Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

[gdurkee]

I recall someone wondered on a prior post why bears did not get at Orland's food caches. The book notes he hoisted his caches into trees. He probably also wired the lids to the cans - that is what we did. In our case we placed six caches, most were above tree line, by suspending the cans over the edge of precipices, beyond the reach of larger critters.

Yep. Bartholomew used galvanized garbage cans, tied up in trees and wired shut. Still, if a bear had found them, there would have been no problem tearing it apart. I actually found one of his caches at Crabtree Meadow in the 90s. The food still dry and in good shape. Several of us drank to Orland's health with a cup of his cocoa... . A group (I mention above) that skied his route had his original diary and we looked for the caches not accounted for (several had been found already). I found the site of the Dusy Basin one but someone had found it only weeks before and it disappeared. The wire and a couple of cans were left there. Anyway, I think they're all accounted for now. I turned over the Crabtree one to NPS Sequoia Kings where it's probably mouldering in a basement somewhere. Should have given it to Tahoe (?) ski museum who would have appreciated it more.

Also above I mention that Gene Rose was working on a book about the snow survey. The good news is there's a manuscript in the editing process. Not sure of the publishing date but it's looking far more hopeful. He writes a history of the snow survey in the Sierra starting in the late 1800s when Reno was looking at the Sierra as a source of water and flooding that occurred there. Transects were established by Frank Church around Tahoe to help predict runoff. When published, I'll post here. Gene's done an incredible job of writing books about otherwise obscure parts of Sierra history. This ought to be great.

PS: @Hobbes: Please tell me you went in and got all your cache buckets? They are really a pain for b/c rangers to haul out... .

[Gogd]

@ gdurkee :
Based on your two discoveries, it seems you were intentionally searching for these caches. Must have been awesome to know you recovered artifacts related to this history. Was your retracing of Orland's route done as a thru ski trek, or in stages?

Yea, hoisting the cashes up into trees, as was Bartholomew's method, or over precipices as we did, was intended to bear proof the stashes. Wiring the lids to the cans varmint proofed the contents from weasels, birds, etc. You asked @ Hobbes if he retrieved cache buckets from the backcountry; I think your comments were intended for me, however, as the quoted reference in your latest post is from a one of my prior posts to this thread. The answer to your concern is yes, we did extract the cans. I know what you mean by the effort it took to deal with the cache cans. Placing each can required at least two people, due to the remote locations and haul weight. The typical full can gross weight was just over 100 pounds, providing one week of food and fuel for six individuals. Extracting the cans was somewhat less arduous, but they still weighed close to 50 pounds gross, including surplus supplies and trash left with the cans.

Ed

[gdurkee]

Ed: Hi. The Crabtree cache I found by random walking. I was the ranger there for a total of 6 seasons or so over 35 years. Just happened to look up in a tree at the middle meadow and there it was! There was a note inside identifying it as Orland's: flour, cocoa, can of butter, sugar -- can't remember what else. I'd already read Gene's book but never thought to look for his cache. In fact, looking at the book later there's a photo of him with a burro and two garbage cans right at that meadow.

Afterwards I did, though, search for and find the campsite location a photo shows in the book.He's amongst a copse of whitebark with his tent strung up on a tree. There's an axe in a log in front. When I found the camp you could see the branches he'd used to prop up the tent as well as the fire ring and mark from the axe. Very cool!

The Dusy cache I did specifically look for because one of the group who did his original route gave me Orland's diary that they'd gotten from his son. I'm pretty suspicious they must have shown it to someone else because I'd heard someone from Bishop had found it just before I got there.

Another piece of local Dusy history: Orland's cache there would have been within a short distance of where David Steeves camped for a few days after he bailed out of his T-33 in May of 1957. There's another outstanding Sierra story. He broke his ankle, hobbled down to Simpson Meadow, survived for a total of 54 days and was "found" by packers as he was hiking out over Granite Pass (too much snow until then). A truly amazing story that quickly tmired in controversy. Accusations he sold aircraft to Russians and other BS. The plane still hasn't been found but the canopy was found a few years after he died by Boy Scouts on the west side of LeConte Canyon.

I also looked for the Tyndall cache but found no sign of it. Weirdly, though, one year in the 90s, there was a galvanized garbage can right on the trail descending Wallace Creek to the Kern. No idea how it got there. It would have been a few miles from where his cache would have been so maybe unrelated but -- a garbage can?! And people were actually putting garbage it it!! Of course they were... .

I've never skied the whole route though been in from Horseshoe to Tyndall a number of times as well as Dusy to Baxter and also Kearsarge area ski trip but never crossed either Glen or Forester.

OK. Very glad you got those caches out! Every year -- especially at Kearsarge and LeConte/Dusy, we'd take out well over 100 lbs of junked caches -- often not even used.

[Silky Smooth]

Boy ohh boy how this post made me smile! Yours too Ed. You guys touch on sooo many wonderful things Its funny no one ever thought to ask the question or look. Sometimes the discovery leads to a great adventure like yours George. The sierra is still hiding a lot of secrets from adventures from the past. i've heard of a few noteworthy caches but nothing as exciting as this. I'll say it again boy ohh boy how this makes me smile

Blackout and I pack out everything we find, trash wise. Found a ski pole in twenty lakes basin basin by rae lakes once, a rope stashed in a tree. Other than that trash from bear cans in the backcountry, lots of random crap, usually at the people places. But i do enjoy seeing native artifacts and obsidian scattered throughout the eastern passes. We leave them be, a blessing for someone else to see.

When we did our trans sierra trip, it was the year Trauma and Pepper did their winter PCT, we saw their ski tracks at crabtree. The only other signs of life we saw in over a week besides a snow hare. It was inspiring to see and we wrote messages in the snow for maybe another adventurer to see or maybe they just melted away.

So how was the hot cocoa, was it better back in the day than the modern stuff? Lots of activity up Tyndal/Willi the last 4 years, who knows maybe someone will stumble upon it. Makes me want to look, wont lie. Fun history and fun adventures, thanks for sharing gentlemen.

[gdurkee]

Happy to report the cocoa was excellent. It was pure cocoa powder and intended to be mixed with sugar and powdered or canned milk (he had both in the cache). Five of us had met on the east side of Colby Pass with a view of Whitney, mixed the cocoa, and drank to his incredible trip. I later brought some to Gene and we had another sip in Orland's honor.

And, absolutely, there's a huge amount of stuff out there as evidence of human occupation and activity. Native American obsidian, camps (dark "midden" soil), and rock work. I've found several blinds near narrow gullies and passes. One of the archeologists found a blind at a pass and ~150' out from the blind, he found arrowheads -- the distance someone would shoot an arrow at sheep or deer coming over the pass (in this case likely Bighorn Sheep). There's several passes that have large Native American camps nearby and obsidian flakes everywhere. The NA's on the west side traded for obsidian and salt with the east side NAs. Both in Yosemite (at Tuolumne) and on the west side near these passes, arrowheads and camps have been dated to as much as 7,000 years ago.

Finding NA stuff brings their life in the high Sierra to a real appreciation of how they lived day to day and season to season, making them human rather than some sterile account of artifacts in a book. The camps are especially cool to show that. They had the same sense of aesthetics many of us have: they usually choose incredible views! There’s a camp up above Nevada Fall near a small creek and a large slab of a dozen mortar holes with a view of 3 waterfalls.

I kept my own location database of artifacts I’d find – leaving them in place of course. I’d rarely turn them in to NPS or tell them anything (some exceptions) but too often the really interesting artifacts get boxed up and put in a basement collection. They’re no longer “alive” and part of the (can I say this?) soul of the terrain. Yes, a chance that another less respectful person might come along and grab them but the former just seemed worse to me.

Then there’s the assorted post Euro-American stuff. A button off a US Cavalry coat; another ranger told me of finding a rotted gun under a rock; assorted graves; old and abandoned trails. Anyway, lots of fun stuff out there. Oh, and can dumps. Jeez, decades of cans and garbage stuffed under boulders and buried in pits through the 60s. Rangers spent the next 30 years finding and sending them out by helicopter and mule. You still find a few but most are gone.

The Great Mystery I referred to earlier is the missing T-33 jet from 1957. It’s hard – but not impossible – to believe that with tens of thousands of hikers, backcountry rangers, NPS researchers, mountaineers, large area searches, fires that have crews on them, a zillion helicopter flights to support all that and, other than the canopy, there’s no trace of the aircraft. There’s a group of “wreck chasers” who get in contact occasionally with ideas and have even made attempts to model known flight characteristics, bearing, speed etc. but no luck. Also, having talked to them often over the last 15 years or so, there’s an unfortunate barrier between how I understand and explain terrain and how they do. In any event, no joy.

Oh, I forgot: his parachute and helmet were found by rangers the next year in Dusy Basin. So that gave a rough bearing of his aircraft from canopy to parachute & camp.

A couple of authors have gathered information over the years intending to write a book about Steeves but both have gone on to other projects.

Anyway, in addition to mere lakes and streams and silence, there’s also lots of great history out there. But you guys know that… .

[Harlen]

I also looked for the Tyndall cache but found no sign of it. Weirdly, though, one year in the 90s, there was a galvanized garbage can right on the trail descending Wallace Creek to the Kern. No idea how it got there. It would have been a few miles from where his cache would have been so maybe unrelated but -- a garbage can?! And people were actually putting garbage it it!! Of course they were... .

!! Thanks for that gdurkee.

I've carried some heinous weighty objects out, but might have balked at a trashcan-- especially a full one! Now Silkysmooth would been thrilled to find it and haul it! Good for you Silk.
As for caches, back in the day, I was advised to use tight-lidded "pickle buckets,." and to bury them deep in high talus fields. Left one such successfully, and yes, I hauled it back out. And re, arrow points, and flakes-- I've left them all.

p.s. Thanks Hobbes for starting this wonderful post... and Hobbes, where ARE you?