High Sierra Topix

rlown wrote:the bunny is a nice touch to the photo.

Reminds me of a monkey we used to see a lot of.

fishmonger wrote:
Haven't done Baxter yet but will add that next year perhaps.

Does anyone know first hand if there is a new trailhead yet at Oak Creek (Baxter Pass?)

rlown wrote:the bunny is a nice touch to the photo.

it is a mouse, and he's got 4 Muir Trails behind him. Tough little guy.

here mousie is having some Starbucks instant in the Muir Hut

Fishmonger-

Mousie gets two big thumbs up and a giant How can someone not smile when he/she sees Mousie? I'm willing to bet that Mousie makes a Great companion on your solo adventures!
PS- Thats one spolied Mousie, Starbucks, thats the life!
-Evan

evan wrote:Fishmonger-

Mousie gets two big thumbs up and a giant How can someone not smile when he/she sees Mousie? I'm willing to bet that Mousie makes a Great companion on your solo adventures!
PS- Thats one spolied Mousie, Starbucks, thats the life!
-Evan

Mousie does know a good cup of joe when he smells it He also strikes up conversations with rangers, so much so that they now remember me because of that guy sticking his big ears out of my backpack.

I wonder if Mousie will ever meat Yosemite Chick-On on any of his journeys?

hikerchick395 wrote:




Does anyone know first hand if there is a new trailhead yet at Oak Creek (Baxter Pass?)

Never mind...answered my own question...drove up there today and it's there, burnt trees and all. (That flood washed away whole ranches!)

hikerchick395 wrote:...drove up there today and it's there, burnt trees and all. (That flood washed away whole ranches!)

You went all that way, went to all that trouble, and what? No pictures??

Wow, Haeckel Col. Great photo.

Neither me nor my dad had a good position for a photo when we did that one--so seeing your photo really brings back memories. I recall it was '77 and I was really hurting after my first knee injury. I was so out of shape I had fallen asleep at a rest stop earlier in the day on the way up. My dad was sitting on the top of the ridge as I finished the class 3 move on the top of the east side. It was awkward with an external frame pack with extender bar which kept hitting the rocks overhanging the ledges I was on. I recall finally leaning back in order to clear things. Being exhausted and having little energy on the last move (plus leaning backward uncomfortably), I asked my dad to move his behind so I could scoot onto the top of the ridge. He then called down to me that there was no room for him to move over and I'd just have to squeeze on up. This was very demoralizing for a super tired hiker expecting an easy class 2 talus slope on the west side--I instantly understood the implications of what he said. Of course the reason is there is no room is that it drops off fairly abruptly on the west side too.

I was at the Baxter Pass Trailhead just before the fire, several times after the fire, then on the Thanksgiving Day the Fall before the flood took out the campground. I have photograhed the area recovering since the fire. The black oaks, roses, willows, lupins, rosey penstemons, etc. are all coming back just fine.

Last summer we had a flood similar to the Oak Cr one, down by Olancha. I saw amazing damage by the storm that caused that flood in the very southern Death Valley area this past Sept.

Seeing the area after the flood was a bummer. I used to love spending a week under the last black oak in the upper most camp site. I'd use that as my base for day hikes all over that region. On a hot summer day, that black oak was the greatest umbrella in the world. But you had to dodge all the ants though. Saw a road runner near the bottom of the campground earlier in the year of the fire. Saw a rattlesnake in the trail, about 1/2 mi from the trailhead, last summer.

Oak Cr and the trailhead area are coming back nicely and it just serves to remind us of the ecosystem functions that guide the health of the the Sierra. Hopefully they occur naturally, but somethimes they don't. in any event, the system recovers, we get to see the landscape respond to disasters, and it all goes forward.

Here's where the road goes over Oak Creek...