oh, are beggars not supposed to be choosers? I dump the last of my blueberry juice infused cranberries (surprisingly yummy) into the mix and it is good, but it really needs a mass of cinnamon. Allspice can be nice, too. We pack up for the last time and head down passing a couple groups coming up from Anvil Camp. Add to them the trail crew staying there and it must have been a little crowded there last night. There are indeed a lot m...

Inyo National Forest Sequoia National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 Another morning by the lake and still no fish are jumping, but we are going fishing. Just not here. We pack it all up only to drop it again just the other side of the rocks. Dave has decided that it will be easier to get to Big Sur for a family weekend if he walks out today and Devon likes that hike a little better than the one over the trailless rocks, so they are both bailing on us again. We wave them off while we unload our packs, the start the first navigational challenge. Looking down on the lake at the next level below. Williamson Creek gets its start here. We are heading down to it and over the lip to the next one. Photo by Dave from above us. This is where I want to grab my camera and thumb to a photograph of the area we will be hiking down to remind me of the route. Reconnaissance photos are really...

Inyo National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 This morning, I pack up most my stuff into various bags to leave at camp. We will be coming right back here in the afternoon, so no need to carry it. My worries about the weather coming later cannot hurry anyone else and the bright blue sky overhead does nothing to help my case. Climbing back out of the bowl of the lake to what is a bit like a ridge running through Williamson Bowl is just as hard as coming down. There are some things that look like trails, but they finish as soon as they start. At the top with many miles of Owens Valley visible, some realize they can call their spouses to say that they can stop worrying about what might have happened yesterday and start worrying about what might happen today. I realize that we want to go down to the lakes below tomorrow and take the time to scrutinize the route. It seems like all routes cli...

Inyo National Forest Sequoia National Park DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 The morning sun comes up directly down the canyon and I go for the camera to take a picture. The camera promptly does nothing at all. I check the settings and it is on and everything looks right, but there is not even a complaint of a low battery when I press the shutter. I left it on when I tucked it into my pack last night and it probably spent the night trying to focus on the inside of the pack. The action was to protect it from dew I knew would not manifest and indeed did not. Battery failure number two. I did that once before with dire consequences for any chance at picture taking, so at least I am not in a panic that my expensive camera is now broken, but I should have learned. Of course since the battery will last for weeks, short of egregious operator error, I do not have a spare. With the telephoto and trip...

Inyo National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 The White Mountains throw a long shadow, so the peaks above get light a lot sooner than we do. The others are not in much of a hurry to get out and have a bit more to take down anyway. I looked at the weather and then looked around at various nearby and far areas and eventually decided to believe the National Weather Service although I am usually reluctant to do so for more than three days out. According to it, there will not be the slightest chance of rain, so I left out tent or shelter or even bivy sack. I grabbed the wind breaker and left the rain gear. It is a very nice weight savings. Not as much as expected versus what I carried in Colorado, though. Got to figure that out, that did include rain gear and shelter. Meanwhile, everyone else has and is using a tent. I guess it helps tone down the moon brightness. Morning has broken u...

Manzanar National Historic Site Inyo National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 Ralph said he wanted to go up Mount Williamson, but he wanted to start the hike at Manzanar. I have been past Manzanar many times and usually given it the hairy eyeball as I went. It is a place I did not want to visit as though visiting would somehow condone the actions that led to the building and populating of this place. After the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor, the American people did a few irrational things out of fear. The west coast states gathered up more than 110,000 people of Japanese descent, most of them fellow citizens, and interned them within 10 camps. The feeble excuses for doing so could just as well be applied to Germans on the east coast, but somehow no one worried about them. Now Ralph wants to retrace, in a sense, the steps of the Manzanar fishermen. You see, in spite of the eight guard towe...

Death Valley National Park After another downright delightful night at the edge of Death Valley with the Desert Peaks Section group, it is again a short drive up to our start point, although a fair bit rougher than the drive on the previous day. The start is a cluster of mines in an area where there are quite a few mines. This one has many holes that look to be in quite good condition, one big enough to drive into. They are probably all the more dangerous for looking so safe. Holes in the ground are not our target anyway. We are heading north to a nice, high peak. And so we take off up an old mining road into a wide valley looking to gain a ridge and keep on walking. The road ends, for the most part, quickly at a set of large cairns. There is evidence of someone trying to find the way along it further up, but even that would not gain us much. Plenty of mining went on to give us our access point. We get some pinon pines along the side of the short road walk. ...

Death Valley National Park It is a good day for a Desert Peaks Section hike. The national weather service had predicted low 40s overnight and I did not wake up in frost for once. Well, I did not expect frost because desert air is good, dry stuff, but in this case it actually is in the low 40s. We are expected at the start point right around sunrise, so we rise ourselves into the pleasant dawn light. After some breakfast and checks and a short drive, we gather for the ceremonial signing of the liability waiver and general summary of the day's activities. The short version is we will walk along a ridge, tag a small bump on the way out, then continue on to the main attraction high above the Eureka Valley sand dunes. We then walk along the road a short way and, picking a spot, strike out into the wilderness. Roads and trails only go so far. Sometimes you just have to pick a direction and walk. This is easy travel country. For now, anyway. It is a long, gentle ...

Death Valley National Park I spotted a Desert Peaks Section (part of the Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club) outing included on the Hundred Peaks Section calendar and thought it looked fun and interesting. A little investigation showed that they still do not put any of their routes online like HPS does, but the schedule actually is there. Fine time to figure that out as the season for doing these is winding down and there may not be any for a while. As with HPS, you do not need to be a DPS member or even a Sierra Club member to join the outings. I signed up and even found a carpool for the long journey. It would require starting the drive at midnight to get to the traihead on time, so we are actually up the day before and looking about. It is a little warmer and not so windy on this trip to the sand dunes, but then it is the start of spring, not the start of winter. The sand dunes with nothing whatsoever to help understand the scale. Well, there is the little black do...

Inyo National Forest We set our sights on South Lake for some actual snowshoeing. Well, I wanted Sabrina, where the highway ends, but I was overruled. We drive around a sign which would say "road closed" if turned the right way around, and start to hit snow on the road. Not too much further, it becomes a solid mass up the hill. Happily, there is a trail right next to where we have to stop that just happens to be quite covered in snow. Always nice when we do not have to wade through the snow melt on the first day of spring. We cross the bridge and strap the paddles to our feet on the far side. There are already a few prints to help with route finding. Unfortunately, there are a couple post holes to go with the prints where someone tried to walk it in runners. There are not a lot of routes available, but it is nice not to have to search for it. There is one patch of bare rocks after a few hundred feet, but then it is all snow. Good views come quickly. ...

Inyo National Forest I suggested a snowshoe up to the Ashram to Bernard and now we have collected a group to do it, although the snow is not cooperating. That is okay, this jagged valley is probably not a place one would want to be in heavy snow. We park in a turnout a little before the road starts to flirt heavily with a cliff and start our hike along it. The creek that is a dry wash where we crossed to get here is noisy and invisible in its deep groove below us. The gash of this valley and the flat of Owens behind us is quite a contrast. Starting off somewhere above Tuttle Creek which slices the bottom of a large glacial valley. Looking back on Owens Valley. I see faces in the rocks, or at least a head on the ridge.

Death Valley National Park Locate the place. After an unforced error resulted in a an unplanned night on Hunter Mountain and some extreme good luck fixed the problem before lunch, we stopped by Scotty's Castle to find a gas station. Unless the 1920s era tanks are still legal, there is no sign of such a thing anywhere and strong signs the old AAA map is wrong. Still, we are here and it is a very silly place so we cannot exactly leave it again without having a look around. The place seems designed to evoke the idea of a castle very strongly without in any way being anything like a castle. The main house and some of the auxiliary buildings at Scotty's Castle.

Death Valley National Park Locate the trailhead. We could see the trail to Ubehebe Peak switchbacking toward a northern saddle on our way back from wandering around the Grandstand. The trail is unmarked and starts from the same parking lot. A little examination and its worn surface pops out. The rock lined edges help pick it out. We found the start before leaving in the evening so we were sure of where to return to for a morning hike. Now we just start up it and see how it turns out. Ubehebe Peak (on the far left). The switchbacks can just be seen as a light colored zig-zag to the saddle near the right. The "island" of the Grandstand rises from the solid and dry mud of the Racetrack.

Death Valley National Park Locate the trailhead. The road into Racetrack from the north is best with high clearance although some were carefully making their way in passenger cars. We got to the parking by the Grandstand with the shadows getting long and walked out onto the dry mud of the playa (dry lake bed). The footprints of those who came when it was wet and ignored the sign warning against walking on it then are few, but well preserved. There are also tire tracks, both from when it was wet and dry, from those who really want to mess things up. The land is designated wilderness away from the road and the park does not allow off road travel. All these marks were fewer as we got further out. A single island in the middle of the lake bed is called the Grandstand.

Death Valley National Park On the way to Ubehebe Crater, traveling the otherwise sign free roads, we came upon a crankshaft sitting upright at a junction. Assuming some of it is buried to keep it upright, a straight eight crankshaft. Off in the bushes, a pair from a V8 have also been contributed to mark the junction. We had obviously come to Crankshaft Junction. We have arrived at Crankshaft Junction.  Photo by Sung Byun. On the way from Ubehebe Crater to the Racetrack, we pass Teakettle Junction. Would we also find a tea kettle? We arrive at Teakettle Junction. Why, yes, we would. Quite a few tea kettles, in fact. The original that marked this junction is long gone, but many have been contributed to take its place. These are all dated and have messages. Only one is from 2013, the rest are 2014 and at least one comes from the other side of the planet. ©2015 Valerie Norton Posted 8 January 2015