Moments in Dirt and Ink

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...

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...

Inyo National Forest Sequoia National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 (The night was too warm even for my light quilt until a breeze came up to mix the night air a little bit. Soaking in the hot spring under the bright Milky Way was great, but now it is morning and time to hike out on an often hot trail. The moon rose a thin crescent in the dawn light, but the sun is very slow to get up after it. Since I had no photos of the spring after getting in at sunset, some in shadow would just have to do. The meadow and my late night neighbors are not yet in sun either. The main pool at Jordan Hot Spring with the cold water channel to help regulate the water temperature. The main pool is bubbling everywhere. I do not remember it having that many "air jets" a couple years ago, but it is probably not something that changes much. Little hot creeks flow in in a couple places. As much as the tub was too hot to soak in for more tha...

Inyo National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 Templeton, the original impetus for this trip plan, sits serenely across a short meadow and a random little hill. Should I get to a "better" position to start up it, or just clamber right up it and that little hill for good measure? Packed up, I go searching for that elusive trail, but there really is no certain sign of it. There is a funny looking post on the far side of the meadow that looks to have trail beside it. Maybe. And maybe that is a line there. As I hit the creek, there are a couple rocks set out to help hop it without getting my feet too wet, although the meadow plants are doing a good job of wetting my shoes already. The post turns out to be another location poster with an unfamiliar format, but this one is only about 7 years old. It is at the edge of dry land and points to something right by the creek only 51.6 meters away. I look, but nothing is obvious. Locatio...

Inyo National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 With the wet ground and falling temperatures in the night, there was a fair bit of dew. As the sky brightens, a moo drifts across the grass. Ah, wildlife. The mist hangs over the meadows, especially around the river, but it increases and moves as the sun rises and warms the wet ground. I thought I was well situated to get some morning rays, but it just takes forever to get over the mountains. Mist on the meadows in the morning. Eventually, I realize the sun actually is glowing up there in the sky, however what was a sky full of stars has somehow turned into a sky full of clouds. There is no telling how long it will take the sun to come out, so everything will just have to be put away wet. Since I ignored the road to find water and then camp last night, I have to go find it again in the morning. This is easy, it is right where I left it. Then I have to try to navigate the man...

Sequoia National Forest Inyo National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 I left Templeton Mountain unclimbed almost two years ago and decided to try for it again. The impetus to climb this silly looking nearly perfect cone of a peak was to look for a benchmark that is on the 1905 Olancha 30' map. There are others, so I decided to add a few more to the trip to make a big loop with a return that may as well visit Jordan Hot Springs again. I stopped by the Blackrock Ranger Station to self issue a wilderness permit then got up to the parking lot just after hitting the breaks to avoid hitting a bear. Seeing the bear makes me really want to get rid of food trash and maybe food before leaving the car, but there are no trash cans or bear boxes available. So it goes. There is a beautiful hazard tree central to the lot. So it goes. To avoid walking the same trails as much as possible, I decide to head over to Monache Meadows via motorcyc...

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.

Inyo National Forest (map link) DAY 1  |  DAY 2 It seems like it should be colder than this in October at 10,000 feet. There is not the slightest sign of frost anywhere. Today, we can day hike up the last of the mountain, then grab the rest of our stuff on the way down and coast the rest of the way out. First, we have to get started and it is quite a late start. Ah, but the sun is upon us as we do. The night warmer than expected does not translate into a very warm day. Red and White Mountain with sun long before it gets to us on the other side of Big McGee Lake. Starting out in the still cool, but now sunny, fall air.

Inyo National Forest Locate the trailhead. DAY 1  |  DAY 2 I have been hearing a vicious rumor that this time of year, one should be heading out to look for fall color, perhaps around Bishop and a few other areas. Then I noticed Red Slate Mountain. Who could resist that? Quite a few people by the summitpost entry which claims many prefer to go for the one peak higher in the Mammoth area, Mt. Ritter. We get a late start thanks to planning around jury duty and hike in a little way under the bright moon for a little dispersed camping before the John Muir Wilderness boundary. There is no sign, so we may not have managed to stop before the boundary, but as it is after midnight, we definitely enter the wilderness on the permit designated day. We can see just enough under the great streetlamp in the sky to be excited about what the morning sun will show. The suggestion of tree tops among light and dark striped mountains. The morning does not disappoint. Bright...

Inyo National Forest Sequoia National Forest Locate the trailhead. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 My attempt at getting some sun in the morning has failed as my camp is still deep in shadow as the buildings and trees across the creek gain the sun. The original plan has three days to hike out, but that was really to give an extra day "just in case". Under normal circumstances, I would hike most of the next two days in a single go and the mention of the first weekend of hunting season provides a little extra motivation to get out earlier. With a reasonably early start, I should be able to get down to Kern Flat and loaded with water by 1PM. If I start the "six mile climb" back out of Kern Canyon, really only 1500 feet up, I should be able to stumble into a camp I know has water by sunset. The GPS shows sunset is somehow half an hour earlier than it was w...

Inyo National Forest Locate the trailhead. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 Today is a very easy day. The morning is to be looking for monuments around Casa Vieja Meadows and wandering three miles or so down the trail. The afternoon is to be sitting in the hot springs and exploring old cabins from when it was a commercial concern. The morning sun on the meadow is stunning, and after some battling with the camera in need of a new battery, I can capture a slightly lesser moment of the light. Then, with breakfast put away, I turn my attention to climbing the small peak just north of my campsite. Manzanita makes a feeble attempt to block my way sometimes and I am quickly into a cold wind, but soon find myself on Doc Peak, as it is labeled in the OpenStreetMap. It is another labeled with a benchmark on the 1905 Olancha 30' map and on the more recent 1987 Casa...