talusdancers

A permit for 10 has been reserved.

Sunday, August 3
Three vehicles drive to Whitney Portal, leave two vehicles, third vehicle takes all drivers to Three Rivers (in the Sierra foothills, east of Visalia), 800′, 5-6 hours drive from Whitney Portal.  Other vehicles may drive directly to Three Rivers, 4 hours from the Bay Area, 3.5 hours from LA, motel (Comfort Inn, 2 rooms reserved).

Monday, August 4
Drive to Lodgepole (1+ hours from Three Rivers), pick-up permit.
Drive to Crescent Meadow, 6680’ (just a bit from Lodgepole), park cars
Hike to 9 Mile Creek, 7500’, 8.8 miles, camp. Standard bearbox.

Tuesday, August 5
Hike to Hamilton Lake, 8200’ 7.7 miles, camp. 3 bearboxes (2 standard and 1 large).

Wednesday, August 6
Via Kaweah Gap, 10700’, hike to Old Big Arroyo Patrol Cabin, 9500’, 5.9 miles, camp. Large bearbox.

Thursday, August 7
Via Chagoopa Plateau ca. 10500’, hike to Moraine Lake, 9302’, ca. 8 miles, camp. Large bearbox.

Friday, August 8
hike to Kern Hot Springs, 6900’, ca.7 miles, camp. 2 standard bearboxes, concrete hot tub.

Saturday, August 9
Via Kern Canyon, hike to Junction Meadow, 8080’, 7.8 miles, camp. Standard bearbox.

Sunday, August 10
Via JMT, hike to Crabtree Meadows Ranger Station, ca. 11000′ 8.1 miles, camp. Bear boxes.

Monday, August 11
Via Trail Pass, 13700’, hike to Whitney Summit, 14494’, 7.9 miles, camp; or hike down to Trail Camp, 12000, camp.

Tuesday, August 12
Hike out to Whitney Portal, 8600’, 11.6 from Whitney Summit, 6 miles from Trail Camp.
Drive to Lone Pine, post-hike pizza.
Drive to Three Rivers (5 hours drive), motel (Comfort Inn, 2 rooms reserved)

Wednesday, August 13
Fetch cars at Crescent Meadow (2 hours round trip),
drive home to Bay Area (4 hours drive)

Now the rumblings have changed tone, and are beginning to include the words “High Sierra Trail.” This route starts in Sequoia National Park on the west side of the range, heads up past Hamilton kostenloses spiel onlinehigh stakes poker videovirtual casinosvideo poker ruleshoyle casino games,casino games pro,casino gamesgames roulette onlinevideo poker gamescasino downloadcraps regelnbeste online kasinokasino onlineonline casino paypalwww casino gamescasino online kostenlosrealistische spielbankonline roulette spielencasino online softwarevideo poker gamecasino online spielecasino spiele kostenlostop online kasinoscasino playeurovip casino netwww roulettecasino video pokerbestes online casino??????american slotsplay video pokercasino tropez bonus coderoulette casinosmobiles casinocasino pc gamesonline roulette deutschland,online roulette,online roulette niedersachsencasino no deposit bonuscasino comgluck spielswiss casino bonusvideo poker gratiskeno online spielegolden palace online casinoonline casino testkasino im internetpoker spielanleitung texas holdemonline poker anbieterpoker gratis geldseven card stud spielewww online poker degratis poker depoker spielen gratis downloadtexas holdem download Lakes and over Kaweah Gap before descending Big Arroyo to the bottom of the Kern River; then turns north of the canyon to Junction Meadow, at which point the route ascends to intersect the JMT, which it follows by the usual route to Whitney Portal. A week seems to be a good amount of time for this.

… about a summer 2008 talusdancers trip. I’m hearing some rumblings.

Something up high in the neighborhood of the Minarets? Perhaps a west side trip further south – Kaweah Gap perhaps? (On to the east side, back the way we came, north to Kings Canyon, or a loopy route to Mineral King?)

August…

It disappeared, that’s what…

It had come down to three of us (Dan, Owen, and Ernie) in the end, but we were planning on doing the Talusdancers’ traditional end-of-season pack trip out of Tuolumne Meadows during the second weekend of October. The goal was – once again – Fletcher Lake, with a second-day adventure being a traverse of the ridge between Fletcher and Parsons Peaks. It would have been glorious!

But the weather was not glorious. This has been an odd early season in the Sierra. While it is not unusual to get a dusting or two of early snow in late September and early October, we’ve seen a series of early season Pacific storms pass through already. They have closed the main mid-Sierra passes several weekends in a row, though the roads have reopened within a day or two.

Although the actual snowfall in Yosemite on the weekend of our planned trip was truly trivial, the park service closed Tioga Pass Road for a day and a half. While some Talusdancers who planned to arrive early (Owen and Ernie) might have made it onto the trail before the closure, others (that would be me) would have been stopped way back by Crane Flat.

Sooo… now we’re spending time happily recalling the trips of the past season (for me these include a week near the Minarets, a week in the southern Sierra with the Talusdancers, a wonderful solo trip to Young Lakes, several late-season aspen-hunting expeditions, and more), dreaming of next year’s adventures (is anyone interested in Mt. McKinley NP?!), and planning for the upcoming ski season.

- Dan