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...

Kings Canyon National Park Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7 The rain stopped halfway through the night, and, eventually, so did the dripping through the ceiling. My bag and myself even dried out a little and certainly managed to get a bit more comfortable. It is a testament to just how bad my sleep has been that this probably was the best so far. My fellow soggy hikers have a weather report for the next few days that is uninspiring and seems to lack sun for today. They head off anyway, but I take a long while to get collected again. The appearance of the sun changes things. I quicken up to try not to miss more minutes of bright sunshiny day only to stumble over the lack of any fuel for my stove. I can remember remembering to grab it and stuff it in and taking it out and setting it by the bear canister in the night, but now it is nowhere to be found. Cold breakfast ...

Kings Canyon National Park Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7 A lot of people have told me that Evolution Basin is the prettiest bit of the Sierras. There was even a day hiker coming up toward Piute Pass who said so. Today I will see it for myself. My shoes are not a lot drier after the night that seemed to have a bit of dew. My other camp sites were definitely a lot drier. It does not matter anyway. Crossing the tributary just up the trail while keeping my feet dry only lasts until finding the second, larger part of it. Who needs dry feet? And with the day's inaugural splashing, I head on to more meadows. Arriving at McClure Meadow. McClure Meadow is extensive and green and the creek sits within it like a long lake. I stand at the edge of the water for a while before noticing the flicker of ears in a nearby grasses. There is a small deer sitting behind it hid...

Sierra National Forest Kings Canyon National Park Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7 Today is a travel day without any mountains to climb. Well, a get down to the trail and then travel day. My plan to get back on trail is to go over the low spot west of the outlet and work my way down tending left to get to less steep areas of the canyon. Just getting to the low spot needs a round-about route as the direct way seems to have a bit of water topped by a wall of snow. The view back up to Pilot Knob from nearby camp. Climbing up and around for a low spot. Heading down among the rocks that make a lovely terraced flower garden requires some rather careful stepping. Halfway down, my stepping is not quite careful enough. Trust in one particular rock is rewarded with it slipping down a chimney it was sitting in the top of for a couple feet. It could be worse, th...

Sequoia National Forest Giant Sequoia National Monument Sequoia National Park Kings Canyon National Park Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 The night was almost too mild and a few of the mosquitoes stuck around through it. Also, I am way overpacked for such mild nights. It is what the National Weather Service predicted and what the history of a fairly local weather station confirmed, but how could I believe that in the face of knowing there is still snow on the ground? It sits in great lumps all around me. The morning brings wakeful campers, but not a lot of noise except for the one excitable dog. People seem to gather themselves up at a leisurely pace and wander away again, mostly turning back down the trail. It is the same with us, except that we are continuing out further. Jennie Lake has a nice rocky backdrop to the south. A few clearly do not yet want to get up. Far on the east side, I can see a hammock th...

Kings Canyon National Park August 1992 Day 1 My dad saw an opportunity to revisit the famous Rae Lakes loop from Roads End in Kings Canyon by taking myself and my little sister around it. Plans were for a week in the wilderness taking some time to head on down to Charlotte Lake and a day up in the Sixty Lake Basin. We got to the ranger kiosk to get a permit around the time it opened, but this was already too late to get three for Woods Creek. Instead, we got three for the less popular counter-clockwise direction up Bubbs Creek. We had day hiked up to middle Paradise Valley at one point, so this was the unfamiliar side. (I distinctly remember that hike, 14 miles and the longest I had done for many years, as the one I broke in my boots that was wearing and I later cut up on my second trip up Mount Whitney.) The permit being the last thing to pack, we set out on the trail. It starts off very easy on an upward grade next to the river that is so gradual it is difficult to not...

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 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 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...

Kings Canyon National Park Sierra National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5 Sipping a bit of water helped deal with the effects of smoke in the night and the morning is clearer again. I have decided to poll the hikers I meet as to if they are through hiking or not. The two that were already at the site are JMT sobo hikers (John Muir Trail south bound) and the two who came later are the same, but hit the greater smoke to the south and are now bailing out at Muir Ranch. Crossing the bridge over the low South Fork San Joaquin River. The sign at the junction says it is 16 miles down to Florence Lake, probably meaning the trailhead, and that is essentially all downhill. I thought yesterday afternoon was a long time going downhill, this will be longer. The lost elevation is much less. A piece of the trail. It is still a little smoky out, but not so bad. The deer in the park can be very relaxed.

Sierra National Forest Kings Canyon National Park DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5 It is 2 AM and I have woken up not comfortable at all. The smoke is making my nose run which is just enough to dribble down my throat and my stomach is reacting with heart burn. Maybe I should bail. Smoke is not a healthy thing. Pulling out the map, it looks like I could get back to the car in a day. It would be even easier to do so if I get the part I already know done now. I am not sleeping or even feeling sleepy. Packing is easy and quick. Under the moon, I do not even need my head lamp. It is curious how the trail stands out in the low light as a lighter line, even as it passes over the rocks. Very small particles ground out by the passage of many shoes scatter the light a little better? It seems plausible. Whatever it is, it makes the trail easier to follow than it was in the daylight. Of course, knowing where it goes hel...

Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 The rain overnight was not so bad as we feared it might be. It was actually stopping as we set up and cleared off overnight only to cloud up and rain again shortly before morning. None of the rain was particularly hard. It is clearing again as we get up and everything is drying quickly. First, we have to finish what was supposed to happen yesterday, a short jaunt up and over Coyote Lakes Pass. Trail wraps around the edge of the meadow to a well established campsite, then gets headed toward the pass. It seems to make perfectly straight lines as it switchbacks up the last couple hundred feet. Water can flow here, but currently it is a dry meadow moistened by rain. Coming up to the north side of Coyote Lakes Pass, which is not so big, especially if starting out at around 10,000 feet. Looking back over the bowl that is the headwaters of Coyote Creek.

Sequoia National Forest Sequoia National Park DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 After getting a mound of water for breakfast and another mound for hiking for the day, a procedure that seems to take forever with a Sawyer mini, Bernard is somehow still sleeping. The shaded creek is full of tiny Humboldt lilies and I enjoy my nice hot breakfast before giving him a little kick to get started on the hiking for the day. Today we climb and, as far as we know, this is the last water before the lakes at the top. The trail is a lot easier to find as we start today than it was as we ended yesterday. Humboldt lilies are among the thick green around Rifle Creek. Back out into the scar left by the 2012 Lion Fire, but at least some sawyers have come by. The trail becomes faint in places as we twist up through the forest. There are still a few big logs to jump over, but it is not so bad that the few mule prints we find on the trail seem out of place. Pistol Cree...

Sequoia National Park Map link. DAY 1 &nbps;|  DAY 2 &nbps;|  DAY 3 &nbps;|  DAY 4 &nbps;|  DAY 5 I woke up and pushed aside a surprisingly dry bit of tarp to find there was already a bright and beautiful day going on without me. Eventually, I managed to overcome the pull of the Earth's gravity enough to get together breakfast and pack up. The original plan had two days to hike out from Forester Lake, with notes about how to go up to two 12k foot peaks that shadow Franklin Lake to fill out the day over the pass. We seemed to have decided to ignore the peaks and just finish the hike. Admittedly, I do usually leave the peaks alone. The day started with a gentle drop among a couple streams to Rattlesnake Creek. A small tributary to Rattlesnake Creek. After a very short "0.9 miles", we were near the creek and joined the trail coming up from Kern to start a fairly long "2.2 miles" as the trail climbs even more gently up. The ar...

Sequoia National Park Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5 I woke up once in the night and pulled back the tarp to have a long look at the stars. The night was cool and nice and the stars exquisite right down to the individual points making up the cloud of the Milky Way. A typical Sierra sky. The tarp was covered in moisture on the inside, which wasn't surprising and wasn't getting on me so not a problem either. When next I woke, the sky was getting decidedly light. The tarp was still covered in moisture on the inside, but now I noticed that so was my quilt. A heavy dew had settled on everything. Feeling well rested, it was easy to start setting stuff out among our large, open kitchen rocks to dry and start in on breakfast. Today would be a long day with over half the climbing back out, but first we needed to hike another five miles down Big Arroyo to start that climb. Big Arroyo in an easy corner down in ...

Sequoia National Park Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5 I still wasn't feeling like I should, but I was feeling better with a higher quality sleep. The thing was, we were way behind the plan. It may not have been quite as hopeless to head on down to the spring at 6k feet, a decidedly warm elevation, but it sure felt like it. We decided to let it go. We would take the trail down Big Arroyo and catch our route up again at Soda Creek. Today would be a bit of downhill after a day hike over to the Big Five Lakes. Clouds gathering already in Kaweah Gap, the last place the clouds hung on to yesterday. The trail around the edge of the short ridge that separates the Big Five and Little Five Lakes is well traveled and we met a few hikers along it. At least until the junction where a spur goes up to the upper lakes. No one else seemed to be coming that way and gradually the trail went too. At first, it just sho...

Sequoia National Park Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5 The heat of sleeping at low elevations and the roar of Cliff Creek left me looking at the stars for far too long during the night. The lack of sleep didn't do anything to improve my speed as we started the day's climb from 7100 feet to 13700 feet at the top of the Great Western Divide. We had stopped just short of the crossing, which is more of a ford, but has some rocks for hopping. The junction is at the far side and came with a bear box and bigger, but slanted, campsites. We turned right and started up the canyon. Cliff Creek in a flatter area than we were listening to while trying to sleep. Of course there are always a few butterflies.

Sequoia National Park Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5 A plan was set for a week of wilderness travel starting in Mineral King and taking three days and drop down into the Kern gorge to visit the fabled Kern Hot Spring for an evening, then take another four days to climb our way out over the Great Western Divide again by a somewhat longer route, maybe even hitting a peak or two along the way. The reservation was made and with seven days to the start, my sinuses started to take on that unmistakable feeling of coming down with a cold. I can deal with the tail end sniffles of a cold which should be similar to dealing with whatever mild allergy to something up in the Sierras it is that I've got. The fever, which I don't usually have with colds, set in by evening and more symptoms than I've ever had at once piled on over the next day. And thus sickness rose and dwindled while I was hoping to be getting ready for a...

Sequoia National Park and Inyo National Forest Purple line for day 9. Map link. DAY 1   |   DAY 2   |   DAY 3   |   DAY 4   |   DAY 5   |   DAY 6   |   DAY 7   |   DAY 8   |   DAY 9 The sun starts to come up and we get up for an early start. We were thinking we might meet the other two of our group, back from Sky-Blue Lake, at Soldier Lake, but it as it is so near, they had gone on for more adventures. The secondary meet point is the trail head at 2 PM which is still 10-12 miles off, depending on our choice of route. I'm not too set on the importance of getting down by 2, but I suspect 3 PM is a good target to leave enough time to return my bear canister, so I'm running a little more slowly. We all get out before the sun hits our campsite and head up the trail we came in on, going toward Cottonwood Pass. N...

Sequoia National Park Dark blue line for day 8. Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8  |  DAY 9 Clouds have moved in again for the morning as it dawns. There isn't much sun to enjoy, but we make the most of it. I feel already worried about the rain we may be getting for today. The sky seems to say, "Not yet, but soon." We find our way down to the south going trail and start to climb, quickly coming to a stock gate among the rocks. We make our way up, along the flat, and over a short pass to drop down into Rock Creek. Looking back over Crabtree Meadow as we climb up into the rocks. Guyot Flat, which seems like an easy land except that it is so high up. Some more of Guyot Flat. Off in the distance, someone is getting rained on.