Re: The Lone Chick-on

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So where was the photographer when he captured this shot of Chick-on sunning himself on an erratic?

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Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963

I'm on the Lone Boulder

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Tenaya Canyon?

It's in homage to this guy:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,27226,29243#msg-29243

but yes

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That's a might big egg to come out of such a small bird.

how far did you go?

Went to first rappel where you get smacked by the view of the Inner Gorge.

Some pix here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/yosemite.chick.on/Tenaya

Had gear for rap. but decided to instead go back up Airplane Gully and
the ridge S of Olmsted back to car. Really didn't want to hike back up
Snow Creek after going thru the final 2 1/4 miles of the canyon.
Mindset was a) wanted to see Pywiack pool up close b) wanted to
see airplane motor again c) wanted to hike ridge above S of Olmsted
d) was alone with limited rope experience... e) was already being pestered
by black flies

The Inner Gorge is something. Wasn't really impressed with the Lone Boulder...
but seeing the Inner Gorge... wow.

The descent from Lone Boulder is as steep as it looks... and the Airplane Gully
is as shrubbery as it looks...

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2011 07:13PM by chick-on.

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chick-on

e) was already being pestered by black flies

Were you using any type of insect repellant?

If so, was it effective, or somewhat effective, at deterring the black flies?

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plawrence

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chick-on

e) was already being pestered by black flies

Were you using any type of insect repellant?

If so, was it effective, or somewhat effective, at deterring the black flies?

Nothing that I know of works on the little black flies. Other than a head net.
So out came the head net. Once you stop after a bit they quit bugging you.
Luckily they were only a bother in the woodsy area between the second pool
and the entrance to the Inner Gorge.

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chick-on

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plawrence

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chick-on

e) was already being pestered by black flies

Were you using any type of insect repellant?

If so, was it effective, or somewhat effective, at deterring the black flies?

Nothing that I know of works on the little black flies. Other than a head net.
So out came the head net. Once you stop after a bit they quit bugging you.
Luckily they were only a bother in the woodsy area between the second pool
and the entrance to the Inner Gorge.

I've read several reports that the new picaridin-based repellants are more effective against biting flies than DEET. But I don't know anyone, personally, that has verified this claim out in the field.

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chick-on
Went to first rappel where you get smacked by the view of the Inner Gorge.

Some pix here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/yosemite.chick.on/Tenaya

Had gear for rap. but decided to instead go back up Airplane Gully and
the ridge S of Olmsted back to car. Really didn't want to hike back up
Snow Creek after going thru the final 2 1/4 miles of the canyon.
Mindset was a) wanted to see Pywiack pool up close b) wanted to
see airplane motor again c) wanted to hike ridge above S of Olmsted
d) was alone with limited rope experience... e) was already being pestered
by black flies

The Inner Gorge is something. Wasn't really impressed with the Lone Boulder...
but seeing the Inner Gorge... wow.

The descent from Lone Boulder is as steep as it looks... and the Airplane Gully
is as shrubbery as it looks...

Yea, I was going to ask how close you got to the Inner Gorge (or how you navigated around it) and if you started from Olmsted or down in the Valley. Tenaya Canyon is mighty impressive and intimidating. Looking down from Clouds Rest and even that ridge on Watkins...it's always unbelievable. Never gets old.

I've always wanted to hike down to the Pywiack pool, too.

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chick-on
Went to first rappel where you get smacked by the view of the Inner Gorge.

Some pix here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/yosemite.chick.on/Tenaya

Had gear for rap. but decided to instead go back up Airplane Gully and
the ridge S of Olmsted back to car. Really didn't want to hike back up
Snow Creek after going thru the final 2 1/4 miles of the canyon.
Mindset was a) wanted to see Pywiack pool up close b) wanted to
see airplane motor again c) wanted to hike ridge above S of Olmsted
d) was alone with limited rope experience... e) was already being pestered
by black flies

The Inner Gorge is something. Wasn't really impressed with the Lone Boulder...
but seeing the Inner Gorge... wow.

The descent from Lone Boulder is as steep as it looks... and the Airplane Gully
is as shrubbery as it looks...

cool photos, that anchor looks solid. If you have a chance and a picture of the slab that you hiked down from lone boulder id like to see the route you took. Ive been out to the boulder but thats it.

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ryanmj
cool photos, that anchor looks solid. If you have a chance and a picture of the slab that you hiked down from lone boulder id like to see the route you took. Ive been out to the boulder but thats it.

Cool photos, indeed! My congrats to Chick-on. I love that area.

One comment about the first rappel and Chick-on's photo of the smooth expanse of granite across the creek from it. When I did the Canyon about five years ago, we discovered that a bear had fallen some hundreds of feet from above onto a gravel bar in the lower creek bed. There is a game trail up there, and I have heard rumors that people who do the canyon in the upward direction have some way of getting up there to do the traverse. Perhaps this bear met another one going the other way. Anyway, the thing looked like a throw rug completely covered with maggots. My buddy took a short video of them, but I can't stand to look at it...

So much for drinking the water in the lower part of the canyon that year.

With respect to the route, first look at a photo that was in this previous post:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,27226,29250#msg-29250

The Lone Boulder is circled. There is a red arrow showing the only way down that I know of that doesn't require a rope. The route is along a tongue of rock that has a bunch of small scale cracks and ledges, and has good friction. And it avoids the nasty step-downs that you see to either side of it.

Here is another marking of the same photo. It shows a route above that tongue, starting at the Lone Boulder.

It also shows (circled at the bottom) a characteristic lone pine tree which is prominent when seen from up above, and is a very reassuring marker that you are in the right neighborhood.

Finally, here is a blowup of just the upper third of that tongue.

The route is more or less right down the middle, and exits the photo in that avenue between bushes where the tongue is at its narrowest. Below that point, the route is obvious, and eventually you will exit on the right, where there is a break in the side of the tongue that lets you down into the edge of a large bushy area.

A word of caution: People have died off the route (See the Death in Yosemite book). One death that I know of occurred from people who tried to rappel close to Pywiack Cascade, and ran out of places to set anchors (I think that they didn't have enough bolts). Another occurred closer to the correct route, but they started down too soon, in an area where the rock is continually damp and greasy. No friction there. Stick to the route.

I love Airplane Gully, though the bottom can be very bushy in some years. It's a avalanche chute, so it just depends on how the last winter went. Here is a picture of where Airplane Gully hits the pool at the base of Pywiack Cascade:

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wherever

With respect to the route, first look at a photo that was in this previous post:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,27226,29250#msg-29250

If you can excuse my markup of your photo, isn't there a Class 4 mountaineering route up and over the Tenaya Canyon wall approximately where I marked your photo with the orange pen to the left of Pywiack Cascade? For some reason I thought there was.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2011 11:46PM by plawrence.

Quote
plawrence

If you can excuse my markup of your photo, isn't there a Class 4 mountaineering route up and over the Tenaya Canyon wall approximately where I marked your photo with the orange pen to the left of Pywiack Cascade? For some reason I thought there was.

There may well be, but I don't know of it. Neither my old copy of Roper nor my old Climbers Guide to the High Sierra mentions it. They merely say that the route on the Clouds Rest side is preferable to Airplane Gully, because it is less brushy....

You will have to ask someone with another guide, or perhaps someone who has been climbing up there after 1963.

The route may exist. I'd guess only a few have ever done it though.
Here is the area from the creek:

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I went this-a-way:



(was going to go see if could spy Pywiack from above... but eventually binned it and headed into the canyon)

Photo was taken from BM 7646 area. Of course it makes it look much steeper than it is...
but it shouldn't be taken lightly. If you are not alone (of course you're not ... ) then you may
want to bust out the rope for some added piece of mind...

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From Half Dome this year--Cascades reminded me of a fire hydrant on a city street during a hot summer day in Ohio. Lone pine tree can barely be seen (below the pool). From this angle, looks like the path to Olmstead point is an easier route--reason #14 why I should not hike alone.

Very nice. I have yet to go down that far, just to the top of the Pywiack. A couple of friends have horror stories from shooting the length, they kinda messed up a bit.

For the casual hiker, an easy yet very worthy trek is to hike down from Tenaya Lake. There is a use trail that heads down the canyon shortly after you cross the creek. Acres of fun slabs after the trail peters out. It's more manageable later in the year when the flow is low. Some nice Aspens will change color in the meadows soon.

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QITNL
couple of friends have horror stories from shooting the length, they kinda messed up a bit.

For the casual hiker, an easy yet very worthy trek is to hike down from Tenaya Lake.

There's a good reason the older park map had the "Hiking in Tenaya Canyon is Dangerous".
Probably a lot of horror stories about the canyon...

Actually saw a firering right before the entry into the Inner Gorge. Thought that was just idiotic.
No way would I camp right there.... way too big of a chance of shrapnel coming flying down...
Hung out under the ledge by the rap for about 15 minutes... then headed back up canyon
before eating lunch in a spot I felt was a little safer...

Def. the hike to the Lone Boulder is easy and VERY worth it. Just some great granite and great views.
A nice bowl and polish in similar feel as Cherry Creek Canyon.

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Awesome!

Very impressive pictures. How long did you take for the hikes (Tenaya Canyon and Ten Lakes)?

Tenaya was just a dayhike. I had all day.... so I used it.
(8am to 6pm ish)

The Ten Lakes area trip was backpacking. 3 days. (bear in mind it was
easily over 20 miles of xcountry)

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Detailed description of climbing / "canyoneering" in Tenaya Canyon at SummitPost:

http://www.summitpost.org/tenaya-canyon/160152

I recall, in reading other people's reviews at SummitPost, that the writer of that review, Bob Burd, has excellent climbing skills, and things that Burd might call Class 3 could be considered Class 4 by others.

YMMV!