TR:2006 Ionian-Tunemah-Blackcap

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thegib
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Re: TR:2006 Ionian-Tunemah-Blackcap

Post by thegib »

"I particularly would like to know if anyone has gone from the Goddard Creek unnamed lakes below Finger Peak directly into Tunemah Lake. Or if anyone has been down to those lakes north of Tunemah Lake and east of Blue Canyon Pass."

My partner and I followed your dashed yellow line, bagged Blue Canyon pk from the notch to the south, and continued south along the spine of the ridge on the yellow, then red line. It worked perfectly. The descent in particular was simple. My partner only tolerates class 2 so it wasn't harder than that.
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Re: TR:2006 Ionian-Tunemah-Blackcap

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Thanks for the information about both routes between lakes east of Finger Peak to Tunemah Lake! I am glad to see that the yellow dashed route is class 2.
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Re: TR:2006 Ionian-Tunemah-Blackcap

Post by Harlen »

Fantastic trip and report Nancy. I love that mountain by Ambition Lake, and your photo with the red paintbrush flowers in it. Do you by chance recall the amount of pika you heard and saw while camping at Lake 10582? - the lake with the great view of Mt Charybdis. We saw more pika than ever before on an August trip there.

I'll look forward to really studying this Trip Report soon.... I wish I hadn't found it at 3:00 AM!
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Re: TR:2006 Ionian-Tunemah-Blackcap

Post by Wandering Daisy »

3AM!!! How did your Yosemite trip go. Glad to see that you made it back safely.

I love the pika. I do not see as many in the Sierra as in the Wind Rivers. I sort of have a theory, that is probably wrong, but I have observed that in areas where there are more marmots, there are less pika. I see fewer marmots in the Wind Rivers. So is that simply a habitat thing, or do marmots run out the pika?

A few years ago I did a trip into the northern Wind Rivers and the fellow who went with me was a volunteer pika counter for some bigger project. We photographed and noted all the pika we saw (and heard). We were on a seldom used off-trail route. On that same trip we ran into a group (volunteers managed by a University's staff) who were part of a study of receding glaciers. Are there such studies going on in the Sierra? I would not mind noting where I see and hear pika and giving that data to some study.
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Re: TR:2006 Ionian-Tunemah-Blackcap

Post by kpeter »

It has been a few years, but I found and read a scientific paper on the retreat of pikas from Thousand Island Lake. Someone had done a census of them over time there, and the finding was that they had retreated from all around the lake to just the west end as they were replaced with ground squirrels, which seemed to be out-competing them. I don't think marmots were mentioned in that study. I wish I could find it again and link it....maybe there is a biologist on this board who knows more than I do.
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Re: TR:2006 Ionian-Tunemah-Blackcap

Post by robertseeburger »

Just catching up here after a brief hiatus.

So many things to read.. great trip report!

Glad to read that someone of your experience can hit the wrong pass. I was pretty embarrassed myself in my Wind River trip report in 2019 when I got briefly lost as well.. It happens! But you are the only person other than me that I know of that has been to the lake just south of the "wrong pass". (Next to Dykeman). A beautiful lake.

Hey I thought you were going to back to Ionian Basin LAST year.. ( so was I just didnt make it!). Maybe this year. ( probably not).

On the most distance from a road, I remember someone on HST a couple of years ago did a post that used perhaps a different algorithm and indicated that Tunemah Lake was tied for most distance from a road with Milestone Bowl. I remember posting myself that Tunemah has quite the more remote feeling than Milestone ( proximity to Colby Pass trail).
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Re: TR:2006 Ionian-Tunemah-Blackcap

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Yes, that lake below "wrong pass" is beautiful, but it is much easier to get to if you go over the Dykman (the right pass) and then turn south. I liked the small basin just below Tunamah Lake (towards Goddard Creek) more than Tunamah Lake itself. If I go again I will camp down there, as well as spend a lot more time in the area. I even saw fish in the lakes.

Unfortunately, my Mom died last summer so I had to cancel the Ionaian trip to take care of family business. I may do an early season Ionian trip this year, if it turns out to be a low snow year. I am about 90% sure I will do mid-July to Labor Day backpacking this year in the Wind Rivers, with a late season Sierra trip, perhaps Ionian then.
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Re: TR:2006 Ionian-Tunemah-Blackcap

Post by robertseeburger »

Hey it looks like I will be in the Winds same time as you.
I have pencilled in 8/1 to 8/10 with my buddy Mike from Colorado. After spending one trip each of last four years in the middle...I think we are solidifying a trip into the southern area.. Popo Agie.. perhaps seeing Tayo Lakes, Coon Lake, and perhaps Atlantic Canyon, perhaps Deep Creek Lakes..
details to be solidified..

Sorry about your mom.. My plans are dependent on care for my now 91 year old mother in law..each year is a little different.
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Re: TR:2006 Ionian-Tunemah-Blackcap

Post by Bluewater »

Thank you for reposting this fantastic trip report and photos. After reading it the first time I was inspired to take a trip through much of the same area in 2013. I ended up in a storm but found one of the rare flat camp spots (just in time to shelter up before the snow) in Ionian near the lake to the southeast of Goddard Peak.

I have been out with an injury (for a while) and finally ready for next summer. My first trip plan has been to go back and explore more or the same area. . . and I had the same questions about the alternate xc passes to the north of Tunemah Lake! Thank you for once again leading the way.
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Re: TR:2006 Ionian-Tunemah-Blackcap

Post by Harlen »

bluewater wrote:
Thank you for reposting this fantastic trip report and photos.
X2!
I got another long look at this great trip of yours Nancy, and now I want to get there again- ski in from where-- Huntington Lake?, or from the east via Echo Col?
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