Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

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xcountry rider
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Re: Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

Post by xcountry rider »

Thought I should finally introduce myself. I really enjoy HST. I get a lot of great info for planning our trips, or just dreaming when we can't get away. We definitely don't get out enough. I have been backpacking for about 35 years since I was 11 years old. My wife is my main backpacking partner now. Most of our trips are in the Sierra. We have done a lot of trips in Big Sur as well. We also did a trip in New Zealand about 15 years ago.

Our scariest backpacking adventure was having to self evacuate from the Meadow fire in Yosemite a few years back. Hiked 26 miles that day instead of the planned 8

Thank you for having this great site and community!

John
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maverick
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Re: Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

Post by maverick »

Hi John, and welcome to HST! :)
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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Bigfoot61
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Re: Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

Post by Bigfoot61 »

Long time lurker—started backpacking with the scouts in San Diego in the 70s. Anza Borrego, the Cuyamacas, and a yearly Sierra Trek. Continued to backpack with college friends until marriage and kids pushed me into primarily car camping. Many camp trips with my in-laws who focus on food (I married a chef). That is, preparing, cooking, eating, and digesting (with possibly a short hike to aid in the digestion). Then the cycle restarts with the next meal. Three times a day.
Got back into backpacking when I volunteered as Scoutmaster for my local troop. Did many wonderful trips, got in better shape and caught the UL bug as a way to keep up with teenagers. Recently retired as Scoutmaster but I’m in the habit of getting one trip on the calendar a month and continue to do so. Most trips are with adult friends from the troop and/or our college age kids. We have setup a loosely organized troop alumni backpacking club. Upcoming trips planned for Emigrant, Lassen (car camping with family) and weeklong trip to Pioneer Basin/Mono Recesses in September.
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maverick
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Re: Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

Post by maverick »

Hi Bigfoot61,
Welcome to HST! :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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juniper395
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Re: Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

Post by juniper395 »

I'm a relatively recent lurker. I'm Levi's other half in this TR that he recently posted

Have been backpacking in the Sierras since I started grad school in 2013. Picked up snowboarding in 2015, and went on my first backcountry tour in May this year in the Yosemite area (on Tioga pass, about a quarter-mile east of the gate). I've gotten good beta from this site so I thought I should make an account and start contributing back.
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maverick
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Re: Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

Post by maverick »

HI Juniper395,

Welcome to HST!
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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bulaklakan
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Re: Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

Post by bulaklakan »

I've been lurking for only a few weeks, but have spent a lot of time doing so in those weeks!

When I was 8 my parents took me on the loop of High Sierra Camps. The summer that I was 10 we horse-packed into East Lake… I climbed Mt Brewer with my Dad & his buddy. When I was 14 my family – including my two younger sisters – rented a burro and hiked the North-to-South Lake loop. As we became older teen-agers and beyond my Dad led us and various friends of ours & his on 7-9 day annual backpacks, typically out of Cedar Grove or Kearsarge, although at some point I started taking my college friends on similar trips instead of going with the family. Back-In-The-Day - as many of you know – there was no giardia, no PCT, no algae/slime coating the bottom of streams, no backcountry permits, no mosquitos, no backpacking stoves (and no campfire restrictions), no bear cannisters. Well OK maybe mosquitos.

When my sisters and I had kids we wanted to share our love of the high sierra with them as well, and we planned & executed various trips with our families. Through poor planning and bad luck a number of those trips were mosquito-fests – primarily because of this they did not turn out to be memorable experiences. There was complaining.

Twelve years ago – our kids now older teenagers - my sisters and I decided that we three Would Go backpacking every summer as we remembered and loved. And that any family members were welcome to come with us, subject to One Rule: no one was allowed to come who didn’t want to be there. This rule quickly eliminated all of our (then) spouses, and our children have accompanied us to varying degrees. It was a good rule – complaining has now been reduced to the mostly good-natured variety, in which the complainer recognizes that she/he chose to endure some suffering in exchange for the awesome experience of being in the High Country (but still wants to express her/himself).

I’m 66 now. The core group of our annual trips is my sisters, self, my daughter and her SO. Accompanied when possible by my son and niece and occasional others. Inexplicably the young folks (daughter and SO etc) continue to be willing to backpack with us olders. Sometimes they laze about camp in the morning while we get a head start, or push on ahead to find a camp site. On occasion we separate our group for a night to accommodate their attempt to climb a mountain.
Our current trips are typically 9 days – is about the time we figure that it takes to get to a remote and awesome lake or basin, spend some quality time there and get out again. Nine days is also about how much food we can fit in our bear cannisters. We like to go in from the east side – enjoy being in Bishop the day before & after. We avoid the JMT/PCT as much as possible, and typically there’s 2-4 days of off-trail hiking.
Last summer we went in over Cottonwood Pass with the goal of getting to Kaweah Basin, but we were stymied by the avalanche debris at Junction Meadow on the Kern. So we went north and explored Milestone Basin instead – a fine place! Then east and out Shepherds Pass. This year the plan is to go in Taboose, to Bench Lake, up into Arrow Basin, Window Creek, down to the JMT and out Taboose.

I have been and am able to share my love of the High Country with multiple family generations. For this I’m a happy man!
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renotrailrunr
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Re: Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

Post by renotrailrunr »

Been a long time since anyone has posted here! What's up with that? I discovered your website while looking for information about a trip I'm planning for Labor Day weekend.
I'm a geezer, 59 yo female. Cheryl. An RN and a trail runner. I've done multiple ultramarathons. Have been a backpacker all my life. Consider myself a Level 3 /4 hiker. Am very fit for my age and love 3 to 6 day trips. I really have no interest in doing anything super long. I'm on the trails weekly as a runner. Tahoe is my back yard as I live in south Reno and enjoy the trails many times a week during the summer, many days downhill skiing in the winter. I recently completed a short trip in Desolation Wildnerness and I'll post it.
This is a great forum. Hope to be able to contribute and participate frequently!
cheryl \:D/
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renotrailrunr
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Re: Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

Post by renotrailrunr »

So here is my trip report since I just introduced myself:
Wrights Lake to McConnel Loop in Desolation Wilderness west of Lake Tahoe:
I’m new to your site and have found it very useful. So I thought I’d post a trip report that might be helpful to someone in the future. It was quite eventful in terms of route finding and trail use. I’m a Level 3 / 4 backpacker, 59 yo very fit woman who runs ultras, is a RN, and teaches Chirunning.
Hope I’m putting this in the correct forum. It is brief but I think valuable because this route has had varied reports in other forums.
Me and my girlfriends, Tammy and Mary, completed a loop in west Desolation Wilderness west of Lake Tahoe last week. 8/13/18. We started at Wrights’ Lake on Monday with the goal to complete the McConnel loop.
The first day we hiked over Rockbound Pass and down to Lake Schmidell. An 8 mile hike that was moderate in difficulty. There are some steep grades over Rockbound with big steps. I was a bit fatigued and it was very warm, so it was a challenging hike for me that day. Lake Schmidell is a beautiful alpine lake surrounded by granite and with ample camp sites. The two lakes before Schmidell, Lois and Doris, are also beautiful with few campsites, but worthy of a nite.
The second day, we hiked to Horshoe Lake and as planned, went cross country northwest a half mile of trail to a saddle and over the other side to descend to Lake Zitella. Another beautiful lake with no one around. So we had it to ourselves and took advantage of the privacy by stripping off our sweaty clothes for a dip in what I’ve since discovered is one of the warmest alpine lakes in the region at close to 8,000 feet. Delicious!
After a peaceful afternoon lounging at Zitella and a quiet, star filled night, we woke to a cool morning and got an early start on our loop. Destination 4Qs Lakes, Camper Flat (renamed Camper Hell which is why I write this) and on to climb back to Doris Lake for our third night.
We climbed down the slabby granite descent from Horshoe Lake following some well placed cairns/ducks, got through some challenging route finding sections and wound up on a decent trail towards 4Qs Lakes. The trail was good. Easily followed with reassurances from the ducks. Arriving at 4Qs we stripped down again and went swimming! Yay!
Passed 4Qs Lakes we happily cruised the trail wondering where all the confusion was from the trail reports we had read about. The trail was easy to follow. Then it happened. We arrived at an intersection with a T. One way was sketchy trail, the other way was blocked by a huge log but seemed to go in the right direction, southwest. We argued briefly about which way to go then took the unblocked way. Long story short, we ended up following ducks that had no business being placed and walked in a gigantic lollypop loop going nowhere. Unless you can call thrashing through undergrowth and downed trees nowhere! No fun. By some luck and our sense of direction guiding us, we finally found the trail after thrashing around in a loop led by ducks from some other hikers who probably thought they knew. Ugh. Never put up ducks when you’re not sure where you’re going!!
A description of Camper Flat I had read was a huge flat area that had a flat camping area. Yes, that is true in terms of it being flat and there was one huge tent site right next to the trail! Who would want to camp there? Not to mention that it isn’t within Desolation regs. Anyway, we renamed Camper Flat Camper Hell. I’ll never go back there!
Continuing on down the trail after “Camper Hell” was easy going and we cruised the rolling soft trail quickly to arrive at the junction where we ascended up to Doris Lake. We arrived in to camp late. The next morning we left camp early climbing to the top of Rockbound Pass and descending back to Wrights Lake where we parked. An easy 6 miles since it was mostly a descent.
Bottom line, I won’t do this loop again, but highly recommend and out and back to Zitella with nights at Lois, Doris or Schmidell. Desolation is awesome. Campers Hell was not!
This trip was a great lesson in learning a new area and being open to the possibilities.
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Fink18
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Re: Lurkers Please Introduce Yourself =)

Post by Fink18 »

Hello, my name is Danny and its good to be on the forums. I just started backpacking last year, my first major trip was with my wife on the high sierra trail. I will be doing my first solo trip on September 4th. The plan is for 10 nights, 11 days on the high sierra trail with side trips to 9 lakes basin and lake south america. Im also going to try to hike up Mt. Kaweah and Cal Tech Peak depending on if i feel up to it at the time.

So far ive only hiked maintained trails but i plan on doing some off trail trips in the future, so this upcoming trip i want to explore the 9 lakes basin to get a feel for it. I will be sure to post a trip report when i get back.
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