Moments in Dirt and Ink

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...

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...

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.

Sequoia National Park Light blue line for day 7. Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8  |  DAY 9 I wake up to find that my play for sunshine in the morning is ineffective. The brightening sky is covered in clouds, particularly where it is brightest. I get a little bit of sunshine, but only for a few minutes. We have our various breakfasts and head out across country to rejoin the Pacific Crest Trail using three spots where the rock juts out from the cliffs on the south as a guide to our route, dropping only a little way as we go. We are aiming first for a large lake in the next drainage over. We come to the higher drainage and make our way past a few small ponds. Another meadow along the drainage that carries a deep puddle of water.

Sequoia National Park Dark green line for day 6. Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8  |  DAY 9 It seems to be a lovely day again, somewhere through the trees, as the sun comes up. It takes a very long time to hit us while locations across the creek where the passing ranger had indicated there are more spaces got the sun long before we did. I pack up my stuff thinking it'll be nicer to stay up at Wallace Lake where, presumably, there are three more people, but the others only plan on a day hike. We continue up the use trail, sometimes losing it but always finding it again. The rolling granite slopes of a wide glacial valley. A pond along one of the tributaries to the south of our route.

Sequoia National Park Light green line for day 5. Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8  |  DAY 9 The new day dawns nice and sunny. Only the very smallest dots of clouds are in the sky to cause any worry about weather later in the day. Reports that our missing group member had set up at the end of the lake turn out to be true. Our old neighbors turn up again, one with a pack and the other two without as one is hiking out over Whitney by trails while the other two stay for more off-trail adventures. We set out our stuff to dry, then pack it up more carefully for protection from water. I leave my sleeping bag in the bivy as it is stuffed. The good dry bag being used to hold lunch gets the clothing in it instead and a smaller sack is used for the lunch food. Really, a simple arrangement to keep dry the things that it is most important to kee...

Sequoia National Park Tan line for day 4. Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8  |  DAY 9 The day dawns with beautiful skies. Puffy clouds play their way over the sky. The optimist can claim that there will be no rain today, but the realist suspects that these clouds will have friends soon and together they'll all have a party later. I untie my line and set everything out to dry again. The wet sleeping bag hood wasn't too horrible in my synthetic bag, especially while wearing my wool hat that ties on. Today, we go over Crabtree Pass and down to one of the Crabtree Lakes where we will have trail again. Poking around the day before determined that the direct route up wasn't very accessible, so we plan on making a lazy loop to the left and back around to the higher large lake instead of climbing the outflow. Our neighbors, a group of three h...

Sequoia National Park Orange line for day 3. Map link. DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6 | DAY 7 | DAY 8 | DAY 9 The day dawns sunny but with clouds again as I get up. Most aren't moving until the sun hits them again, and I was happy to follow suit. When it does, I untie a few knots and push my makeshift roof aside to let it dry a little and started putting other things out as well. The day was quite cold without the sun on me, but with the sun it warms quickly to something very pleasant. I pull my camera out of the bivy's waterproof stuff sack to find that I should have made sure it was drier when I put it in. There is now moisture on the inside of the LCD and it turns right back off when I try it. Today is a layover day and we are entertaining thoughts of going up one of the peaks although we don't know any of the routes. First, we'll go up to Arc Pass for a good look at Whitney. I tuck the camera into the mesh side pocket on the su...

Inyo National Forest and Sequoia National Park Red line for day 2. Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8  |  DAY 9 The sky seems to get a little bit brighter all through the early morning hours with a planet or two, one quite large and bright, rising followed by a sliver of moon. Finally the brightening seems to really get going and the day dawns with a few clouds but plenty of sunshine to be found to dry out the wet stuff. I reach out to untie two knots holding the roof up and fold it aside and out of my way of getting up. My sleeping bag feels wet in the bottom where the bivy sack pocked out from under my makeshift roof that I was really only trying to put over the top half of me and give me some room to store boots and rain gear. I worry for a moment that it has not held, but inspection shows no moisture, only cold. My sockless feet were...