High Sierra Topix

7/4 - 7/6 Quarts Mtn Trailhead to Chain Lakes

No snow, perfect weather, clear skies, lakes were glistening and streams were flowing nicely.
Only one stream .9 miles before Chain Lakes so take enough water for those first 5 miles.

Grouse Lakes roadless area (just north of I-80), Tahoe National Forest, 7/4-7/5

Elevations 6500 to 8000 feet. Warm but breezy to cool you off. Snow all gone. Wildflowers still profuse, but past the peak. Shallow lakes warm enough to swim (for my wife, at least!). Really, conditions looked like August. Mosquitos minimal.

We hiked from Grouse Ridge Lookout on the Glacier Lake trail to its namesake lake, then cross-country up over Black Buttes ridge and down the other side to Beyers Lake trail, which we took to Baltimore Lake (a bald eagle flew right over us here) and out faint trail and ducked route to Baltimore town site (nothing left) and good overlook of Phoenix Lake. Route back was cross-country around the east side of the Black Buttes and then around the north end to Five Lakes Basin to pick up use trails back up to Sand Ridge and then Sand Ridge trail back to parking lot.

Problems: Some tricky route-finding on the cross-country on back side of Black Buttes. Rounding the north end, the only way we could find led down a narrow defile that was close to class 3. It would be nasty if filled with snow or snow runoff in early season. Glacier Lake and Five Lakes Basin had multiple camping parties; the back side of Black Buttes was empty. This route is mostly on ridges or high on granite slopes. Occasional lakes were the only water sources.

-Phil

7/5/14 - Mono Pass Trailhead in Yosemite to Parker Pass and then on to Koip Pass and Koip Peak in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. Snow is not an issue and there is still plenty of water along the way. Flowers are blooming, but overall it doesn't look like early July out there - just too dry for this time of year.

I met a mountain lion on the trail in the morning just before dawn not too far from the trailhead - I was lucky to be able to see it and even luckier that it let me continue on my way. Very scary to me, but I did remember to put the hands over my head and back away slowly.

Some pics if anyone is interested in conditions in that area:

http://kathywing.smugmug.com/California ... nsel-Adams#!/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As of last week in June:
Colby Pass- snow free
Forester Pass- snow free at pass but about 20 to 30 feet of well trampled snow on ridge in switch backs on north side
Kern River crossing at Junction- is this really the Kern...
Ability to find water when needed- no prob

Just a heads up -
Local Mammoth Lakes weather station predicts rain/snow showers this coming weekend - Next Saturday.
Highs down to 56 and lows around 30...
Yes...SNOW!

Weather Warning!

Snow and elevation: 2 to 4 inches above 5500 feet by Saturday
morning with 4 to 8 inches above 7000 feet Friday night.

West winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph above the crests.

Locations include: Yosemite National park...Including Tuolumne
Meadows...Tioga pass...Wawona...as well as the Kings Canyon area.

This is the first significant snow expected for the season....
Anyone with outdoor plans should take extreme caution...
Auto travel may be difficult due to snow covered roads at higher elevations.

Tioga Pass HW 120 will be closed at 6pm today in anticipation of snow.

Saturday morning - 9:30 AM - from my Mammoth Lakes front porch.

What a difference a day makes... From the new China Peak webcam.

warming trend coming. probably short lived but we need every inch, even if it melts.