Circling the Ritter Range 8-4-20 to 8-15-20

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robertseeburger
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Re: Circling the Ritter Range 8-4-20 to 8-15-20

Post by robertseeburger »

Harlen wrote: Thu Aug 27, 2020 6:27 pm
But on 8/10, all hell broke loose. And we were high up and exposed.
We decided to hunker down just short of Catherine Lake. We thought we had a flat space, with good enough drainage. But we were wrong.
The storm was quite intense, with several hours of continuous, and hard hail. We actually got swamped.
robertseeburger.
Looks like we are following each other around... I was at many of the places you visited in 2018 and June this year ... And it looks like we both got whacked hard by weather on August 10th
Indeed Robert, as you say, we are tracking each other; and not just in places, but in experiences too! Everything you wrote in your first note above, except the Catherine Lake location, was happening to me on the same night, but 100 miles or so south. "Swamped" is the very word I would have used for my camp, had I the vocabulary. Your relocation to the rocky "flat" looks a bit tenuous... like you could have been swept over into the drink!?
Will that go into the post by Eric of our favorite campsites? It certainly had a tremendous view!

I really love the shot from the top of Volcanic Ridge, and the one from Lake Catherine. Regarding the former place, I think once again we were closely tracking each other. In one of your summit photos from there, isn't your friend Doug's left foot up against the very same rock that is to the right of my pal Bearzy's left ear? Note the right-angle crack in it. Yep, one year prior, we were sitting in those very same foreground rocks? I reckon we're bound to meet up soon.

http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... &mode=view


100_2627.jpg


Great Trip Report as always, thanks for sharing it with us, and lovely big fish. Cheers, Ian.
Thanks Ian.. yeah the 8/10 storm was something else. I didnt think about falling off when I moved my tent. All I thought about was keeping my sleeping bag dry! Love the picture of Bearzy at the top of Volcanic Ridge. Amazing that he not only goes backpacking, but climbs mountains too! Yes maybe someday we will meet up. I hope to get one more trip this year.
canukyea wrote: Fri Aug 28, 2020 8:37 am Thank you for the report. Your trip covers a whole bunch of the more remote areas of the park so it was fun to follow along! Yosemite has at least two golden trout bearing lakes (maybe more?) and both of them have been rather spotty as far as I could tell. In a slower summer, it's not all too surprising the lake didn't yield anything. Those bows looked like they were eating the real small stuff, did matching the hatch work well?
Yes, the one golden trout lake we visited was tough. It is where you can see Gary sleeping. Nice lake though..seldom visited. I hope to visit the other Yosemite one (up north) soon. I have heard good things about it. On the bows.. frankly..they took anything..both flies and hardware. not picture.. no matching the hatch necessary. Every once in a while they will hit anything.
kpeter wrote: Fri Aug 28, 2020 8:14 pm Fabulous report and interesting photos--that was quite the hail storm! Red Devil Lake is one of my favorites. Did you stop and look at the gravesite on the way down from Glacier Pass? It looks like one of your photos was from about that location.
I didnt know about the gravesite.. didnt see it. Can you elaborate? who is it..etc? I probably would have looked for it had I known.
giantbrookie wrote: Fri Aug 28, 2020 11:09 pm Really neat to see both sides of the Ritter Range on one trip. The west flank view of the Ritter Range is really underrated and Twin Island L. is a really special place. Yes I recall the optimal route getting there had some odd details--like you start heading down one gully then turn back and go up another fork sort of thing. The views at some of your destinations early in the trip were so dramatically different from what I saw last year at the same places I had think about them before I recognized the places; looks really different without a ton of snow.
GB, on the route finding.. I had some issues with route finding last year on a trip. I NEVER have problems with route finding..but this is the second time in two years. So either the route is really difficult in places, or I am going senile. My wife thinks it is the latter, as she wonders why I do this when I show her pictures of the thunderstorm. I remember your TR from last year, and followed it closely. You and I seem to have had the same results at the golden lake also.
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Re: Circling the Ritter Range 8-4-20 to 8-15-20

Post by kpeter »

robertseeburger wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:56 am
kpeter wrote: Fri Aug 28, 2020 8:14 pm Fabulous report and interesting photos--that was quite the hail storm! Red Devil Lake is one of my favorites. Did you stop and look at the gravesite on the way down from Glacier Pass? It looks like one of your photos was from about that location.
I didnt know about the gravesite.. didnt see it. Can you elaborate? who is it..etc? I probably would have looked for it had I known.
Harv Gallic, a retired Stanford Professor, spent years tracking down the stories of Konrad and Anna Rettenbacher, who died climbing Banner in 1934 and were buried in a meadow that most people cross as they hike from 1000 Island to Catherine. The hiking club of the Rettenbachers marked the grave with a bronze plaque, but over the years the story was forgotten and people rarely found the plaque. If they did, they had no idea what Die Naturefruend was and assumed it was no longer in existence, so for years the grave became a mystery shared among the few people who ventured in that direction. As it turns out, the hiking club is still in existence, has always had a full account of the Rettenbachers, and even launched an expedition in the 1980s to visit the grave. I have a friend in the club who I asked to contact Gallic after reading Gallic's first, fascinating account, and the story became much better fleshed out. Not much of a mystery anymore, except the specific reason for their deaths.

Gallic's account on the Naturfreude website, including quotations from Norman Clyde's unpublished notes about the recovery:

http://geschichte.naturfreunde.org/wp-c ... /Galic.pdf

One of my photos:
DSC00430.jpg
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Re: Circling the Ritter Range 8-4-20 to 8-15-20

Post by sekihiker »

Thanks for posting this excellent report. It must be nice to stay out for longer than a few days. It sure looks like you enjoyed it. Nice fish.
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Re: Circling the Ritter Range 8-4-20 to 8-15-20

Post by CAMERONM »

I skipped the Nancy Pass "diversion" when I did the SHR, as from the map it looked somewhat pointless. Glad to read that I did not miss much!
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Re: Circling the Ritter Range 8-4-20 to 8-15-20

Post by fish4gold »

Wow, you’ve done it again! That is an area I have never been to and is high on my list. Fantastic trip report! Nice fish too.
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Re: Circling the Ritter Range 8-4-20 to 8-15-20

Post by robertseeburger »

kpeter wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 6:26 pm
robertseeburger wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:56 am
kpeter wrote: Fri Aug 28, 2020 8:14 pm Fabulous report and interesting photos--that was quite the hail storm! Red Devil Lake is one of my favorites. Did you stop and look at the gravesite on the way down from Glacier Pass? It looks like one of your photos was from about that location.
I didnt know about the gravesite.. didnt see it. Can you elaborate? who is it..etc? I probably would have looked for it had I known.
Harv Gallic, a retired Stanford Professor, spent years tracking down the stories of Konrad and Anna Rettenbacher, who died climbing Banner in 1934 and were buried in a meadow that most people cross as they hike from 1000 Island to Catherine. The hiking club of the Rettenbachers marked the grave with a bronze plaque, but over the years the story was forgotten and people rarely found the plaque. If they did, they had no idea what Die Naturefruend was and assumed it was no longer in existence, so for years the grave became a mystery shared among the few people who ventured in that direction. As it turns out, the hiking club is still in existence, has always had a full account of the Rettenbachers, and even launched an expedition in the 1980s to visit the grave. I have a friend in the club who I asked to contact Gallic after reading Gallic's first, fascinating account, and the story became much better fleshed out. Not much of a mystery anymore, except the specific reason for their deaths.

Gallic's account on the Naturfreude website, including quotations from Norman Clyde's unpublished notes about the recovery:

http://geschichte.naturfreunde.org/wp-c ... /Galic.pdf

One of my photos:

DSC00430.jpg
KPeter, Wow, thanks for publishing the details on the grave and the article. Sorry it took me so long to finally read the link and article.
This is a great but sad Sierra Nevada story. I didnt know the grave was there, and I didnt know that Norman Clyde had found the couple. If I get back there, I would try to locate. Also, it turns out that I grew up only about a 2 minute walk from where the couple worked..small world. The article is a recommended read for people hiking in this area.
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Re: Circling the Ritter Range 8-4-20 to 8-15-20

Post by Wandering Daisy »

I went over Nancy Pass and yes it was tedious. Campsites were full when I hit Minaret Lake so went on and camped at Deadhorse Lake, which was very pretty. Here are two photos. So other than being "pure" to the route, I thought it was worthwhile. And a personal reason; could not skip my namesake pass!
5238-40_Deadhorse Lake_B&W.jpg
Day12.1_NancyPassNorth_Small.jpg
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