Next Meeting: September 15, 2010
Program: Fresh Water Land Trust
The Vulcan Trail Association
Next Meeting: September 15, 2010 Program: Fresh Water Land Trust
The Vulcan Trail Association
|
|
|
Mammoth Lakes Trip Report Aug 30: Six of us
flew from Birmingham to Reno. There we split up and met others to drive to
Mammoth Lakes, CA where we met with friends from San Francisco. Aug 31: After staying in a campground, we picked up a permit from the ranger
station along with a bear canister for each person. We left the car at the
Mammoth Lakes ski lodge and rode the shuttle to Agnew Meadows trailhead. The
permit gets you into the wilderness, but after that your hiking route and
campsites are at large. The bear canister weighed 2 1/2 pounds but held food
for four days and doubled nicely as a campstool. We saw no bears nor traces of
bears. From the trailhead we immediately attacked several hundred feet of
straight-up switchbacks with full packs just to give us right attitude for the
trip. After a day of beautiful views and overlooks, Hiker 1found us a campsite
on Badger Lake. This was one of the ten best campsites that I have ever stayed
at. Sept 1: After hiking about three miles, Hiker 2 decided to cut the heel out of
the right boot of this brand new boots rather than go back to Agnew Meadows due
to a terminal blister which did not respond to duct tape, mole skin, band aids,
holy water or joining the Republican party. (Please tell me he didn’t do
that! Ed.) This worked great. He stayed on the trip and was his usual
asset with the pharmacy. We had been on the Pacific Crest Trail and now we
intersected the John Muir Trail which led to Thousand Island Lakes. This area
deserves a trip in itself, but we pushed on to a campsite on Shadow Creek after
passing Emerald, Ruby, Garnet and Shadow Lakes. Sept 2: This turned out to be the hardest day of the trip. We were now at the
base of the Minarets and left the John Muir Trail. We would not pick up a trail
again until the next day. We had to traverse Iceberg and Cecile Lakes, which
are so steep that slides create an unstable but beautiful moonscape. After
this, finding the route down to Minaret Lake for a campsite proved to be
difficult. To make matters worse, it was getting late in the day and a big
thunderstorm was blowing to the south. Talking to Lem later, this storm shut
them down with lightning and wind, but fortunately we only saw it in the
distance. Sept 3: After a night at beautiful Minaret Lake with the spires of the Minarets
behind us, we took off for the Devils Postpile; however, there was no camping
there so we had to go on Reds Meadow which is forest service campground. We had
to buy wood, but they did have a restaurant. Good burgers and cold beer. Sept 4: We caught the shuttle back to Mammoth Lakes and drove to Yosemite
National Park and stayed at Tuolumne Meadows Campground. Sept 5: We hiked to May Lake and Sunrise lake and both these were awesomely
beautiful. Hiker 1 selected the May Lake hike because of obvious reasons. Sept 6: Drove to Reno and flew home the next day. |
|
Send mail to bamaanne@bellsouth.net
with questions or comments about this web site.
|
