1) The Trails Illustrated map shows an old mine prospect on the south side of the canyon between Horse Meadow and Huckleberry Lake. 2) There's a sign along the trail south from Leavitt Meadows, before Roosevelt and Lane Lakes, saying that the route was, for one year, promoted as an emigrant wagon route by the town of Sonora, including engineering a permanent reduction in the Fremont Lake waterby ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Nice report. Too bad about the camera, that sucks. QuoteAnd we were not alone. Our first clue was the more than fifty cars at the trailhead. There must have been cars stuck in every possible space, the Gianelli trailhead isn't a very large area, pretty much just wide spaces in the dirt.by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
A "drop of 20%" is an increase of 20%...by ttilley - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Nice report and pictures, thanks!by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Interesting. On Saturday it was around 4 to 5 that I was hearing occasional thunder off to the east, wonder if it was further south or if it was blowing off east of the crest. Much further south it sounds like Death Valley really got hammered.by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I spent the holiday weekend hiking from the Mono Meadows trailhead to Edson Lake, then cross-country to Ostrander, and back. Water: All normal seasonal flows are running, none have excess water. The un-named stream between Mono Meadow and Illilouette Creek was crossable by stepping across rocks. Insects: The flies were bad below 7000 ft., the mosquitoes were bad up to Edson - there were cloby ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I wasn't at Tuolumne, but I spent the weekend backpacking to Edson Lake (8100') then cross-country to Ostrander (8520'). There were clouds of mosquitoes at Edson, not bad at all at Ostrander (possibly due to a combination of campsite location and breezier conditions that day).by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Nice pictures, thanks. I thought Lassen was the "bottom of the Cascades" rather than the top of the Sierra, with the Sierra "ending" somewhere around Lake Almanor.by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
The biggest die-offs seem to be in the lower parts of the treeline. Last fall when I drove to Sequoia it was incredible how many dead trees there are along CA-180 west of CA-245.by ttilley - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Years ago I was returning to the Bay Area from Mammoth when this same section of road was closed due to a wildfire. The detour is 200 miles long, and heads out to Hawthorne, NV.by ttilley - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Nice, I love that area. The Badger Lakes make for very nice swimming once things warm up a tad.by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
From the article it sounds like the damage at Death Valley hasn't all been cleaned up yet, that sounds like a good place for the "community service".by ttilley - General Discussion
Quotechick-on No one even wanna tell me what kinda animal they wanna be. My avatar...by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
The bear finally gave the right-of-way... There were actually two bears, by the time this picture was taken the one in back had already scrambled into the manzanita. This one kept walking towads me, didn't make any threatening gestures or anything, just walking. I stopped and, after taking the picture, started banging my poles over my head, the bear paid no attention. Finally he reached a niceby ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I hiked to Laurel Lake this past weekend...the weather was generally cloudy due to the incoming upper low, but I only had sprinkles Saturday night and Sunday morning. There were nearby thunderstorms when I got back to Hetch Hetchy, and while driving away on Evergreen Road there was heavy rain and hail. The flowers were very nice on the entire climb to the ridge-top pond, at the pond and beyondby ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
QuoteJKW Re: posting pics.. You could post with Picasaweb, but if you've been pushed over to Google Photos, you are SOL, no embed links from that service. Does it work for you to add the URL parameter "?noredirect=1" to the end of your Picasa URL? That's still working for me, if I don't have it I'm redirected to Google Photos. It sounds like I need to find a new service soon anywaby ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Nice report. QuotelilagrayThe ranger told us that access to Laurel Lake was still cut off from Frog Creek high water level, so that was not an option for lunch. Water levels seem to be a little lower, I was at Laurel Lake this weekend (pics later) (6/11-12) and Frog Creek was full but not flooding. Mosquitoes were definitely out, though. The rangers had warning signs out for water levels atby ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I was in the Valley Saturday morning without bug dope and didn't encounter any problems.by ttilley - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
There was snow covering Dana Meadow at the summit this past weekend, but there were a few bare patches opening up in the meadow. I didn't hike up to Gaylor so I can't report on the ridge, it's got trees which should help, but the temperatures have been warm.by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Yosemite is not one of those places - there are no grizzly bears in California, apart from the state flag. JKW posted a link to the approved containers. If someone is also considering trips to places like Alaska then IGBC certification can be a consideration. In the 48 states, western Montana and northwestern Wyoming, though Glacier NP requires storage in fixed bear lockers at backcountry campby ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quotebasilbop Quoteags 1) I've been contemplating upgrading from my BearVaults to the Bearakades. They are pricey for sure. Is the benefit lighter weight by comparison or is there more? The main advantage of the Bearikades is the weight savings and the ability to get custom sizes. I also find them easier to open than the BearVaults, which can be tricky if sand or ice gets under the threads.by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Ostrander Rocks from Illilouette Ridge: Although from that trip I prefer my picture of Clark Range from Illilouette Ridge:by ttilley - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Nice pictures, thanks! I hiked to the top of Snowdon, in Wales, in March, late 1990s. The clouds broke enough to get a view of the Welsh coast for about five minutes before they settled back in.by ttilley - General Discussion
You may also want to follow progress on opening CA-108 over Sonora Pass. Hopefully Tioga (120) will open in time for you, but if it doesn't then 108 will be a bit longer but at least get you across the Sierra somewhere near Yosemite. Current projection appears to be May 18, but nothing's guaranteed there either.by ttilley - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Nice pictures and report, thanks. Out of curiosity, did you park at Cherry and walk in, or was the road open to either the Eleanor trailhead or Shingle Springs? I've enjoyed camping there twice, but on both occasions it was early season and I had the place to myself. Snow camp during the first drought year, and April of last year.by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I'd go with the sleeping-bag-and-tennis-balls in the dryer, it takes time to completely dry down but you should expect it to be properly dry and not clumped.by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I wash my 40 and 20 degree sleeping bags each year with Nikwax, instead of using my own top-loading washer I use the front-loading washers at a neighborhood laundromat. Drying the down 20 degree bag takes a bit of time, I've had folks at REI suggest putting an old sneaker in the dryer to break up the down and help it dry, I may try that next time, not sure. My 0 degree bag doesn't get as muby ttilley - General Discussion
Just went to the Yosemite page to look up a permit reservation date...I like the new design. In particular, replacing the links on the right with hierarchical menus on the top means I can very quickly navigate to what I specifically want.by ttilley - General Discussion
From last year's experience, this results in a huge line of JMT folks at the Tuolumne Wilderness Permit office. Fortunately, rangers did a pretty good job of managing the line during the "JMT crowding" periods, allowing those with reservations to go first and pre-sorting the JMT versus Others lines.by ttilley - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
There is an infinite variety of "color" between "Orange" and "Yellow", as wavelengths. The question is...to which is it closer? The RGB codes do show that the bag is on the "yellow" side of orange, but they also show orange being dominant.by ttilley - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion