Mountains

The following is the unabridged log that I wrote during last weekend’s camping trip to King’s Canyon NP. The sections in []’s are later editions or additions.

It will take me a very long time to edit the 100+ pictures that I have earmarked as worth my time. That said, in a very rare move, I have automatically crunched my 270 pictures and posted them here. One of these days I’ll link them into the log below. If you’re wondering, most of my post picture processing involves shifting the colors, rotating a degree or two, cropping out useless stuff and fixing my lens. You’ll notice that many of the pictures have black blurs in various locations – that’s dirt in the lens or on the chip and I have to pull those out.

7/12 1:30 PM
Why would anyone not want to live up here? You cross a 7000ft front range, then duck into a valley better than 4000ft down while inhaling the breathtaking vista of the Sierra Nevadas. Two and a half hours out of Fresno and an hour and a half down a dead end road later, we hit Bobby’s station in King’s Canyon NP called Cedar Grove.
The air was distinctively like Flagstaff. Eerily similar even, it’s delicious.
Bobby says people would think us crazy to run 10 miles then try to hike 8 miles [actually 11.5] up to 10000ft in 6 hrs. We’ll see.

2:50 PM
That was grueling. 1600ft to 6600 already. If this is right, we’re almost 3 miles in. Hauling ass here.

4:15 PM
We just crossed the 2nd creek [Lower Tent Meadow], where the pack horses that had left 2 hrs before were waylayed. Thus far, we’ve travel led 3.5 miles and 2900ft, putting us at 7900ft now. The clear highlight was an encounter within 25 meters of a 250+ lbs black bear. She sauntered toward us and we pulled back. Later, the horse handlers told us they had seen cubs with her earlier. Jeffries pines smell like vanilla. FYI.

5:58 PM
At 10000ft and my head is spinning. It’s chilly now and we’re tired. Near top though,

8:54 PM
It seems later. My fingers don’t function, they’ve been frozen since I jumped in the 60 degree lake. That means we made it. 11.5 miles, 10500ft (5500 climb) in 5.5 hrs.
Granite Lake is perfect. I could live here. Except now I’m very cold. Steve shows signs of altitude sickness though now we’re only at 9800ft. My feet and especially achilles are so sore I can barely walk. But it has been perfect so far. I’m ready to sleep.

7/13 6:29 AM
After perhaps 3 total hours of sleep [for me at least], we were greeted [this morning] with some solid frost. My water bottle, in the middle of the field because they made me throw it [since it had juice in it and we were bear ready], had significant ice. Probably 30F. We’re eagerly awaiting the sun, which is on the west wall and trickling down.

7:10 AM
The sun is delicious. So are dried apricots, incidentally. We’re planning a sortie for Comb Spur, which tops out at 11600. We’ll do the bear keg again, leave the tent out to dry and travel light up the side of the mountain. Gradients are tight, but based on the roar of the water draining from a small lake 700 ft above us, it should be a sight to see. I drained my first battery and filled my first memory card already. It’s gorgeous here.
Should mention that none of us had gotten sleep my 11:30 last night and with middle man Steve needing to pee, we all got out. Crystal clear skies in the high Sierra lead to perhaps the most spectacular set of stars I’ve ever beheld. New moon’s tomorrow, so it was black as pitch. The Milky Way and several Messier objects were clearly visible. It was hard to discern constellations amongst the multitudes. This is a special place.

11:31 AM
At long last at the summit, 11600ft. Steve decided to shoot this crevice. I had to follow the idiot, and am bleeding all over. I did nothing but pray as every hand and foot hold slipped. Not worth it.

2:23 PM
Journey back was only a little perilous, as we took Bobby’s less ridiculous route. A nice little swim, food, painkillers and water; we’re ready to hit the trail to the “Volcanic Lakes”. Only 3 or 4 miles of hiking, should be able to find camp by 5.

8:35 PM
After an hour or two of searching, we located the Volcanic Lakes. Not sure why they’re called that, there’s nothing geo-thermal about them. Maybe geo, but not thermal. I went swimming in it anyway; we’re currently preparing for bed. Steve and I plan to DEET up and sleep under the stars. No matter what, it will be frigid. But it’s another crystal clear night. Jupiter’s already out.

7/14 6:34 AM
The sun is taking it’s time coming over the east lip today. Though we’re at 10200ft right now, I’d say it’s about 8 degrees warmer. Just cold enough to get sporadic frost, so around 38F. Not surprisingly, the base of my bag had some of the frost. Though I only had 1 REM cycle last night and less than 2 hours of sleep total, it was spectacular. I used Vega [bright start in Lyra] as my clock and watched it sweep it’s way across the sky all night.
We break camp in an hour or so. Day 1 was 11.5 miles, yesterday was probably 5 or 6, but only a mile of it was on trail. Today is about 1.3 miles of bushwhacking, then 11.7 on the trail, though downhill.
In other news, we’re all burnt to a crisp. I’m fatigued and sore in every significant muscle.

3:27 PM
We’re back, showered, and on the way to Fresno. I didn’t have time to log anything. We rolled. 13 miles (and down 5700 ft) in 4 hrs and 57 mins. We would have been quicker though we had a brief conversation with a ranger’s wide on the way down. Over the three days and 32 miles, we saw her, one ranger with a pack horse team on the way to a search and rescue station (SARS) with supplies, and two people who had camped on the far side of Granite Lake. We also lost time as we had to proceed cautiously passed where we saw an unescorted bear cub 30 meters away. It was the same area we saw the mother previously.
At some level, I’m devastatingly tired. 32 miles over that terrain with a 40 lb pack on 4 to 5 total hours of sleep is stressing. I have sun burn all over and more blisters and cuts than I can count. I thought I might die, or at least be maimed at one point.
But I’m alive and fully conscious. There’s something missing from normal life that we can only find in places such as this. Irreplaceable trip.