Re: Xmas with Chick-on at Lake Vernon

Happy Holidays Everyone



Set here w/ comments:
http://picasaweb.google.com/yosemite.chick.on/VernonXmas

Awesome trip. Just awesome. But what is new?

Did you see what Larry got for Christmas?

http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/?Page=3

Great Pics. Thanks for posting. One question, though.....how did you get the chicken's pic so that no tracks in the snow were showing. Did he "fly" into position ?

Larry Begins Accumulating Ingredients For A Cold Chicken Sandwich:

Quote
bill-e-g

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2010 06:20PM by szalkowski.

All I know is that I woke up at midnight ... Santa wasn't around... so Larry wasn't too happy.
1/2 hour later Chick-on and Larry are singing "Marmuts roasting on an open fire".

The Other Tom : thanks. Chick-on flew on top of the tree too...
also, if you look at the photos of the hammock you can see a Jacks R Better underblanket.

Couple of other notes:
- we hiked in the same clothes we hiked in in mid-July... you just put on puffy jackets when u stop
- had to get out of the tent and shovel snow in the middle of the night Sat. to clear out round the tent
- if you think snow shoeing is easy... I uploaded some videos of GW busting trail... here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/yosemitechickon

Have fun

Lookie at da pretty bird in the pretty snow! (other guy is kinda goofy lookin')

Where's the chicky-tracks?

---

The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.

Quote
Bee
Lookie at da pretty bird in the pretty snow! (other guy is kinda goofy lookin')

Where's the chicky-tracks?

Be nice to Larry. He got restraining orda for xmas.

Isn't there a song "my feet no touch the ground" ?

Singed,
Marmot Fishing in America (aka The Blue Robin)

---

Picasa Pictures

Any of you turkeys been to Vernon?

---

Picasa Pictures

Too far. Too high.

---

Old Dude

Quote
mrcondron
Too far. Too high.

Gonna smack u up

---

Picasa Pictures

Quote
chick-on
Any of you turkeys been to Vernon?

Is it like Table Lake?

Quote
eeek

Quote
chick-on
Any of you turkeys been to Vernon?

Is it like Table Lake?

It's more like Hágönglón.

I used to go there all the time like in 1980 before the chicken even lost his baby down feathers. The 10 miles in from Hetch Hetchy seemed easy then. I can't imagine breaking trail in the snow all the way. Well done. The fishing was quite good in the old days and the bear activity is still the highest I can ever recall anywhere in the Sierra. Do they still dump the problem bears from the valley back there? We used to enjoy all the games we played with the bears keeping them from our food. Once at Lillian lake we saw some guys sinking their food in garbage bags in the lake because they lost all their hung food the day before. Never thought of that. We used to bring firecrackers and throw them at the bears when they came into camp which they did often. I know it's wrong but no different than what the rangers do now and it worked. I had a bear stand on me while I was asleep in Beehive meadow one night. He was trying to get my pack which I was sleeping next to. My food was hung properly and my scream scared him away. I remember one summer at Vernon there was a mama bear with 2 cubs and she had a radio collar on. She would charge every hiker that passed - I think in hopes of people dropping their packs and running. Must have worked a couple of times but the hikers I saw held their ground and were ok. That same bear stood on her hind legs 10 feet in front of me when I tried chasing her out of our camp there. That was pretty cool but a little worrisome at how unafraid she was.

apeguy,
They quit dumping the problem bears there many years ago. They found the bears would just wander
back to wherest they came from. (i.e. once a valley bear... always a valley bear) This turned out
to just put them into greater danger since now they had to play frogger to get back too.
There's some habituated bears around Laurel and Vernon still... but nothing like before.. that's for sure...
Back in the day (har har) they would also just walk around your site when you were sleeping
and knock over your bear can ... seeing if you were one of "those" humans.
My guess is that about 1/2 of the bears I've seen going to Vernon or over Moraine have boogied when
they heard me... so it's prolly getting better.
Rancheria had the same issue you mention ... bears snagging people packs, being very aggressive...
they had to close it for a while and do some serious reconditioning... I think about 3 years ago...
Anywho, if you figure what da heck Marmut Guy means... lemme know...
Toodles,

---

Picasa Pictures

Quote
chick-on
Anywho, if you figure what da heck Marmut Guy means... lemme know...

T.W.I.M.C.,
An obscure lake in Iceland to which The Marmots send invasive, non-native species (i.e., chickens) found wandering in the backcountry:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=64.560388,-18.158855&num=1&t=h&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=23.875,57.630033&ie=UTF8&ll=64.560241,-18.15834&spn=0.03215,0.108318&z=13
[The clerks at the Tuolumne Meadows Post Office should be quite familiar with it.]

Quote
szalkowski

Quote
chick-on
Anywho, if you figure what da heck Marmut Guy means... lemme know...

T.W.I.M.C.,
An obscure lake in Iceland to which The Marmots send invasive, non-native species (i.e., chickens) found wandering in the backcountry:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=64.560388,-18.158855&num=1&t=h&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=23.875,57.630033&ie=UTF8&ll=64.560241,-18.15834&spn=0.03215,0.108318&z=13
[The clerks at the Tuolumne Meadows Post Office should be quite familiar with it.]

Google no find... so thought you were making stuff up again...

---

Picasa Pictures

Quote
chick-on
Google no find....

It defeats the whole purpose of sending the chickens there if they can figure out where they are after being released from the postal package.
(Don'tBelieveInAirHoles-ly Yours)
The Marmots

Quote
szalkowski

Quote
chick-on
Google no find....

It defeats the whole purpose of sending the chickens there if they can figure out where they are after being released from the postal package.
(Don'tBelieveInAirHoles-ly Yours)
The Marmots

P.S. See, for example, the chapter titled "The Shipping of Trout Fishing In America Shorty to Nelson Algren" in the book "Trout Fishing In America" by Richard Brautigan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trout_Fishing_in_America





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2010 11:34PM by szalkowski.

Trout Fishing in America Marmut Man,

Eye may be mainstream... but ... "I'm out der"

Singed,
Trout Fishing in America

(for da records... anyone out der...
don't take any of this serious... or as a slight or anything...
it's all in good fun... )

---

Picasa Pictures

Quote
szalkowski

Quote
chick-on
Google no find....

It defeats the whole purpose of sending the chickens there if they can figure out where they are after being released from the postal package.
(Don'tBelieveInAirHoles-ly Yours)
The Marmots

You Sir, Marmot-man are officially on notice for hassling Yosemite's Most Endangered Species: Yosemite

Any further incusions will result in a citation (eeek will design a nice one and possible incarceration! (imagine The Beaks behind bars!!)

---

The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.

Quote
Bee
...Yosemite's Most Endangered Species: Yosemite

We are eternally grateful to the cooks on the early Sierra Club High Trip outings for the significant achievement of removing most of the "pink locusts" from the backcountry environment.
(Historically Yours)
The Marmots

Quote
eeek

Quote
chick-on
Any of you turkeys been to Vernon?

Is it like Table Lake?

Nothing is as nice as Table Lake.

---

Picasa Pictures

A few years ago, in June...your pictures make me want to go in the winter sometime, though this year I have Kibbie Lake and Lassen on my snow camping list.

Yes Rancheria was bear central in the 80's. That was our early season loop when I was in college: Rancheria to Till Till and over the hill to Vernon. I kind of miss the bears before the canisters were required. I never lost any food to a bear but lots of morons could never figure out proper counterbalancing. The canisters are working and I haven't had a back country camp raided in years and my daughter is doubting my stories as I take her to some of the places that used to involve nightly battles with the bears. That's a good thing and I am getting used to my stupid canister and not having to tie a rock to the end of a rope at dusk and looking for a good branch.

Awesome pictures - thanks for posting

Quote
apeman45
I kind of miss the bears before the canisters were required.

I saw two bears on my first day out of the Mono Meadow trailhead this past July 4 weekend, after seeing one the day before near Crane Flat on my drive into the park. They seemed to be doing their own thing, as I've previously seen in the Trinity Alps, instead of being Sierra Camp Raiders (and similar to you I've never lost food to a bear). I thought that was pretty cool, and hope for more such sightings in the future. I love seeing bears.

Quote
ttilley
A few years ago, in June...your pictures make me want to go in the winter sometime, though this year I have Kibbie Lake and Lassen on my snow camping list.

Posty something if/when you go to Kibbie. Went der with The Old Dude many moons ago in Feb I think.... and didn't take camera back then...
Hike in from the dam to Kibbie is a good one.. Prolly gonna go there next xmas time...

---

Picasa Pictures

WOW Amazing PICs! Thanks so much for posting. Lake Vernon is one of my favorite places. As a city kid all my life, it was my first camping trip ever at 18, sometime in the 80s. It was amazing! So glad that was my first experience as opposed to say, the valley. The trip from HH to Vernon made me fall in love with camping and backpacking. The Vernon trip was an annual trip for a group of friends. Did it about 5 or 6 times. I remember lots of bears too! Haven't been there in many years. Thanks for the reminder. I think my kids are ready to take the trip this summer!
Thanks again for the great Xmas present!

Sharon
Oakland

Glad you like Sharon, it means a lot. Hope you can get your kids there this year.

---

Picasa Pictures

this is just like one of my fav chick-on pix from the Picasa Picture book, think it was from last year, in the snow sans the santa hat...damn sorry missed chick-on while you were in SF...face time, beak time, happy new year from sunny SF!!