Maverick's 2018 Annual Meet-up 7/26-7/27

A forum to initiate member meet-up. Looking for a hiking/climbing/fishing/skiing/etc. partner, or are you planning a trip where you wouldn't mind having some company? Last minute invites can be just as fun as a well-planned group trip (sometimes even better) so don't be shy! And be sure to post a trip report to the appropriate forum when you get back.
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SirBC
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Re: Maverick's 2018 Annual Meet-up 7/26-7/27

Post by SirBC »

I headed in over Mono Pass on Sunday morning and setup in Pioneer Basin at Mud Lake. The next morning I moved up to the eastern lake 10915. After I had dinner I started getting a headache that worsened over the next few hours and became extremely painful. I was a bit freaked out because I didn't think I would be able to hike out the way I came in if the pain was that bad in the morning. By morning it was a lot better but the headache was still there, just at a much reduced level. I dropped down to mono creek and hung out for a bit and after a while decided to just push through and hike out. Everyone I passed that was hiking in said a storm was coming (as it had every day for the past week) and when I hit Trail Lakes the sky looked ominous. I setup my tent there to wait it out. The storm never hit and I ended up staying the night and hiking out in the morning.

The thing is, I have had a low grade headache ever since so I don't think it was AMS. If it's still there on Monday I'm going to see my doc. I'm supposed to be heading back up to LLV with my wife next weekend but if I still have a headache we'll probably have to cancel.

Super bummed I (again) missed the meetup. I hope you guys had a great time, looking forward to seeing the photos. I will write-up my abbreviated TR as I did have a great time other than the headache.
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Jimr
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Re: Maverick's 2018 Annual Meet-up 7/26-7/27

Post by Jimr »

I just got home. oleander and Ghost are in a motel in Mammoth. I drove up to McGee creek TH on Saturday to meet the girls. On our way down 395 toward Bishop, we got a lightning show. Our entry point, Pine creek TH was being hammered with rain and I'm sure hail. What we saw were huge bolts of lightning nailing the area. We headed out Sunday morning around 8ish and just got to Pine lake ahead of a storm. Just as we got the tents up and our gear inside, we got nailed for the next 4.5 hours. It cleared around 6:30 so we emerged and decided to alter our plan a bit so we weren't on Italy pass in the afternoon.

The next day, we headed up into Granite park with the goal of hitting Italy pass Tuesday morning. Within 15 minutes of our second camp, it started sprinkling, so we pushed hard to get to camp at Granite park. We sort of made it. We managed to get tents up as it started to rain hard. We threw our stuff into the tents and I waited outside in rain gear waiting for Lisa to get situated before I came in to set myself up for the night. I grabbed a cigar and buried myself deep into a stand of White bark pine and contemplated life while she got her bedding and dry clothes set-up. I noticed that water was starting to collect under the tent, so I took a sharp edged rock and created a series of canals around the tent to divert water away from the tent and connect it to the main drainage course. I also created a series of canals to assure anything under the tent would drain out. It worked great.

Once we were in the tent, everything let loose. Pea size hail, heavy rain and heavy thunder and lightning. One strike was unnervingly close. It's one of those moments where you check your spiritual fitness and hope you've said everything to your loved ones that needed to be said. You never know if today is your last day on Earth. No joke.

The storm started about 1:45 pm and finally stopped around 7pm. Even though we had gotten our gear into the tent, there was still some wet gear to deal with. Viki's tent had basically floated in place for a few hours, so she had quite a bit more wet gear than we did. When the storm stopped, we had a discussion about the safety of our plan considering the forecast and our experience. We had 3 high cross country passes to get over and we had to assume 1pm was the drop dead (no pun intended) point for being off of the pass and down to a campsite. If we had proceeded, there would be no opportunity to dry out our gear. A major issue given the weather. It really boiled down to the fact that we would be flipping a coin regarding our safety each day. That was the final nail. Safety first, always. A meetup was not worth the potential hazards we could face, so we altered our plan.

We decided to base camp and day hike Granite Park, then decide from there depending on the weather. We explored the upper Granite basin and Chalfant lakes, returning to camp each day by 1pm. We didn't get any more rain while there, but the clouds were ominous all around us each day. I think Mt. Humphreys was looking out for us. There was never a time that he was not in view.

We finally decided to move camp to Royce Lakes. That area seemed to be spared further rain along with our area, so we jumped over Royce pass (col?) and spent a night Royce 11,725. We were there early mid day, so once camp was secured, I fished a bit, but mid day is not good time, so I thought I'd fish later in the afternoon. Well, Royce peak decided to give us a bit of rain by around 4pm or so. Not much, just enough of a tease to put us back into the tents. We met a father and daughter team who informed us that HWY 168 was completely closed due to a major mud slide and that they had to hike from Aspendell to get to the North Lake TH.

The next morning (yesterday), we headed into French canyon and made camp at Elba lake. There are very few decent sites at that lake, but we found one that worked out well. Each night, we could smell some hints of smoke, but not bad. A bit of haze here and there. From Elba, we could see quite a bit of smoky haze toward the West. The clouds were not threatening, but the smoky haze made it difficult to distinguish haze from cloud formation.

Today, we decided to head over Pine pass, back down to lower Pine lake, then decide whether we walk out of stay at our first night's campsite. We were sort of 50/50 leaning a bit here or there on it. On our way over Pine creek pass, it hit me that Sunday was my son's 20th birthday, so for me, a slight leaning toward hiking out became a heavy leaning.

As we descended to a point where we could see Long/Owens valley area, we could see it was inundated with thick, smoky haze. We had dinner in Mammoth, then I headed home. When I hit Bishop, I could not see the Sierra.

All in all, we had to make a safety decision, but turned what could have been abandoned trip into a lollipop (o.k, who got that?). While we wished we could have made the meetup, we are all content with our decision. Safety first, at any cost.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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Re: Maverick's 2018 Annual Meet-up 7/26-7/27

Post by Rockyroad »

Here are 2 photos of the members that congregated at the Grinnell Lake outlet on Thursday evening.

From left to right: Rockyroad, Cameronm, Robert, Gazelle, Dave_Ayers, RichLong8, SekiHiker
Image
Image

Ashery and Norcal(?) were at the lake but camped elsewhere. Sorry I didn't get a chance to talk with you two on Friday morning as I was preoccupied with packing up and heading out. I also want to say it was an honor to hike with SekiHiker from Laurel Lake to Grinnell Lake and grateful of the geologic and botanical information he shared.

Will work on the TR
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Re: Maverick's 2018 Annual Meet-up 7/26-7/27

Post by Gazelle »

Jimr I figured that was the case. Robert and I were at Treasure lake on Saturday and just got back to the tents in time for the rain. Then Sunday we went over Treasure col, up Abbot and by the time we were back at our packs it started raining, got rain gear on then we got hailed on (BIG hurt you hail) I was able to find a big rock overhang that we shoved ourselves into (not comfortable) but out of the hail, got a little better so we hauled ass down to Millls lake and set up camp. Monday up Ruby early, then were chased westward to lower Hopkins lake, almost there when yep rain but only lasted about an hour. What is up with getting rained on almost every meetup? Guess just that time of year? Missed you guys. But got quite a few peaks and had a great time!
The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before. Albert Einstein
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Re: Maverick's 2018 Annual Meet-up 7/26-7/27

Post by maverick »

SirBC,
Hope your headache is gone!


Rockyroad,
Thanks for the pictures! :thumbsup:
How were the wildflowers up the Laurel drainage? Did you find a partner to exit Grinnell Pass?


Jimr,
Sounds like my kind of weather :) , kind of figured it was the reason for the change in plans on the SPOT notification. Glad you guys made it out safely.


Richlong,
How did your dog handle the trip and the wild weather (lightning & thunder)?


Did anyone use McGee Pass, it supposedly was mildly damaged by mudslides?

Looking forward to reading everyones TR's and pictures. :nod:
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I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

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Re: Maverick's 2018 Annual Meet-up 7/26-7/27

Post by sekihiker »

Rockyroad wrote:I also want to say it was an honor to hike with SekiHiker from Laurel Lake to Grinnell Lake and grateful of the geologic and botanical information he shared.
Thanks for posting the pictures, Rockyroad. The honor was mine to spend some time getting to know a fellow Topix member face to face. You picked a great route up from Laurel Lake.
I've been wanting to go to a meetup for years and this turned out to be a great location with a chance to get to know some others in the forum. It was a shame that storms kept some of us away.
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maverick
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Re: Maverick's 2018 Annual Meet-up 7/26-7/27

Post by maverick »

I've been wanting to go to a meetup for years and this turned out to be a great location with a chance to get to know some others in the forum.
Hope you will consider attending future one's too. :nod:
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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Re: Maverick's 2018 Annual Meet-up 7/26-7/27

Post by Gazelle »

Maybe Maverick will show up next year?!
The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before. Albert Einstein
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Re: Maverick's 2018 Annual Meet-up 7/26-7/27

Post by rlown »

Please make it dog friendly next year. I'm contemplating on bringing Simba with me. The pack will come after he learns to swim :)
I thought all labs knew how to swim.. Guess not. Working on it.
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Re: Maverick's 2018 Annual Meet-up 7/26-7/27

Post by Jimr »

maverick wrote: Jimr,
Sounds like my kind of weather :) , kind of figured it was the reason for the change in plans on the SPOT notification. Glad you guys made it out safely.
I made the same comment to Lisa :nod: . We knew you'd figure it out pretty quickly.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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