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Topic: Faxed my app in for August 4< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 11:58 am  Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Fingers crossed.

:D

Though granted it's stuck on 2/7 as of then only 3 days had been shown as filled so I like my chances.....
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 4:03 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Got it!

:)

8/4 to 8/16 out and about. Here's hoping the weather plays nicer than last year!
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 4:21 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Where are you headed?

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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 4:39 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Up the Illilouette drainage out from GP, then over Red Peak Pass and along above the High Trail over to the Lyell Fork of the Merced than up that towards Lyell and over into the upper Hutchings drainage then down along the rest of the High Trail to Lewis Creek and down to the Merced and then back towards and up the Triple Fork of the Merced (preferred, I like that drainage and sooner or later I'll get to see it in sunshine! :) ) back over Red Peak Pass and if time and weather permits around to the Buena Vista Lakes and back to Glacier Point otherwise either down past Merced lake and out the Panorama or (least preferred as I don't like doubling back, even on a  lollipop) down the Illiloette and out the way I came in, back over Red Peak Pass has it's attractions as while I like the lower Merced below the lake just about anywhere I'd stay would be overused (though there's some rock across from Bunnell Point that's often empty) and the emptiness of all the rest of the route would be impacted by the heavier used section also not a total fan of all that forest... and I've been there and done that more than a few times while I've never been through the Buena Vista area.

8/4 to 8/16 so I've some time to poke.
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 4:41 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Sounds pertnear perfect. Will it be too hot in August? Any chances of monsoons?

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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 4:49 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

(desert dweller @ Feb. 18 2013, 1:41 pm)
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Sounds pertnear perfect. Will it be too hot in August? Any chances of monsoons?

Other than the lower part of the Illilouette towards Glacier Point and the lower stretch of the Merced towards Little Yosemite Valley the route is high enough to be "above" most summer heat, though the less filtered sun does do some pounding. Red Peak pass is 11k+. most of the bench the High Trail runs along skirts 10K and Mt. Lyell itself is 13,144 so the Lyell Fork headwaters and Hutchings are high as well; those are where I'll be the most leisurely.

The monsoons are a worry, last year's early August weather pattern was a nasty one so I'm hoping it won't repeat and while last year's was bad it was, in my experience, an anomaly.
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 5:03 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Having done the more pedestrian sections of that hike, meaning GP -Illilouette Creek- Red Peak Pass- High Trail- Merced Lake, I am enjoying your itinerary.  Exploring the head waters of some of those creeks should be fun.  Good luck with the weather.  

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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 5:10 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Yes indeed, Glacier Point to Lower Ottoway is payment the way I see it for the higher reaches, the same with most everything from Merced Lake and below (though I do like Bunnell Cascades). I expect to spend the most imd poking about the Lyell Fork of the Merced headwaters, I've seen that from above after crossing Blue Lake Pass and it's a fun looking maze.

I would dispute the characterization of the route from Lower Ottoway over Red Peak Pass and along over to the High Trail bench and on to the Lyell Fork crossing as "pedestrian" (though I haven't been over that stretch since it was rebuilt) similarly above Washburn Lake along the Triple Peak Fork. But mileage varies as they say....
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 5:11 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Hope you are taking along fishing gear as you will pass very close to three of the top 10 Yosemite fishing lakes.
Did a similar trip last year during my successful Yosemite 5 - slam.
Cannot wait to see your pictures.

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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 5:23 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
"pictures" is one reason I'd like  a bit better weather: I've gone back to an slr (well, dSLR) and so having some sun would be appreciated. When just moving along or poking about rain etc. doesn't bother me much but pulling out my new camera to get soaked isn't in the plan... or the budget. :)

I haven't been over that way (or Red Peak pass for that matter) in about a decade so it seemed time and all that blank space on my "been there" mental map around Buena Vista Peak has been giving me an itch. Be good to see some as next year it's more likely I'll be heading down south a bit: possibly something over Piute and down to Evolution etc. later in the year to dodge the JMT crowds, then I haven't been along the Sierra Crest in way too long so maybe even further south: there's some country north of Whitney I've peeked into that looks fun: I came across some slides I shot off the summit in about 1971 that reminded me how great that place looks.

ETA: Nope, don't fish. I do like to see them swimming about though.
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 5:52 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Congrats always in order when you get the day and the trail head.  That is another "trip of a lifetime".  Pretty country

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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 6:16 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
It should be pretty. There's some really nice lupine and some great streamlet cut turf up above the High Trail from what I remember from an 84ish trip. Should be in some good Skypilot countty as well and early enough they won't all be dried out.

Also while I'm not a huge fan of human intrusion back that far I am sort of curious how the Red Peak Pass trail rebuild went. I had a nice conversation with the park's then trail director above the Ottoways on the approach to the pass in the mid 90s when he was surveying the trail conditions. I am a fan of parkitecture in the front country.

Yes getting the date and TH pinned down is nice: helps prevent "slippage" more than anything since I don't often pick popular ones to go out of and even then as a solo who's open to what's available I don't actually. "need" to reserve this far out. Except now there's that pin in the calendar.
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 6:45 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Good score on the permit. Amazing itinerary.

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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 7:51 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Just got back from a weekend in YNP and the snowpack currently is very grim. I've seen more snow in late May and early June many years. Sure hope we get some storms rolling in off the Pacific before it's too late, otherwise it's going to be dry up there this summer.

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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 8:07 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Darn, it was a promising start. I saw 140% a while back for the water content... Another winter like last years would be bogus.

The permit was sort of a sitting duck: that direction off GP had only three days filled as of Feb. 7 so i was being a bit silly with the on the minute faxing.
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 11:19 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
When I used "pedestrian," I was referring to the more ambitious portions of your itinerary.  You are going well beyond where I hiked, and thus my own trip was more pedestrian than yours.  All I was saying.  

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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 18 2013, 11:27 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Ol-zeke, I can't recall, did your trip occur after the trail rebuild? What'd you think of it?
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 19 2013, 12:21 am Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
I did my loop in '10, and most of the construction was done.  There was a crew working up there, above Lower Ottoway, with hoists and tripods, shifting some of the bigger rocks into better steps.  By the time we were there in Sept., they had mostly worked their way back down to L.O.  I understand the blowdown between Triple Creek and Washington is a bear to get through, but your route isn't going that way is it?  

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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 19 2013, 1:05 am Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
They still haven't fixed that? I was thinking of maybe using that route on the way out as I like the Triple Peak fork's drainage and it would mean not re-covering that section of the High Trail. But not if I'd be combining the elevation loss down to Merced Lake along with grappling with that oddball windstorms  blowdown from Washburn on up towards Red Devil.  One more thing to hold against trees: they get blown down across routes... I'd followed all the clearing done in the Ansel Adams and out around Mammoth but had forgotten that stretch had been reported hit.

Shorter to just head back on the bench after Hutchings Creek anyway and that should give me more time to swing over through Buena Vista or so.
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 19 2013, 11:04 am Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Cool trip dude!
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 19 2013, 12:05 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

(hbfa @ Feb. 19 2013, 8:04 am)
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Cool trip dude!

Thanks, the final route's a work in progress: like doubling back to snag Buena Vista strikes me as messy if it won't include Washburn to the Triple Peak Fork junction due to the mess of the blowdowns so a better approach may be to swing by that way on the way in and snag a night on the point opposite Bunnell Point and then straight out to Glacier Point via the Litle Yosemite Valley and the Panorama. That also would leave more time for poking about above the High Trail around Edna and Harriet Lakes as well as more time close to Mt. Lyell which, truth be told, are the real objectives for the route anyway at this point.

That way it's a nice, straightforward loop and I admit to being one of those people that, the moment I'm heading back over a trail has a very hard time shaking off the "trips over" feeling. Why I avoid out-and-backs at every opportunity. It's dumb but I've never fully been able to erase that.
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 19 2013, 7:38 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Turns out the trail has been cleared of the November 2011 windstorm blow downs per the park.

Decisions, decisions.
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 19 2013, 7:57 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
If that is true, it happened in Sept after I was gathering info for that loop. All reports from Aug of last year mention the blowdown.

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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 19 2013, 8:54 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Can't see why the rangers would get that wrong and the answer was unequivocal.

Was the November 2011 storm damage cleared above Washburn Lake up through the Triple Peak Fork of the Merced?

Ans. : "Yes"
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 20 2013, 12:01 am Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

(High_Sierra_Fan @ Feb. 18 2013, 8:07 pm)
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Darn, it was a promising start. I saw 140% a while back for the water content... Another winter like last years would be bogus.

Well, maybe this small system coming through the Central Valley today will help; a foot or so of snow forecast for the Tahoe Sierra with snow levels down to 3'000, maybe lower.

But it looks like the best of it will be well north of Yosemite.

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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 20 2013, 5:13 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

(waterdog @ Feb. 19 2013, 9:01 pm)
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(High_Sierra_Fan @ Feb. 18 2013, 8:07 pm)
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Darn, it was a promising start. I saw 140% a while back for the water content... Another winter like last years would be bogus.

Well, maybe this small system coming through the Central Valley today will help; a foot or so of snow forecast for the Tahoe Sierra with snow levels down to 3'000, maybe lower.

But it looks like the best of it will be well north of Yosemite.

Well while it's getting late there's still time: things accumulate up until about April 1 from what I've read: which is the basis for the April 1 CDEC snow/water content report being the critical one.
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 22 2013, 8:27 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

(High_Sierra_Fan @ Feb. 18 2013, 4:39 pm)
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Up the Illilouette drainage out from GP, then over Red Peak Pass and along above the High Trail over to the Lyell Fork of the Merced than up that towards Lyell and over into the upper Hutchings drainage then down along the rest of the High Trail to Lewis Creek and down to the Merced and then back towards and up the Triple Fork of the Merced (preferred, I like that drainage and sooner or later I'll get to see it in sunshine! :) ) back over Red Peak Pass and if time and weather permits around to the Buena Vista Lakes and back to Glacier Point otherwise either down past Merced lake and out the Panorama or (least preferred as I don't like doubling back, even on a  lollipop) down the Illiloette and out the way I came in, back over Red Peak Pass has it's attractions as while I like the lower Merced below the lake just about anywhere I'd stay would be overused (though there's some rock across from Bunnell Point that's often empty) and the emptiness of all the rest of the route would be impacted by the heavier used section also not a total fan of all that forest... and I've been there and done that more than a few times while I've never been through the Buena Vista area.

8/4 to 8/16 so I've some time to poke.

Sounds like an awesome trip man. Hope you have a great time! Take lots of pictures to share!  :D
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PostIcon Posted on: Feb. 23 2013, 7:28 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

(High_Sierra_Fan @ Feb. 19 2013, 5:54 pm)
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Can't see why the rangers would get that wrong and the answer was unequivocal.

Was the November 2011 storm damage cleared above Washburn Lake up through the Triple Peak Fork of the Merced?

Ans. : "Yes"

Here's a stretch of the trail above Washburn Lake last September.  Hundreds of trees were cleared off a short stretch of trail.  Pretty amazing.

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PostIcon Posted on: Mar. 03 2013, 11:21 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
What map set do you locals/experts recommend for my JMT hike?

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PostIcon Posted on: Mar. 03 2013, 11:45 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic.  Ignore posts   QUOTE
Well there's the Tom Harrison John Muir Trail set, available from Tom Harrison
http://www.tomharrisonmaps.com/

Or Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/John-Muir-Trail-Map-Pack-Shaded/dp/1877689343

For dreaming, but I wouldn't want to rely on it in the Backcounty there's the Tom Harrison iPhone John Muir Trail digital set:
http://www.freenew.net/publisher/?k=Earthrover+Software

Plan "B" that would involve some work is get the free USGS national topo maps that cover the route and slice out the route itself and print the sections. The 1:24k scale would show more detail and i like that but for that length of trip it's a lot of maps and probably largely detail that for a through hiker is mostly necessary.

Hey ca hiker, thanks! Wow that's a lot of sawing. How far up did you go?
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