High Sierra Topix

Harlen wrote:rightstar writes:
Giantbrookie, that sounds like an awesome trip, both for area, and for the solitude. John, it sounds as though you enjoy quiet trips just like us; do you reckon there's a more sure way to arrange these sort of trips.... small, smokey fires strategically placed right where we want to go, then rightstar warns everyone off, et voila, solitude!
There's probably a regulation against this sort of thing though.

I forgot to mention the fire smoke factor for my experience. On the trip I mentioned (6 days no people) there was an enormous fire burning in Seki. At one point when climbing over the pass N of Lion Lake (forgot name of this pass) the smoke pall blotted out the sun and dropped the temp so much I put on a lightweight jacket while ascending (had been pouring sweat not long before that). When we crested and looked south we saw the dark teeth of the Kaweahs with this brown sky above them----looked just like Mordor, which is why we called this trip Mordor I. We returned the next year to go to Pickett Creek, Kaweah Basin, Red Spur lakes etc. for "Mordor II" but encountered no smoke on that one, only round-the-clock thundershowers.

There was another oddball trip when I went up Rush Creek during Labor Day weekend (late 80's), I think, and there was nobody there. Yes there was smoke in the air, but the big reason is that 120 had been shutdown by a huge fire near Groveland (which was giving us the smoky air to the east), so a lot of folks were cut off from reaching the east side.