Photos from our trips in 2011! From left to right: Red and White Mountain up the Mono Creek trailhead from Lake Edison, snow on the trail in Yosemite on the way to the Beehive in June, and a scene from the Inka Trail in Peru.
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posted Feb 18, 2012 7:29 AM by Paul Wagner
We've been aware of a group that wants to take down the dam on the Tuolumne River at Hetch-hetchy and restore that valley to it's previous state. If you've ever seen some of the photos taken before the dam was built, we're sure you were charmed by how beautiful it really was.
But we also realize that taking down that dam is a huge undertaking. In fact, today you can still see all sorts of traces of the original project to BUILD the dam nearly 100 years later. So it's hard to imagine that process not making a real mess of things.
And once the dam comes down, of course, the valley is going to take a long time to recover. We were recently at Pinecrest Lake this year, when they had drained the lake for the winter. That's a small lake, and they drain it every year, but we can only imagine what the Hetch-hetchy Valley would look like if that reservoir were drained.
So how do we feel about the whole thing? We're undecided.
It sure would be lovely to have that valley back the way it was---if that were possible.
But it sure would take a lot of time and money to make that happen, and the process would NOT be pretty.
And in the meantime, San Francisco would lose its source of drinking water at a time when the state is looking more and more like the desert it is...
We'll certainly keep following the issue. |
posted Feb 14, 2012 8:44 AM by Paul Wagner
Today we celebrate the day for lovers, and it's time to declare our love for the most wonderful woman in the world.
Through almost 35 years she has joined me on the journey through good times and lean times, always with a smile on her face, and always looking better than you can imagine.
Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie! |
posted Feb 8, 2012 8:42 PM by Paul Wagner
P's been doing a lot of traveling these days, back and forth to the East Coast just about every week. He flies so much that he pretty much gets to sit wherever he wants on the plane.
Like many frequent fliers, he's usually partial to aisle seats, where there is just a bit more room, and it's easier to get in and out. But lately he's taken to requesting a window seat. When the skies are clear, there is just too much to see as the plane soars over the Sierra Nevada.
Today he flew back from JFK and the place flew directly over the John Muir Wilderness. First Mono Lake came into view, and then the whole panorama of this section of the Sierra: Banner and Ritter, the huge canyon of the San Joaquin, the Clark Range and Isberg and Post Peak Pass. Since we had just hiked this area a few months ago, the geography was all fresh in his mind. And there are other places to explore as well.
Further to the north you could see Half Dome and El Capitan, Tuolumne Meadows, and the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, Cherry Lake and Lake Eleanor.
Quite a view.
The snow level seems to be at about 7,000 feet or so, and there were plenty of nice destinations that were calling.
Unfortunately, there are airplanes and business trips that are calling as well. We won't get into the mountains this weekend.
sigh. |
posted Feb 3, 2012 3:28 PM by Paul Wagner
Yes, we're still in the middle of winter, but that hasn't kept us from thinking about the trips we'd like to take this summer. And we've even got a few ideas for this spring.
But spring hiking is always an adventure. The weather can be crazy, and we usually get out on the trails well before the trail crews do. That means lots of downed trees and obstacles to negotiate. In fact, last year there was so much snow that we had some of those problems on our trip over Fourth of July weekend!
At one point we just decided that we weren't going to fight our way through another huge section of avalanche damage. You can see some of the worst of it in the photo at right...about 200 yards of dead trees that covered up any semblance of a trail... and on one side was a steep icy slope of snow, and the other was massive blocks of talus.
But that didn't keep us from having a pretty good time on the trip, and seeing some awfully beautiful country. And we caught some nice fish.
Let's see. Where is that map again? |
posted Jan 31, 2012 12:26 PM by Paul Wagner
A local magazine liked our story about the hike we took to the top of Mt. St. Helena that they asked us to write it up for publication. Which is what we did.
And our article is on page 56! |
posted Jan 28, 2012 7:05 AM by Paul Wagner
P has an old joke that he often told our kids when they were younger. He would announce that we were approaching Fishhook. "What's that?" they would ask. "It's the end of the line," he would announce.
And they would groan.
But there are times on the trail when it is important to recognize when you are at Fishhook. We once climbed up to the top of Chilnualna Falls in Yosemite in the winter. The trail was covered in snow, but we were fine until we got to with about 100 feet of seeing the top of the falls. Because at this point the trail had three feet of powdery snow on it, and followed a narrow ledge along a 500 foot drop. And we couldn't exactly see where the trail actually went. We poked our feet around in the snow for a minute or two and decided that we were at Fishhook. The benefits of seeing the top of the falls just didn't justify the risks of having one of us slip off that ledge.
(You can get an idea of the terrain in the photo at right. And yes, if we'd had hiking poles, or climbing ropes, the decision might have been different. We didn't.)
So we turned around.
What brings this to mind is our recent trip up Fairview Dome in Yosemite. It's steep, and the wind was howling. And because it was January, it was cold. And so we decided that it didn't really matter that we weren't going all the way to the top. As a friend told P many years ago: "Summits are all in the mind."
We've stopped our hike or changed our route many times because of swollen creeks, time of day, or icy or overhanging snow. And we have never once regretted it.
When we hear of people getting rescued off mountains, we usually don't admire their courage or their adventuring spirits. We dp find ourselves questioning their judgment, and wondering why they didn't turn around when it made sense to do so.
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posted Jan 21, 2012 11:38 AM by Paul Wagner
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updated Jan 21, 2012 11:39 AM
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If you've read these pages before, you know that we are big fans of getting off the trail from time to time and exploring beyond the sometimes all-too-well traveled trails of the Sierra Nevada. Sometimes the trails are quite elaborate, as this intersection in the Ansel Adams Wilderness shows at right.
Some of our favorite trips and destinations in the Sierra have involved pulling out a map and a compass and charting a course that leaves the existing trail system behind.
But that doesn't mean we think that YOU should go off trail. You shouldn't, at least in these instances:
1. If there is an existing trail through an area, please use it to minimize damage caused by too many people in the same part of the wilderness. As we say in our section on Leave No Trace: "It’s also a bad idea to cut through switchbacks on the trail. It may seem easier to you, but this creates erosion paths that eat away the trail and ruin it for everyone else. We think anyone who cuts a switchback on a trail should spend a day rebuilding a trail as punishment. It’s very hard work. And it would be so nice if those trail crews could spend all of their time repairing natural damage to the trails and building new ones, without having to spend their days fixing what some idiots broke."
2. Some parts of the Sierra are clearly marked as habitat restoration areas, and have signs asking people to please stay off the lawn, meadows, stream banks or campsites. The National Park Service and the US Forest Service do this to try to give the most heavily impacted areas a chance to recover. If they don't protect these areas, they frequently expand into vast wastelands of bare earth that has been pounded flat, devoid of plant or animal life. That's not what we want in our National Parks. So obey the signs, please.
3. If you don't know how to navigate with map and compass, or a GPS, there's a good chance that you will get lost, and then somebody else will have to come find you. That's embarrassing to you at best, and if they find you after you have died, it's even worse. This is particularly true if you are hiking alone. A recent news story told of a solo hiker in the Northeast who fell and broke his leg. Unable to move, he eventually froze to death before anyone found him.
So why does this all come to mind? Well, partly because of the story about the lost hiker. But also because this last weekend we took a hike up into the domes of Yosemite. We had a great time, and spent most of that time off trail. Only when we returned did we figure out, with the help of some people who are smarter than we are, that we didn't hike to Mariuolumne Dome at all, but the southern face of Fairview Dome. Somehow, in the depths of the forest and with limited visibility, we turned off the trail too soon. Ooops.
Now by one definition, we were definitely lost. We were certainly NOT where we thought we were. At the same time, we knew exactly where we were--because we knew how to get back to our car without a second thought. We knew where we were in relationship to where we needed to go next. On a short day hike, not an issue. If it had been in the middle of a nine-day cross country expedition, it could have been quite serious.  Which may have led to us being a little careless in the navigation department. Or not.
And then when we returned to the parking area of Pothole Dome, we found all sorts of people completely ignoring the signs that were trying to protect the meadows there. The official trail goes around the outside of the meadow, and maybe adds another 1/4 mile to the hike each way. And yet almost everyone was hiking straight across the meadow, even stepping over the ropes that the Park Service had set up to keep people out.
And yes, the meadows were looking much the worse for wear. hmmph. P tried to convince a couple of people to stay on the trail. He was unsuccessful.
And yes, that's Mariuolumne Dome in the photo above. No, not the one in the foreground. That's Fairview Dome--the one we were on. Mariuolumne is the one in the center of the photo. The one we thought we were on. grin.
For an amusing version of this same story, see our humor section here:
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posted Jan 19, 2012 8:16 AM by Paul Wagner
You may have read about the snowshoeing hiker who was rescued off Mt. Rainier recently. He was an expert leading a group of less experipenced people on the hike, and then he slid down a slope and was separated from the group. And two days later he was found alive and healthy.
But what we absolutely loved was his comment about the whole ordeal. "He says even with the occasional brush with death - it beats golf. 'Golf is too stressful. Hard on the mind. You get angry. Stress no good!'"
Well exactly!
Here's the whole story, from Channel 5 in Seattle.
by ERIC WILKINSON / KING 5 News
KING5.com
Posted on January 17, 2012 at 5:38 PM
Updated Tuesday, Jan 17 at 10:07 PM
TACOMA, Wash. -- A steady stream of visitors flow through Yong Chun Kim's Tacoma home. They come to make sure he's okay, after an ordeal that has them shaken - but not him.
"I wasn't scared," he said in broken English. "No. It's okay."
On Saturday, Mr. Kim led a group of friends on a snowshoeing trek on Mount Rainier when he fell 150 yards down a steep slope in whiteout conditions. As he tried to rejoin the group, he fell again, this time getting buried over his head in snow.
"I thought, I no want to die. But I know I will be okay," he said.
Kim, 66, is an experienced outdoorsman, but he only had the bare essentials with him on the day hike. Among them, a lighter that he used to burn his socks and scarf, along with some tree branches for warmth. By Sunday, with no sign of help on the way, he burned the only thing he could spare -- his money. It was only $6, a five and a one.
"I don't care. I have money at home," he laughed. "I had to make it home!"
Kim hunkered down beneath a tree, sat and waited.
By late Sunday, Kim's family members admit they had nearly lost all hope -- but not him. Kim stayed warm by marching in place and singing old time gospel - "Amazing Grace" - in Korean.
When search crews finally found him, some 50 hours later, Kim asked his rescuers to snap a few pictures of his latest adventure. They show him smiling as if nothing had ever gone wrong.
"They are pretty darn good," he said. "I am so thankful for them."
Kim was in such good shape paramedics didn't even send him to the hospital to be checked out.
With a song in his heart and a fire in his belly, Kim plans to return to Rainier as soon as possible, just as he has done almost every weekend for the past 10 years. He says even with the occasional brush with death - it beats golf.
"Golf is too stressful. Hard on the mind. You get angry. Stress no good!"
Kim says at the insistence of his family he will take this weekend off, but there is something about that mountain that keeps calling him back.
"It takes me close to God," he said. |
posted Jan 17, 2012 8:36 AM by Paul Wagner
There are many wonderful highways in the Sierra, and we are not about to try and pick a favorite. (Highway 89 as it meaders through Lassen National Park might get our vote...but we are not voting!)
But we do have a favorite highway when it comes to the place names that line the route.
Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Highway 108 to Sonora Pass: visiting Sonora, Twain Harte, Mi-Wuk, Sugar Pine, Long Barn, Strawberry, Sierra Village, Pinecrest, Dardanelles, Kennedy Meadows and finally Sonora Pass.
That's a great bunch of names, and each one sounds like it should have at least a short story written about it. The Dardanelles are in our photo at right.
And just off the road you will find Tuttlesville, Columbia, Tuolumne City, and the ever memorable Soulsbyville.
Sure, the Sierra is full of wonderful names, from Coarsegold and Rough and Ready to Angels Camp and Copperopolis. And some of our all-time favorites, like Hangtown and Humbug, are now sadly changed to more respectable things like Placerville and Columbia.
But can you think of another highway that has so many great names along it?
All Aboard! Next stop, Mi-Wuk! |
posted Jan 16, 2012 9:35 PM by Paul Wagner
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updated Jan 16, 2012 9:36 PM
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With the three-day weekend and still no snow in the Sierra, we made tracks for Yosemite for one last adventure before the snows come.
So Sunday found us in Tuolumne Meadows in bright sunshine and temperatures that were just about freezing. We parked at the Pothole Dome parking lot and strapped on a day pack. The route was a cross country trek to Mariuolumne Dome and, with luck, up to the top of the dome. The silly name comes from the fact that the top of this dome lies exactly on the border between Mariposa and Tuolumne counties.
hoo boy.
The first half mile was up a cold and snowy slope to intersect the John Muir Trail to Cathedral Lakes. That worked perfectly, and the snow was so cold and dry that even though we were crunching through about six inches, our feet never got even slighty damp. Once on the JMT, we hiked for about a mile until that trail began to turn more southerly---at which point we broke off and headed due West towards that big white granite blob in front of us. Here the sun had melted those early snows away, and much of the route was on bare ground.
Mariuolumne Dome is one of a whole family of huge granite domes in this area, and after only a few minutes, we found ourselves at the southern end of the dome right at treeline. These domes are famous for rock climbing routes, but we were hoping to walk up the more gently sloping southern spine of Mariuolumne.
That spine also turned out to be windline! 
Because while we were in the forest, the icy wind that had sprung up didn't seem too bad. But once we were out on the exposed granite spine of the dome, it was blowing like crazy. In fact, it was blowing so hard that we decided to call off our attempt to sneak up to the top of the dome. It was steep, and would have taken considerable concentration to climb--particulary since we didn't have any ropes.
That's the view from the ridge, looking west at Mt. Hoffman.
Our rule is that we will climb almost anything as long as we don't need our hands to get up. That way we are pretty sure we'll also be able to get down. And that was true of Mariuolume Dome--except that the wind was blowing so hard that we didn't even try to get all the way up. We stopped part-way up the ridge, snapped a couple of photos, and carefully worked our way back down.
The dome will be there next time. And we have all of our fingers and toes. And our noses, which were positively frozen.
The trail back down was yet another adventure, as much of the trail had turned to very slick ice. First M slipped and fell, and then P did the same. By the time we left the JMT we had a total of seven pratfalls between the two of us. Luckily, no real damage to anything except our pride.
Once back at the car, we walked over to Pothole Dome and walked up onto the top of it instead. The wind was fierce here too, but the exposure was a bit easier, and we snapped more photos, llike the one below of Unicorn Peak from Pothole Dome. Done for the day, wewandered back to the car, turned on the heater full blast, and starting driving for home. 
And the good news is that it looks as if the snows will come, indeed, later this week.
We do need the water! |
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