Page 20 of 21

Re: Maverick's 2016 Annual HST Meet-up

Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2016 8:34 pm
by ghost
Oleander's friend here. The meet-up was spectacular - it was such a pleasure to meet kindred spirits! It was great to talk to each of you! A huge THANK YOU to Mav for organizing and to Oleander for letting me tag along.

Rocky Road, so sorry to hear of your accident. Sending you all kinds of well wishes and healing thoughts. I wish you a speedy recovery - here's to being back in the backcountry as soon as possible!

Shhsgirl, my sympathy on the loss of your gear. Very, very sad to see that kind of crime in the wilderness.

For those like us who saw a mysterious light on Wednesday night (7/27), it might have been this. This was Tom Sinestra's column from August 1. [Some interesting links here too!]


Bright lights, big mystery in the night skies

By Tom Stienstra
August 1, 2016 Updated: August 1, 2016 12:05am

Back-to-back sky shows Wednesday evening led some Northern California campers to believe they possibly had seen UFOs.

The more spectacular of the two, what looked like multiple streaking objects with strobe-bright trails, occurred at 9:36 that night.

That event was the result of a Chinese rocket, reported as the size of a school bus, that burned up on re-entry, according to a consensus of reports.

Another night spectacle followed at 10:18, a bright light flying in a line faster than a jet, brighter than a satellite, and visible to campers for six minutes. This object was verified as the International Space Station (ISS).

It gets better. Projections show that the space station will appear in the Northern California skies four times in the coming week, starting Monday:

Monday: will appear for one minute at 9:10 p.m.; look 14 degrees above north by northwest.

Thursday: will appear for less than one minute at 11:21 p.m.; look 14 degrees above north.

Saturday: will appear for less than one minute at 11:11 p.m.; look 14 degrees above north.

Sunday: will appear for two minutes at 10:18 p.m.; look 10 degrees above north.

To track the ISS, go to the website: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov. To track satellite and rocket re-entries, go to http://www.space-track.org.

One night in the late 1990s, my son and I sighted a silver-red fireball. We then stood on a picnic table for a better view and the object split into 20 pieces, each with long, orange-red tails, and then flew right over the top of us.

The U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs, through a series of contacts, confirmed it had tracked the event.

It turns out the bright lights were from a spaceship that had time traveled from a planet near Antares. Little green men called Lemurians then landed on Mount Shasta and asked: “Take us to Captain Kirk.” Heh-heh.

A story roughly similar to that made the rounds, but I was able to connect with U.S. Space Command to set the record straight: We, along with hundreds across Northern California, had seen the re-entry and burn-up of a booster rocket that had been used to launch a Russian satellite.

Re: Maverick's 2016 Annual HST Meet-up

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2016 8:19 am
by Hobbes
Hi Vicky, glad you could make it. It is a bit of trip (60s version of the word) to meet a group of like minded people pretty far off the beaten trail.

Question: is/was Ghost your trail name when you hiked the PCT? If so, how did it come about?

Re: Maverick's 2016 Annual HST Meet-up

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2016 11:17 am
by ghost
Yes, that's my trail name. It came about because I wore a long-sleeved white shirt, light tan pants, a big floppy white/tan hat and these funny sun-blocking hand protectors (not quite gloves). Two other hikers, Riddle and Stretch, told me that I looked like a Ghostbuster with my pack. It quickly got shortened to Ghost.

Re: Maverick's 2016 Annual HST Meet-up

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2016 11:28 am
by Jimr
Welcome to the forum Viki....er...ghost. I'm glad you joined.

Re: Maverick's 2016 Annual HST Meet-up

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 4:35 pm
by Bluewater
I made it back to civilization after three weeks+ in the backcountry and it's good to get caught up with this HST Meet-Up thread.

I am very sorry to hear about Michael's mishap while descending from Lake Catherine, but also very happy to hear that he made it out safely.

Sshgirl I am also bummed to read about the theft in your camp near 1,000 Island Lake. I judge no man but I do hope the thief suffers from the bad karma he or she created that day.

It was a lot of fun seeing some familiar faces (Hobbes, Oleander), meeting some new people (VHS, ghost, Ken & Garrick) and of course meeting Maverick after so many years of correspondence. Maverick your goodwill toward cross country Sierra trekkers has had a very positive effect on us all! A while after the meetup I met a newer member (Asoulthang) fishing Dumbell Lakes who said he was following the itinerary you outlined for him. I have also followed some of your suggested routes and discovered new routes that I never would have considered. Thanks Maverick.

I had a great time at the meetup 'campfire' sharing stories and hearing about the adventures of the other members. Many thanks to Oleander and ghost for sharing your food and salt tablets the next morning, they made a huge difference. Maverick's designer chocolates were also very much appreciated. Congratulations to Garrick on his very first backpacking trip with Ken!

After suffering from allergies due to the miles of hiking through fields of wildflowers on the northern part of the SHR I was ready to go home after the meetup, but during the hike back to Tuolumne Meadows I started to feel better. I spent the next day in Mammoth mailing back some gear and loading up on more salty foods and Hammer Endurolytes and decided to stick around for the next two week section of my journey.

I ended up leaving Reds that evening with 15 days of food and camped near the Mammoth Crest. For the next two weeks+ I stitched together portions of the SHR, SoSHR, KCHBR and some of my own favorite x/c routes and passes and exited via the Whitney Mountaineers Route. I felt great most of the time and averaged two x/c passes each day. Days 18 and 19 were tough as my stomach felt like it was eating itself from the inside :puke:

I will do a full trip report, but until then here are a few photos from the trek:

Some of the HST crew:

Image

Image

The custom/homemade cuben fiber shelter that VHS was using:

Image

Mt. Ansel Adams:

Image

Wildflowers in Virginia Canyon (near the north/beginning of the SHR):

Image

Camping at Shepherd Lake with Sky Pilot Col visible in the distance:

Image

Crazy emerald pools in the basin to the north of Arrow Pass:

Image

Camping below Feather Pass:

Image

The view from Puppet Pass, storms finally clearing after spitting rain all day:

Image

Sunset on Humphreys:

Image

Holy $h1!, the view back down after climbing the north side of Snow Tongue Pass:

Image

Camping below Mt. Russell:

Image

The last sunset, looking down on Wales Lake:

Image

The last pass, Russell-Carrillon Col:

Image

22 days in the same shirt & shorts:

Image

Re: Maverick's 2016 Annual HST Meet-up

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 4:57 pm
by maverick
It was great meeting you too Bluewater, finally. Happy to read Asolthane is doing well, that is the second of three 10 day trips that was put together for him. :)
You photo's are great and hope next years Meet-up location meets your approval now that you got a peak at it. :unibrow:

Re: Maverick's 2016 Annual HST Meet-up

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 8:29 pm
by rayfound
Image

Holy crap... that might be the pretties view of French Canyon I've seen. Makes me want to re-shuffle my LD permit wishlist.

Re: Maverick's 2016 Annual HST Meet-up

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 9:39 pm
by Jimr
Love the crepuscular rays.

Re: Maverick's 2016 Annual HST Meet-up

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 12:42 am
by Bluewater
maverick wrote:. . .hope next years Meet-up location meets your approval now that you got a peak at it. :unibrow:
The terrain along the approach to next years meet-up location is just as good (if not better in some areas) than the actual meet-up spot :cool:

Re: Maverick's 2016 Annual HST Meet-up

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 12:51 am
by Bluewater
Thanks Rayfound and Jimr!

More crespecularity from Bear Lakes Basin ;)
image.jpeg