Eastern Sierra Nevada & White Mts -- October 2012

It will take me a while -- couple days, probably -- to get this trip report posted.
It wasn't really a photo-heavy trip for me this year, but still...maybe I'm just slow.

[Here's the official start of this trip report, where I tell it in chronological order]

So to get me off my ass, trip-reporting-wise...
...I'll jump to late in my trip, to one of the high points, not photographically or physically, but experientially for me, what I was most excited about: I saw a small herd of bighorn rams at about 13,000 feet while hiking up White Mountain Peak!
(these few photos were all taken with the camera in my phone -- I didn't bring my SLR on the hike)




OK, these following were at the literal high-point of my trip, taken at the 14,246-foot summit of White Mt. Peak.

The view north along the crest of the White Mountains. In the distance can be seen high and remote Pelissier Flats, which I'd like to explore some time.




The view east into (mostly) Nevada from the summit:




"Proof" of my summiting:




Much more to follow...mostly using photos with my "real" camera (but also a few more fone-fotos from this great hike): "to be continued" over the next day.

Great photos Mark.Sounds like all of you had a good trip.
Frank

The view north along the crest of the White Mountains. In the distance can be seen high and remote Pelissier Flats, which I'd like to explore some time.





Mr BC,is that Boundary Peak way off in the distance past Pelissier Flats?

Mr BC,is that Boundary Peak way off in the distance past Pelissier Flats?

I think so...must be. Montgomery (in CA) and then Boundary just over the border.

Nice shot from the summit Mark. That hike is on my bucket list.

marc

OK, after that easy-to-post starter, here's the official start of my trip report.

Part 1: THE BEGINNING

I drove from Bend, OR to Redding, CA midday Oct 9...not because that's the best route to the eastern Sierra, but in order to visit my parents, who live in the Redding area.
While still in south-central OR, driving down US 97 along the east shore of Upper Klamath Lake, I drove through huge flocks of flying bugs, thick enough that I stopped at a gas station on the north edge of Klamath Falls, mainly just to clear the windshield (though it turned out to be a good place to gas up, after seeing the gas prices just a few miles south in CA.)
I didn't, however, clean the front of the camper:


Oh, well...I don't care much about appearances.
(In my parents' house driveway. BTW: Those tall evergreens on the right are coast redwoods, sequoia sempervirens. Who says you need the cool-and-foggy coastal environment for them to thrive? They LOVE Redding if they're watered enough!)
I spent two nights in that land of oaks, manzanita, and poison oak (spending a couple hours during the intervening day installing a set of roof-lifting shocks on the back end of my camper...learned that the aluminum frame is not continuous on the back end...drilled several "test holes" through the camper skin ) before heading east mid-morning Oct 11 on CA 44 past Lassen N.P. and joined US 395 at Susanville.

I didn't get an alpine start on that day, so it was 4pm-ish when 395 got back into California, and I managed to suppress my usual urge to find the perfect view-spot to camp and instead settled for Sonora Bridge USFS campground, a couple miles off 395 up CA 108, for the night -- one of the very few c.g. still open in mid-October.


I always take at least one photo of my campsites, just to record the historical event, whether it's photogenic or not.
This was the ONLY cloudy-and-damp night of my trip (it rained off-and-on all night), but the clouds got a little pastel-pink at sunset, so I wasn't complaining.



The next morning, Oct 12, I decided to drive up CA 108 a few miles towards/past the USMC Mountain Warfare Training Center (MWTC) at Pickel Meadows, along the West Walker River. Despite the military presence, it's a pretty area. And it's an oasis of Verizon cellular coverage, presumably so that the Marines can update their Facebook/Twitter accounts ("OMG! my feet r so sor!").
Here's a thumbnail of a ~300° panorama I shot from the western end of the Meadow:


To see the real/full-size-ish version of this panorama, click-download here: 201210_Pano-01
Full-size should display 800 pixels high (by 7000+ wide).

A couple miles further west, the Leavitt Meadows USFS c.g. was closed for the season, as expected. I stopped at the trailhead parking lot to view the view:


River sure is low...

Heading back east on 108 (towards 395), I decided to stop at the day use area on the West Walker river, between the MWTC and Sonora Bridge c.g.
I'd noticed that my new dual-panel-in-series-240-watt solar system was not charging ...and though it was cloudy it was still light enough that there should some current flowing. Had I damaged my new charge controller by forcing too much current through it? Its capacity was rated at 10 amps, and the theoretical output of my two panels in series (at 13 volts) could be over 15 amps.... So, I spent some time in that nice spot next to the river, fiddling with my solar-charge system...and discovered that one of the Powerpole connectors was not quite seated properly, or had come loose. Yay! Nothing burnt out!
But to prevent charge-controller-over-current in the future, I had a great idea, based on the fact that I had a second identical charge controller along with me, which I already had for my first solar panel: split the output of the panels upstream of the controllers so that each 10amp controller would process just half of the current!
I had had the foresight to bring all of my tools and parts with me since I left home with a not-quite-ready-for-prime-time project. I spent a while making a neat little Powerpole-ended current splitter:


clever, eh? Well, maybe...but turns out that the charge controllers do not behave like simple analog circuit elements (thars sumpin digidle goin on inside, ah reckon!) -- the current went through either one or the other (randomly alternating between one or the other, as measured by the Watts Up meters I had downstream of each charge controller) but didn't split between them. Oh well...guess I just use one charge controller and hope that the 10amp rating has a conservative safety margin built in.
As I was putting away my project and lowering the camper roof I saw a group of guys walking up from the river with fishing gear in hand. These guys were in civilian fishing garb, but it turned out they they were Marines from the MWTC...apparently returning from a morning mission to make war on trout. One of the Marines noticed the OR plates on my truck and came over, "Where in Oregon are you from?", he asked. "Bend", I said, and he said he was from Coos Bay, and we chatted a bit. He said that guys who wintered at the MWTC didn't get much real winter training since there was so little snow...

Where next? I planned to spend Saturday/night at/with a friend who lives in Bridgeport, but for Friday night I decided to cross 395 and head up Burcham Flat road into the Sweetwater Mountains. I'd been up there before, in July of 2011, and was bound for the same nice view spot as before. But I took one wrong turn...couldn't remember exactly the route from 15 months prior, "This road seems more primitive than I remember..." and I ended up wedging my camper between a couple of aspens. Not tightly wedged, but I scraped the paint off the upper edge on one side. Sigh...
Then I back-tracked and found the right turn-off, then the next turn-off, then the next turn-off. It's a nice spot, at around 9000 feet (as I recall) as seen in this pre-sunrise photo the next morning:


There's a big view to the west and north. I shot a 360° panorama from this spot. Here's a partial/segment of that full pano, looking west at the Sierras:


And here's a link to the full 360° rotatable panorama:
201210_Pano-02
(As usual, you need QuickTime installed on your computer to view it.)
You can see Pickel Meadows and a bit of the USMC MWTC in this view if you know where to look.

...more to come...

Nice TR MBC. And I really like that last Pano, you caught some great light! Looking forward to more installments.

Great pics Mark,do you bring your cat?
Frank

I am enjoying your report. I like the idea of working on the camper alongside a river- better than in the driveway, right? X2 on the panoramas. They really give a sense of the place, and are beautiful photos too.

Part 2: Day-Tour with Bridgeport Local

I left the Sweetwaters the morning of October 13 and drove to the home of a friend who lives in Bridgeport. He's lived there about a dozen years, works for the USFS (Inyo NF), and likes to hike, so he's very familiar with the area. He was experiencing some foot/leg problems, so instead of a big hike we went on a mostly-driving tour of the area to view the fall color...and to introduce me to a few areas that I didn't know about.

We started with Upper Summer Meadows...an obvious spot to those in the know, but still worth visiting. My friend was surprised at how many people were up there photo-ing, more than he'd ever seen before there: "It's been discovered! " he bemoaned.
Even though it was midday light and it wasn't a record year for fall-foliage color, I still found plenty of times when I decided it was worth getting out of the car and snapping a few shots. Why not? A sampling...







We turned back and took the main Green Creek Rd, stopping at Dynamo Pond. I'd seen the name on the map and had driven by it more than once before, but this was one of those spots that I knew nothing about. Apparently this is the site of one-of/THE(?) first places anywhere in which electricity was generated at one spot and carried by wires to a remote spot (rather than being used next to the generator).



Having been to the same area the two previous years, I think it's true to say that this year was not one of the best for fall color in general...but in some areas it sure looks mighty-fine:





We took the turn-off to Dunderberg Road. I'd been across this connector from Green Creek to Virginia Lakes once before, but it was nice to have a guide to point out various spot where dispersed camping could be found, info to file away for another trip...or for this trip, as we'll see later.

Here's a "thumbnail" of a panorama I took near the north end of Dunderberg Road:


Here's a link to a full-size version of the same view: Pano-04
("full-size" is 800 pixels high, so if your browser doesn't show it that big, zoom in)

Near the south end of Dunderberg Rd we pulled off onto a spur that would later be a WTW rendezvous spot. From that wide-open view I saw what looked like a lot of recent early-season snow on the White Mts (as was also found on the Sierras), and I wondered if my plan to hike up White Mt Peak was going to work out.


First of all, I'd need to be able to drive to the trailhead...we'll see.

Reaching the Virginia Lakes Rd we went east back to 395, over Conway Summit, then half-way down that big drop to a turn-off to a granite-boulder-studded area called/near Rattlesnake Gulch. There are several roads there, with lots of opportunities for dispersed camping, and the road(s) lead down to the north side of Mono Lake.
Another maze of roads, but my friend knew where to go and we ended up at/near the old DeChambeau Ranch, which was deeded to public. One of the cool features here are some ponds -- apparently the result of drilling that released artesian wells/springs...something like that. Look it up. "DeChambeau Ponds", which look extra lush in that pumice-y moonscape on the rim of Mono Lake.

Tules and waterfowl...mostly coots/mud-hens at this time.

Here's a thumbnail of a panorama I shot of one of the ponds:


Here's a link to a full-size version: Pano-05


We did a hike around towards the lakeshore...not all the way, but a nice loop. Lots of interesting rocks to see if you walked with your face pointing down at the ground.

We wanted to have dinner at the Virginia Creek Settlement restaurant, but it was shockingly packed...damn fall-foliage-seeking tourists! So we dined at the mexican restaurant, Michaela's, and had a good meal.

--more to come--

Mark.loved the PANO 2.Didn't have any problems viewing it.
Frank

Nice report, Mark. I've had some good meals at Michaela's as well.
Amazing how much more snow you had than when we got down there a few days later.

Part 3: Jordan Basin

In the driving tour with my Bridgeport friend, as we drove east on the Virginia Lakes Rd, just before reaching US 395, he pointed out to me the turn-off south for Jordan Basin, a high basin/bench between the Virginia Lakes drainage and Lundy Canyon. He didn't want to head up there in his Honda Element, but he told me it's a great area -- lots of opportunities for dispersed camping -- with big views and much less-visited than the two well-known-and-heavily-visited areas that border it. Maybe less-visited because the only access road is narrow and slanted a bit and unsuitable for cars.

Sunday October 14 I left my friend's house and discovered that he was right about Jordan Basin -- very cool! I spent two nights up there. The first mile or two the two-track road has no opportunity to pass with heavy road-side shrubbery and steep side-slopes, so if you meet someone head-on somebody's gonna have to back up a ways.


This photo is after you get up into the basin proper, after the narrow-no-room-to-pass zone.

I drove around the basin, getting views to the north of the Dunderberg Rd area and to the northwest of the Virginia Lakes area...just exploring around. I remembered my friend told me that there's a spot where you can look right down, almost vertically, into Lundy Canyon, and that sounded pretty cool, so that became what I was looking for.
And I found it:


This is a thumbnail-segment of a panorama that I shot midday soon after arriving at this incredible view spot.
Here's a link to the full-size 360° rotatable panorama: Pano-06

It was a great campsite, but it took 4-low (maybe not required, but it helped) and tolerance of a paint-scratching brushy avenue to reach it.


(great-view campsite, but not perfect: trees blocked the view of Mono Lake requiring a 100-yd walk to see it all...damn vegetation! )

I watched the sunset from that spot, including the last rays on the White Mts while Mono was already in dark.




The next morning I took that long walk again to the prime view-spot I watched the dawn dawn over Mono Lake:





During that intervening day between the two night spent there I didn't do much...except that I managed to finish the installation/mounting of my solar charge controller with dual Watts Up meters: One upstream of the controller to see exactly what the dual-in-series PV panels were putting out and one downstream to see how the MPPT controller massaged the power to the voltage the battery required while converting the "extra" into more current.


The controller is mostly hidden by the two meters velcro-ed to its face. The top meter shows 1.26 amps at 38.41 volts coming from the panels and the bottom meter shows the conversion to 3.21 amps at 13.93 volts being fed to the batteries. The batteries were almost full, but if they were lower voltage the MPPT effect/benefit would be even greater.

Next morning, Oct 16, I got up pre-dawn again and shot another full-round panorama from the spectacular view-spot, of which this is a thumbnail-segment:


Here's the link to the full-size 360° panorama: Pano-08

Finishing morning photo chores I got myself organized and packed and headed down. I more-or-less went back to the pavement via the way I'd come, rather than following the rest of the Jordan Basin loop, so there's some of it that's left for exploring next time.

At this point I stopped and admired the view of fall color and Mono Lake...even uploaded a photo from my phone to Facebook! (but this one was taken with my real camera):



On down the road, down to Bishop for supplies, etc. Cheapest gas I saw was at the Paiute casino/gas station at the NW end of town.

--more to come...up next, Part 4: The White Mts--

Here's the link to the full-size 360° panorama: Pano-08


MarkBC, these panoramas are really great. For someone from the midwest, they are pretty spectacular. I am curious how you take them. Does your camera do them more or less automatically or do they require a lot of work after the fact. I like to do simple panoramas by taking multiple photos with my point and shoot and stitching them together later but these of yours are obviously of a different order. -Al

MarkBC, these panoramas are really great. For someone from the midwest, they are pretty spectacular. I am curious how you take them. Does your camera do them more or less automatically or do they require a lot of work after the fact. I like to do simple panoramas by taking multiple photos with my point and shoot and stitching them together later but these of yours are obviously of a different order. -Al

Thanks, Al.
The photos are taken manually, then special software in my computer is used to combine them. To account for the distortion inherent in mapping a curved view of the world onto a flat sensor/film and then combining several -- as many as 24 or even 36 images for a full-360° view -- the software has to do lots of calculating/matching/warping/blending. And then there's the final step of magic that joins the two ends of the strip into a rotatable movie-like thing...which is what I find most-amazing.
I use software called "Panorama Factory", which is software that does nothing but various types of panoramas. I've used it for years and am used to it...but there are other choices out there, including panorama functions as one tool in a general photo editor.

If you want to know more, send me a PM/message or e-mail and I'll talk your ear off.

========================================================================

BTW WTWers: Sorry for dragging out this trip report over days...I'm not doing it for dramatic effect -- it's just sloth.
(I wish that was the only of the Seven Deadlies in my nature...but I guess you can only die once. )

The photos are taken manually, then special software in my computer is used to combine them.


Ok, I'm familiar with that process, I just don't have either the camera or the software to get the results you do. I sometimes take video panoramas which is another way to get a sense of the whole scene. I should invest in a real camera one of these days. Anyway, I look forward to seeing more panos. Thanks.

Part 4a: White Mountains Camping

My original more-or-less motivation for visiting the east side of the Sierras again, third year in a row in October, had been to take in the fall foliage colors...but when I read reports that it doesn't look like a stellar year I realized that I didn't really care that much, that I loved the area any time and wasn't going to change my plans.

BESIDES...I'd come up with the idea that I had gotten in good enough hiking shape this summer (after a few years of fatness and/or laziness) that it would be reasonable for me to set a hike/climb up White Mountain Peak as a goal for this trip. The last time I did this hike -- the highest peak I've ever been up -- I was about 20 years younger... .

But before we can climb (or even hike) we must camp (or so this story goes), so this next installment are photos I took before my hike.

I've been in the White Mts many times over the years, and nearly all of those times I spend a night or two in Grandview Campground, preferably in good old site #22. This time I drove through the c.g. when I got up there (Oct 16), and I checked to see that site #22 was vacant -- it was, as was nearly every other site in the campground (though a couple of sites were occupied by folks who had large telescopes set up...at least, I think they were telescopes. They were covered when I went through, so they may have been anti-aircraft weapons -- not sure...).
But since I found in October 2011 the very-nice, flat, and relatively close-by spot below the radio towers near the top of the Silver Canyon Road (and because Grandview C.G. doesn't have cell coverage, so how good is it really...?) I decided to drive those last few miles to the big view spot.


This spot was a few hundred feet from where I camped in October 2011, but on this perch it has a better view. In getting my truck parked in the perfect position, if I had suddenly hit the accelerator instead of the brakes I'd have had a wild ride down the west face of the Whites -- even better than the wild ride down the Silver Cyn Rd!

My truck is point at the east side of the Sierras, and that's White Mt. Peak way off to the north.

The view west, next morning:



I shot a few 360° panoramas in the morning...round and round and round as it got lighter. I think this one turned out the best.
Thumbnail-segment:


Here's a link to the full-size 360° rotatable panorama: Pano-09

My plan was to hike up The Peak on Thursday the 18th, that date selected to maximize the amount of time for the new snow to have melted and yet give me time to get back down and meet up with WTW folks on Friday the 19th ("Part 5"). I decided that it would be best if I camped at the trailhead the night before my hike, so late-afternoon of the 17th I broke camp at the Radio Towers and drove up...and up...and up...


Love this really-cool lunar-oid landscape!


I said this last year in response to the same view, but this reminds me of the Altiplano of the Andes...though I've never been there -- yet.


I hike about half a mile to this spot to get a cell signal...and to take in this smoggy view of the Owens Valley.

I don't turn up my nose at camping-convenience, I welcome it!

Though I may hold my nose...

Morning of the hike:



--more to come...very soon--

Part 3: Jordan Basin

In the driving tour with my Bridgeport friend, as we drove east on the Virginia Lakes Rd, just before reaching US 395, he pointed out to me the turn-off south for Jordan Basin, a high basin/bench between the Virginia Lakes drainage and Lundy Canyon. He didn't want to head up there in his Honda Element, but he told me it's a great area -- lots of opportunities for dispersed camping -- with big views and much less-visited than the two well-known-and-heavily-visited areas that border it. Maybe less-visited because the only access road is narrow and slanted a bit and unsuitable for cars.

Sunday October 14 I left my friend's house and discovered that he was right about Jordan Basin -- very cool! I spent two nights up there. The first mile or two the two-track road has no opportunity to pass with heavy road-side shrubbery and steep side-slopes, so if you meet someone head-on somebody's gonna have to back up a ways.


This photo is after you get up into the basin proper, after the narrow-no-room-to-pass zone.

I drove around the basin, getting views to the north of the Dunderberg Rd area and to the northwest of the Virginia Lakes area...just exploring around. I remembered my friend told me that there's a spot where you can look right down, almost vertically, into Lundy Canyon, and that sounded pretty cool, so that became what I was looking for.
And I found it:


This is a thumbnail-segment of a panorama that I shot midday soon after arriving at this incredible view spot.
Here's a link to the full-size 360° rotatable panorama: Pano-06

It was a great campsite, but it took 4-low (maybe not required, but it helped) and tolerance of a paint-scratching brushy avenue to reach it.


(great-view campsite, but not perfect: trees blocked the view of Mono Lake requiring a 100-yd walk to see it all...damn vegetation! )

I watched the sunset from that spot, including the last rays on the White Mts while Mono was already in dark.




The next morning I took that long walk again to the prime view-spot I watched the dawn dawn over Mono Lake:





During that intervening day between the two night spent there I didn't do much...except that I managed to finish the installation/mounting of my solar charge controller with dual Watts Up meters: One upstream of the controller to see exactly what the dual-in-series PV panels were putting out and one downstream to see how the MPPT controller massaged the power to the voltage the battery required while converting the "extra" into more current.


The controller is mostly hidden by the two meters velcro-ed to its face. The top meter shows 1.26 amps at 38.41 volts coming from the panels and the bottom meter shows the conversion to 3.21 amps at 13.93 volts being fed to the batteries. The batteries were almost full, but if they were lower voltage the MPPT effect/benefit would be even greater.

Next morning, Oct 16, I got up pre-dawn again and shot another full-round panorama from the spectacular view-spot, of which this is a thumbnail-segment:


Here's the link to the full-size 360° panorama: Pano-08

Finishing morning photo chores I got myself organized and packed and headed down. I more-or-less went back to the pavement via the way I'd come, rather than following the rest of the Jordan Basin loop, so there's some of it that's left for exploring next time.

At this point I stopped and admired the view of fall color and Mono Lake...even uploaded a photo from my phone to Facebook! (but this one was taken with my real camera):



On down the road, down to Bishop for supplies, etc. Cheapest gas I saw was at the Paiute casino/gas station at the NW end of town.

--more to come...up next, Part 4: The White Mts--



Nice view Mark! Good trip>

Smoke

Part 4b: White Mountain Peak Hike

(NOTE: All these "hike" photos were taken with my Droid Bionic phone camera...wish it had optical zoom, but other than that lack, I'm satisfied with its photos...for a phone)

The last time I did this hike, the only other time, I was a lot younger and in much better shape. It's 14 miles roundtrip, and though the elevation gain is (net) just 2500 feet, it starts at almost 12,000 feet, so altitude is a factor. But, I've never experienced altitude sickness (at these altitudes), so I wasn't worried about that.


I started my hike at 8:20am, picked so that I could start after the sun was fully up (so not as cold) and yet with 9+ hours of full daylight. I brought a headlamp and extra batteries, just in case. I also brought way more warm clothes than I ended up needing. It was NOT cold and not windy.

The trail (that is, the road that you walk along as a trail) starts at about 11,700 feet. Here we go!


The road beyond the trailhead parking (or camping) is closed except to those with business at the UC Barcroft Lab, which is a couple miles further on.


Yes, closed...but is it actually locked?

NOPE!

I guess it must be locked on the honor system!

In a couple miles I arrive and pass through the Barcroft Lab.


Nice they have a sign pointing the way for lost hikers...

The roof of this quonset hut is covered with flexible solar panels!



See ya later, dude!

I was NOT pleased to see snow covering the road-trail this far down (~12,000 feet). Walking in snow would make this much harder -- probably harder than my fitness level would permit.


Fortunately, though the road/trail continued to be snow-covered right to the summit, for almost all that way the berms at the edge of the road were snow-free, so that's where I walked, mostly.



Unlike a lot of mountains where you start at the bottom and just grunt your way up, most of the distance of this hike/climb is traversing along the crest of the White Mt range before you get to the Peak proper. And like a lot of ranges, it's up and down -- flat if you're lucky. Just means that the hike back to the rig is not necessarily all down hill.

Amazing to see this delicate little flower blooming at around 12,500 feet in mid/late October!



Damn, it's still a long way up!

Rugged...almost brutal...maybe even ugly terrain:

But I like it.

I saw these guys -- and they saw me -- at around 13,000 feet:

All rams...probably gay...not that there's anything wrong with that.

During the hike I drank A LOT of water -- about 3.5 quarts on the way up. I've learned the hard way that staying well-hydrated makes a HUGE difference in how I feel when doing a long deal like this, systemically as well as to avoid muscle-cramps. And I ate regularly, too, during the hike.
So...I made it to the summit in 5 hours...which has gotta be a slow time, but I'm just glad to have done it cramp-free.

Re-posting the summit photos from the beginning of this report:

The view north along the crest of the White Mountains.



The view east into (mostly) Nevada from the summit:




"Proof" of my summiting:




I spent about 45 minutes on the summit, resting, posting to Facebook ("I made it!"), enjoying the view -- and the silence. There was NO WIND! No wind at a place that regularly experiences extreme winds. So comfortable that I didn't have to bundle up while motionless. Very nice.

My hiking food posed on the summit-register box: Ibuprofen and diet snacks...the diet that helped me shed enough weight that I could get my ass (less of it) up this hill!


The hike down was a completely different activity, of course. I can walk fast when it's easy, and this was mostly downhill, but not too steep downhill, so it went quick. What took 5 hours up took 3 hours down.

But it wasn't all downhill or even flat -- this part was uphill...

Oh well...

With the Lab back in site, I knew it was all downhill from here:



Made it back!


Earlier in the day, thinking about what I'd do when I got back to the truck I considered:

• Drive down to Bishop and get a cheap motel and eat calorie-laden food.
• Drive to Grandview Campground to save money (compared to Bishop), but still have an easy camp
• Drive to a spot near the top of Silver Cyn Rd that's flat and easy and has cell-signal so I can report to worriers that I didn't die on the descent

• But I opted for this choice: Stay and camp another night at the trailhead so that I didn't have to drive -- just eat and sleep. I felt great...tired, but great.
  

--more to come: Part 5: WTW Rendezvous/& The End--