The Talusdancers Gang returned for this years “big trip” last Friday – the trip described in the previous post on this blog. We’ll post more details – and probably photos – later on, but for now here is a very brief summary.
Thursday, July 29 – The “gang of four” assembled in the eastern Sierra, camping at Onion Valley and enjoying the traditional trailhead barbecue.
Friday, July 30 – We got a reasonably early start, at least by talusdancers standards, on the trail up to and over Kearsarge Pass (11, 700+’) and arrived at our camp site at Kearsarge Lakes.
Saturday, July 31 – We descended from Kearsarge Lakes, passing Bullfrog Lake and then joining the JMT to descend to Vidette Meadows for lunch. We then headed on up the canyon to our camp at the Center Basin “Trail” junction along Upper Bubbs Creek.
Sunday, August 1 – This was the highest day of the trip, as we crossed 13, 200′ Forrester Pass. The ascend is long and steady, but this is certainly not the most difficult Sierra pass aside from the altitude. Everyone was on top by lunch time. Following the quick descent and longish slog past high lakes and on toward timberline, we arrived at our familiar (from previous trips) camp at Tyndall Creek.
Monday, August 2 – Today we visited country that none of us had seen before, or at least that none of us could recall. We left Tyndall Creek and followed the route towards Lake South America, passing through a mosquito-infested valley and climbing a steep and little-used trail to ascend its headwall before dropping to another lake and finally making a quick visit to Lake South America. We had contemplated staying there, but it was quite barren and exposed so we headed down and toward the Great Western Divide, finally arriving at a stunning campsite in the area of a series of small, unnamed lakes. Yes, more mosquitoes…
Tuesday, August 3 – We descended this upper Kern drainage area, passing through a very beautiful area of small lakes, rocks, trees, and meadows – finally reaching the junction with the trail back toward Tyndall Creek. This trail ascended steeply back to the ridge that we had climbed out of Tyndall the day before, and we finally arrived back at the same campsite where we stayed on August 1.
Wednesday, August 4 – We began our exit from the highest country today, ascending the gentle trail to the Sierra crest lake at Shepherd Pass. Following lunch we launched ourselves over the pass and into the tremendous descent towards Anvil Camp, passing over a small but intense snow field near the top of the pass, carefully picking our way down the steep couloir, and then past rock fields to our camp site.
Thursday, August 5 – On the final day we started early, doing the initial descend down Shepherd Canyon before climbing the ridge over to the Symmes Creek drainage to eventually emerge – after much descending! -at the base of the Sierra. A drive to Mammoth for dinner at Roberto’s followed.
Friday, August 6 – Headed home. Time to think about next year’s trip!
It was a fantastic trip! Stupendous scenery, the Sierras lived up to their awesomeness. At the tops of the passes and at camp we met quite a few people, almost regular lunch and dinner social hours.
We also got a bit of cleanup/water-sports in at the lakes or streams we were at. Another fantastic over 10,000ft High Sierras trip!
Comment by Websailor — August 8, 2010 @ 2:12 pm
*sigh* If I were forty years younger and eighty pounds lighter…
But, I’m not. So, I’d like to take this time to thank you for allowing me to share your trip in a less physically exhausting way!! Less mosquito bites, too *grin*
Comment by Patti — August 8, 2010 @ 2:15 pm
To my friends from Tyndall creek, it is difficult to describe the difference between a back country visit with fellow hikers and meeting a friend for lunch, but there is a difference and it is profound. I enjoyed your company and your generousity. Bacon, apple slices, cheese and Jolly Ranchers were enjoyed all the way to the top of Whitney. Feel free to visit my Facebook page if you’d like to see some of my pictures. I have a couple that I will send to you, including a shot of the “clown tent”. Thanks for adopting a solo hiker for an evening and making me feel so welcome.
Comment by Bill Lawton — August 25, 2010 @ 4:04 am
Hi Bill:
Thanks for posting. It was great to spend a bit of time with you in this, one of my favorite spots in the Sierra. That was a special evening as a bunch of people assembled in a way that doesn’t always happen in the backcountry. As much as I enjoy solitude at times, I also treasure the unanticipated wilderness meetings like this one. Glad to hear the rest of your trip was successful.
Some of my photographs have turned up at my photography blog: http://www.gdanmitchell.com/. (Ironically, having just returned from a week in New York City, a place about as different from Tyndall Creek as one can imagine, you’ll have to back track through a number of recent posts to get to the Tyndall Creek and related imagery. You can also see a LOT of my Sierra and other photography at my gallery site, accessible from a link in the sidebar at the blog.)
Dan
Comment by gdanmitchell — August 25, 2010 @ 11:37 am