Back from Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite Tioga Pass

[Andrew Plume]

good stuff Garrett and as usual

two neighbours of mine were intending visiting Yosemite a few weeks back, I stressed that they should avoid 'the Valley floor' AND instead travel to the higher meadows

best

andrew

[angusparker]

Looks like you had a great time in our great parks in our great state. As you mention the "Sierras", I was disappointed not see any pix from the Sierra Blanca, Sierra Madre, Sierra Negro, etc. – only pix, un-labeled, of apparently the Sierra Nevada. Nice pix – the first post seems to be all Yosemite, the second SEKI. LF efforts?

Regarding pulling your trailer, you must have been pleased with California's statewide 55 mph for all vehicles with trailers, seemingly universally ignored.

I had a first LF experience in Mineral King (SEKI) a few weeks ago. I turned around after making my last exposure of the day and found this herd of velvet antlered young-uns' moving slowly towards me. I quickly () rotated the camera, put on the 450mm, recomposed, and clicked the shutter just as the sunset backlighting left the budding aspen in the upper left. I almost never take the opportunity to shoot wildlife with any image making device, even though I am a biologist by degree, but the challenge of doing so with LF simply overcame me. Here is the scanned 5x7 (cropped 3:5) – Ilford FP4+, f22, ¼ sec., PMK Pyro. The middle deer is positively Lamarckian :

One of the (many) great benefits, from my point of view, to not living on the west side of the range (anymore), is the relative quick access to the Karakoram style Eastern Escarpment of the Sierra – a much preferred, and higher elevation way, to enter the parks, or access the true High Sierra. BTW, many visitors to the Sierra Nevada, particularly from Europe, are positively crestfallen if they do not have an encounter with our bears. Mineral King, in the fall, is an almost sure spot for that kind of experience.

Ah, the Karakoram. My best view out of a $1/a night hotel room with running hot water! Wish I was into LF back then..... Sadly only 35mm shots. Still what a breathtaking sight - reminded me of a giant organ at the back of a gothic cathedral. Won't be back in Pakistan any time soon sadly ... too dangerous now.

[Michael S]

Kings and Sequoia NPs are the best kept secrets in California, and I wish we could keep it that way. Let all the clicksters flock to Yosemite to try to be the next Ansel Adams, give me Kings/Sequoia any day.

[ROL]

During the summer, I camp on the East Side, and then take day trips up the hill to Yosemite, always turning around at Olmstead Point if I go that far.

Great minds… exactly as I do.

Kings and Sequoia NPs are the best kept secrets in California, and I wish we could keep it that way.

They are kept that way. Kings Canyon, now part of SEKI, was conceived and is maintained as a roadless backcountry wilderness park, the only one so designated in the lower 48. My favorite road sign, ever, is posted on CA 180 from the west, just at the margin of the orange groves outside Minkler, that advises the road to Kings Canyon does not cross the Sierra. If frontcountry crowds are bothersome, there's plenty of seldom and sporadically used backcountry, my favorite and highest of the entire High Sierra.

East Lake

[goamules]

My family all said they enjoyed Kings Canyon much better than Yosemite (though we really liked the Toulemne Meadows in the high country of Yosemite). Here are a few snaps of the Kings river:





Some asked if I shot wetplate there so I should confess. No, I didn't even take LF. Though I missed having a LF camera, we were so busy hiking, fishing, eating, driving....it would have been hard to work it in. I figures all these domes and trees had been shot before with LF (but maybe not wetplate!), so just shot some black and white 35mm with my Nicca rangefinder and an Elmar 50/3.5, and these colors with a Pen-F 25/4 adapted onto my Fuji X-E1.

I've got some shots here, and will load more as I get them developed: https://www.flickr.com/photos/garret...57645336832963

[ROL]

I've got some shots here, and will load more as I get them developed: https://www.flickr.com/photos/garret...57645336832963

Damn, those sugar pine cones are really tasty, ain't they? Try them roasted some time.

[goamules]

With butter and salt and pepper! Everyone likes that shot, and me washing my hair!

[ROL]

Were you in any shots? – funny I must missed that one.

FYI, I hiked from Boyden Cave down (on) the South Fork to Yucca Point once at very low water, and have kayaked the Class V - VI Kings Canyon run many times.

[Kerik Kouklis]

Winter in Yosemite Valley is magic. Fall and Spring are also very nice, but the crowds are starting to build. There is NO good reason to go to The Valley in the summer. Ugh...

All in all, sounds like a great trip!

[Drew Wiley]

ROL - have you done the Paterson Bend run on the SJ yet, or down the N Fork of the Kings thru the "Hell Hole", or the Middle Fork of the SJ? Just curious, cause
it's a fairly small fraternity that even knows about those places. Had an interesting conversation with a fellow last year who came all the way from Virginia, then
backpacked a kayak over Bishop Pass, then all the way down to Trimmer. He didn't remember much of the canyon - was too busy working the water - but it was
one heck of an adventure. I'll probably head to the Wind Rivers this Sept due to the higher forest fire risk here. But I always keep multiple options, and never finalize till the last minute. Weather changes, fires come and go. I really love the lower Kings in the early Spring. And Garrett - if you want some cheap thrills, try pulling your trailer up the road of the North Fork. Blind switchbacks on a one-lane road with five hundred foot drops, and no guard rail, are alway fun. But upriver on the South and Middle Forks, Kings Canyon is really the epitome of what a Natl Park should be. 95% of the park has zero roads (none in fact if you exempt Cedar Grove), and a significant part of that has no trails. Even a very popular spot on a main trail like Evolution Valley is relatively quiet - except for the skeeters in July!
But oh my, the alpenglow in that spot in October!