Re: Castle Peak: June 27-28

I just got back from an overnight trip to Castle Peak. The weather was a balmy overnight temp of 55 at 8,200 (compare to last weekend's 26 at 8,500). Castle Peak is located on Hwy80 across from Boreal Ridge as accessed by the Pacific Crest Trail. I took the PCT in, but decided to check out the dirt road access on the way out, the later being a very easy gentle short grade thru the meadows, the former being a more technical trek along ridges and creeks. At this time, there is plent of water -- a stream crossing nearly every quarter mile until the last section that takes up to the actual ramparts of Castle Peak. The last mile or so that takes you up to the peak is very loose gravel, and can be steep and rocky towards the last 100ft or so -- I definitely suggest the use of trekking poles for the descent ( I had to lend my out, so I found this out the hard way). I was really happy to see that there was plenty of snow left at the 9,000ft elev., so that I could pack my bottle with ice cold water before I made the hot descent back to the trail head.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/2009 11:25PM by Bee.

Camp was at 8,200, and the sunset was glorious, however, the bugs were HORRENDOUS -- the worse I have seen all season!!

The most intriguing incident that occurred was hearing a pack of coyotes calling out to each other in the valley below. The sound was a sustained high pitch burst that sounded downright unearthly. There were other interesting sights to be had, such as this view of (I believe) Andesite Peak.

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Bee
The most intriguing incident that occurred was hearing a pack of coyotes calling out to each other in the valley below. The sound was a sustained high pitch burst that sounded downright unearthly. There were other interesting sights to be had, such as this view of (I believe) Andesite Peak.

That's Basin Peak. Did you check it out? It's pretty uneventful, just another peak to bag.

Basin Peak, thanks -- I was unsure. Because the trail is so obvious and close to "civilization", I did not use a Topo. TOTALLY an uneventful peak (I took a stroll over to it).

I noticed bag bugs above 7500 ft in the Donner and North Tahoe area but not at lower elevations. Have not had much problem in the southern Sierra (Sequoia) I wonde if it is a local issue. Strange that they would be bad at higher elevations. Lots of insect critters on Mt Judah a week ago.

---

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

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Frank Furter
I noticed bag bugs

Bag bugs?

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eeek

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Frank Furter
I noticed bag bugs

Bag bugs?

Paiute Insects.
[QB and a few, select others understand this comment. Everyone else, don't try.]

I took the dirt road through the meadows on the way back to the parking lot, and there were no bugs at all.

More stuffed animals?

What's up with the props?

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Vince
More stuffed animals?

Yes.

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What's up with the props?

It's a tradition, Vince. So please stop whining about them.

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Vince
More stuffed animals?

Why is this a question instead of a statement?
Check with the UNR medical school; perhaps they have a course on distinguishing stuffed vs. real animals that Nevada residents can take.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2009 10:19AM by szalkowski.

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Vince
More stuffed animals?

What's up with the props?

It's FUN Vince. My son takes a couple of small stuffed critters up summits with himself, too, just for FUN.

These photos aren't for National Geographic - they're for happy memories. Don't stress over them.

There was a group of guys who were running around bagging all of the local peaks, and each time I ran into them, they wanted their pics taken with Taz; they had a lot of fun with it. Almost all of the peaks (until recently) I have done alone, and while you can just buy a postcard of an empty picture, adding a little critter in sort of personalizes the shot (the alternative would be a whole lot of vanity shots -- yuck!)

I coulda bugged ya. I still have the stir stick. (GW was not allowed to throw it away)

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bill-e-g
I coulda bugged ya. I still have the stir stick. (GW was not allowed to throw it away)

Perhaps you should use it on the GW instead?

GW must have made some VERY steep stipulations about (ab)use with the stir stick in order for it to not be confiscated!!!

The Stir Stick STILL remains the benchmark for how annoying a situation can bee. Take this weekend's ants for instance -- they were neck and neck witht the Stir Stick!!

I am thinking about starting a thread about Yosemite Ant Varieties. We discovered that there is this insanely thirsty type of ant that will attack your pack, hat, wet clothes, water bottles -- ANYTHING WITH MOISTURE if you set it down for a second. If you squish these ants, they have a sickly, sweet smell. I was thinking that the Stir Stick was almost preferable to a pack covered with ants!