August 31, 2002 Upper Sally Keyes Lake 36º-63º @VLC 37.27506, -118.87703 <- previous day | following day -> Commenced this morning at 8:10; got to Muir Trial Ranch by 11:30 after a rather steep descent. I could feel the warm humidity of the lower elevation. We opened the gate and went into the ranch. I’d read several…
August 30, 2002 Quail Meadows to Upper Sally Keyes Lake 34º-60º @VLC <- previous day | following day -> We ended up going 14.8 miles today; started at 7:50 and finished about 6:00 p.m. About a 4,000′ gain according to Todd. The guidebooks indicated a difficult ascent up Bear Valley, but it seemed pretty easy. That…
<- previous day | following day -> August 29, 2002 Silver Pass Creek to Lake Edison and Vermillion Valley Resort 45º—71º @MHP The next morning, I had an excellent breakfast at the cafe. While sipping coffee, planning the next leg of the trip, and reading week-old Fresno newspapers (desperately seeking but with great futility finding little…
<- previous day | following day -> August 28, 2002 Silver Pass Creek to Lake Edison and Vermillion Valley Resort 45º—71º @MHP A day off Very strange thing happened last night. Heard some very loud, sharp booms. Explosions. Two around midnight, one a bit later. I first thought it must be lightning/thunder near by, but the…
<- previous day | following day -> August 27, 2002 Purple Lake to Silver Pass Creek 45º—72º @MHP Left Purple Lake around 8:10 a.m. On the way out, passing another tent, a young man out in front of his tent was barely awake. He asksed if I had seen the bear last night. No, I told…
<- previous day | following day -> August 26, 2002 Red’s Meadow to Purple Lake 42º—74º @MHP Breakfast at Red’s Meadow Cafe around 7:00 a.m. was not bad; much better than the steak the previous night. At breakfast, Todd came in and we chatted a bit. After breakfast, we decided to find the trail head together,…
<- previous day | following day -> Civilization, briefly Left Rosalie Lake around 8:00 a.m. After a slight ascent, the trail was all downhill to Red’s Meadow. Very dusty. In fact, dusty in a choking, sticky messy way. But anyway, I reached Devil’s Postpile National Monument at around 11:15 a.m. A ranger was giving a talk…
<- previous day | following day -> I had figured it would be 14.9 miles if I wanted to make Red’s Meadow today, and I really knew I wouldn’t make it. So I had spent a good deal of time with the guide book and map figuring out potential campsites without significant bear problems. The…
August 23, 2002 Lyell Canyon to Twin Lakes near Island Pass 27º—63º @TUM <-previous day | following day -> Well, I awoke having not been eaten by a bear, or a marmot. After breakfast I had a bit of a time finding the trail again; had to bushwhack a bit and find a good fallen…
| following day -> Getting there I departed Austin around noon on a Friday in August. I had with me my gear, a reservation for both a motel in Bishop, California and a campground in Yosemite National Park, and a wilderness permit secured several months before which was supposed to enable me to stroll from…