Good point!
To add a little to the trip report...
When I first got to the Diving Board area it was completely calm--as was the entire day of hiking. However, just at the sun began to set the wind began to gust. At first is was fairly sporadic, but it began to get stronger and more consistent. By about 10:00 pm-- I wish that I had set camp lower, and more in the forested area rather then the somewhat exposed area that I had selected (I have a pic of the site that I will upload when I get back home). I have a Eureka Spitfire 1 Tent and I had to find fairly large rocks to place on top of the stakes--At times, the gusts felt as though they were going to take the tent...with me in it. I wanted to move the tent, but I'm sure that I would have lost something to the wind. I tried to change the directional position of the tent, but it was useless--the gusts were coming from all directions and in a swirling motion.
My advice would be to check the forecast for wind, and to find a protected area to set up camp! The wind continued through the morning and made packing up the tent a struggle around 9:00am.
Another interesting part of my trip was just around sunset, I saw a person walking along the cliff's ledge. I was interested in the route he took, and how long it took him--so I went over to talk to him (he was about 30 yards from my tent (and the cliff). After a little while of talking to him (he also took the LYV route)-- I noticed he had a very small pack and was losing light. I asked where he planned on camping to which he replied 'in the valley.' I suggested that he get started sooner rather than later. He said...'it's only going to take a couple minutes to get down.' Just as he was saying this, he pulled out a wing suit. I was more interested than I was concerned for any regulations that prohibit such activities. He said that he had over 10,000 jumps (and was previously a skydiving instructor). Still--watching him jump off the cliff and watching him free-fall made my stomach get that butterfly feeling. I watched as he guided himself in the Tenaya Canyon direction, opening chute just above the tree-line and swooping back to land on a beach in Mirror Meadow (lake). ...that was a first for me--has anyone experienced anything similar to that while backpacking?
As mentioned above...here is pic of exposed campsite.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2014 08:14AM by Torero14.
