Mariposa Alert!

[tgtaylor]

Latest from the trail:

Just did Silver Pass three days ago [Thursday]. Pass had about 150 yards of snow and about 50' steep with good boot tracks. Great glissade for NoBos. Crossing at the waterfall is easy wade or you can make it rock hopping with good balance. Just after that (SoBo) there is a crossing flowing fast over the trail. Spur trails leads about 200 feet downstream to slower flow crossing. Need to feel for deep holes with your poles because you can't see the bottom (bubbles in the water from fast flow above). I crossed about 24" deep without falling in any of the holes at noon. It didn't seem dangerous to me and no need to divert to Goodale unless for other reasons. There were thunderstorms with lightning stricking the passes, so as always, keep your eyes on the weather when doing a pass. Should also not be dangerous as long as you are safe and don't try to race a storm.

Thomas

[Drew Wiley]

Wow! The Silver Divide is my old backyard. I had two first ascents up there, and innumerable other misadventures. Hard to imagine there were still several live glaciers up there when I was a kid. Hope you got some nice shots. Last time I was there was maybe six years ago, but I got pinned down in a blizzard for four days, and got only two shots.

[Drew Wiley]

Oh, just noticed your earlier post... The Muir Trail Ranch was founded by a "next door neighbor" (five miles away with quite a hill and cliff in between. Then it was inherited by the daughters I went to school with. I sold my ranch a few years ago in anticipation of endless catch-up repairs here on the coast. Anyway, during their teen years, those two gals would disappear on horseback into the high country entire summers at a time, living off their fishing poles.

[Preston]

Just thought I would add a note here about Sonora Pass. Lon and I had a great time this past weekend! Saturday was very smoky due a fire near Eureka Valley, but a big T-storm cell came through late in the day and dumped about 2 inches of rain in a hour that cleared out the smoke.

Sunday and Monday were beautiful with some cloudiness and T-storm activity East of the crest out near the Sweetwater Range. The amount of water in the creeks was amazing given it is August, and there are still decent snow patches on the peaks. Right now, the lupine and corn lilies are plentiful and very beautiful in the meadows above 9,000 feet. We did not see any bug killed trees, since the trees up there are lodgepole, western juniper, whitebark pine, and red fir.

If you have an itch to see the high country without the crowds of Tioga, Sonora Pass will fill the bill in spades.
--P

[tgtaylor]

If you will be on the Eastern Sierra this weekend, you may want to check out Bodie Day at Bodie State Park: http://www.bodiefoundation.org/friends-of-bodie-day/

Thomas

[John Kasaian]

FWIW the Mariposa Fair is Sept 1,2,3 & 4th. IIRC they've really good Indian Fry Bread(taco,) if you're into that.

[Drew Wiley]

I tweaked my back pretty good shoveling concrete on a cold day (it's barely 50 here right now). So I've got less than a month to get used to a heavy pack again. The camera gear gets packed last, so if I have to, I'll resort to the "nuclear option" and carry a 6x9 Rf, but would prefer a view camera. I've only taken one trip in the high country in the last 35yrs with MF gear, but do use it quite a bit for dayhiking and quickie road shots. There are quite a few spots in NV i'd like to spend more time with, particularly with the 8x10, incl some of the new Natl Monuments before they potentially get dismembered by the usual suspects. Once they let in ATV's and other off-roaders, it won't be long till a lot of the pictographs and petroglyphs get pock-marked with bullet holes and vandalized with spray paint. That was possible before, of course; but now these are heavily publicized places due to all the controversy. Alas, my truck AC is still not fixed.

[John Kasaian]

Drew, if I see you at the Mariposa Fair, I'll buy lunch---( Indian fry bread)

[Vaughn]

Just did a quick overnight hike in the redwoods. Just took the Rolleicord. Nice to get out and away!

[Drew Wiley]

I'm staying around here all month. Lots of projects and need to work out with heavy packs again getting ready for the high country. Printed some Nikon and 6X9 shots today, taken over the past ten days pampering my back. Won't be much eclipse visibility here - lots of fog lately.