To Continue the Story

in another location

Overwhelmed

I took a final backpack trip with some friends. It was mellow and fun and gorgeous. The trail followed the Tuolumne River.
I had to hike in my Tevas. When I got to the trailhead I realized that I had forgotten to put my insoles in my hiking boots. I had nasty blisters from Hetch Hetchy, so rather than risk more, I opted for a six-mile sandal hike. It wasn't bad; I was just filthy.
Out of focus, but wanted to give an idea of how dirty the bottoms of one's feet get, also.
These are the falls near Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp, where we stayed.

Mt. Conness at sunset

Spirea
LeConte Falls
And, I managed to injure myself once more, this time on a balance board I liked to play on at the house. The backcountry proved to be much less dangerous than civilization.
The drive back was hot and nerve-wracking; I was worried about my car not making it. Other than the "Check Engine" light coming on and the speedometer not working for about 20 minutes, it went smoothly. I crossed my fingers and hoped the car would make it over Grapevine (Tejon Pass) without the radiator exploding, and then was warmly welcomed by this:
Aaah ... traffic. How I have not missed ye. Los Angeles seems huge and crowded and - I am overwhelmed, shell-shocked.

On a positive note, my husband reports that coyotes have visited our backyard several times this week. Not the same as the black bear we saw crossing the road right down from our house in Groveland, but still pretty cool.

The Promised Bear Photos

These are the photos I promised in the Tentless entry. Thanks to Sage for taking the photos.

Black Bear. The cub is on the snag to the right, at the very top.
Black Bear. The cub is turned around in this photo.
The cub isn't visible here.

Hetch Hetchy

This last trip was gorgeous and a challenge. We had to drive down a long winding road for 24 miles until we got to our trailhead. (Insert car breakdown here. I won’t bore you with the details, but as a result we got started on the trail six hours after we had planned.)

It started at Lake Eleanor, a dammed lake up in Hetch Hetchy.

View of a part of Lake Eleanor from a ways up the trail

This was the first time I had gotten to go to that area of the park. It is more wild (i.e., much less traveled) than the other areas of the park. It also feels different … I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Perhaps I will by the end of this post. We had planned on doing nine miles and we did get that finished before the sun went down. Right about 7:30 p.m. we arrived at Laurel Lake, where we were meeting up with two other people in our group. We had time for a swim in the warm water of the lake. It was weird because it stayed shallow far out into the lake, and there was this weird muddy scum that you stirred up when you walked out in the water. It was fun to wade in, and nice to have a bath. We had hiked mostly uphill the whole way, and I was a sweaty mess. Oh – it had also thunderstormed while we were driving back in to the trailhead, so we were fortunate to miss that, and then had cloudy skies and muggy air for the hike. The cloudy skies were a good thing; the muggy air was weird. It looked like it was clearing up after dinner, so Bob and Melanie and I (this time I was with two other people because we had to survey two large sites) discussed and decided we would sleep out without the tarp over us. So, sticking to my tentless ways, I settled down for a cozy night’s sleep in the open air. I looked up at the stars as I went to sleep. At some point in the middle of the night I remember waking up and noticing that the stars were gone. I didn’t really think much about this until a few hours later when the loud “pluonks!” I was hearing in my dream clearly made themselves out to be raindrops hitting my groundsheet. Bob and I were up in a flash and grabbed the tarp. We started running around with our headlamps, looking for sticks to set it up. Thankfully Bob is skilled in these things; I hadn’t a clue. After a few minutes, I realized Melanie was still sound asleep, even though she was sleeping right next to us. I remembered her telling me she was a really sound sleeper, so tried the direct approach and said, “Mel, get up! It’s raining! Throw your stuff under the tarp." It got set up quickly (no thanks to me) and we all fell back to sleep. I'm glad we didn’t have to get up at 4:00 a.m. to start a survey. It was about 3:45 when we got to fall back to sleep under the dryness of the tarp.

The next day we hiked ten miles through some gorgeous country – again all mostly uphill, but with gentle elevation gain. We arrived at our camp and had time to bathe in a beautiful pool of the stream where we camped.

We slept on a white sand beach that was on the shore.

As we were falling asleep, bats come out and then the stars did, too. I could see the Milky Way.The only problem with any of this is that we were not under cover of trees, so all the dew settled on our bags/sleeping pads/clothes. This was a bummer when I got up at 4:00 a.m. and had to figure out what to do with a wet bag, which I had to haul back across the creek before I went to survey.

The survey was fine, except for the mosquitoes. These were the worst I had experienced all this summer, but still not as bad as last year. I had to put on my head net.

Guess who? From my survey site.

After getting up at 4:00 and doing the survey, we returned to camp at 9:00 and then had to pack up and hike out. We started to hike around 9:30 a.m., and were going to do all 19 miles in one day. We took a few breaks and had lunch, but mainly just hauled ass all the way through. After about 12 miles my feet hurt; there is nothing to be done about that in my experience. What I didn’t realize is that I was getting some nasty blisters and on the side of my heel. This is a new one for me. I didn’t know you could get blisters there. When we arrived at the car at about 5:00, two others were waiting for us, and we stuffed our five smelly bodies in a car meant for no more than four people. We opened all the windows.

More pictures of Hetch Hetchy

Now, I’m wrapping things up – entering data into a computer spreadsheet, and returning the equipment and helping our crew leader clean up the house a bit.

I went banding with the MAPS crew yesterday morning and got these great photos of some handsome birds. I handled a few more myself, but wanted to stop after I managed to let three go before I was finished processing them. This led to some teasing from everyone, but they insisted on letting me do more. They are very nice.

Williamson’s Sapsucker/Male & Female
For a while, scientists thought they were two separate species because they look so different.

Juvenile Red-Breasted Sapsucker
S/he came out of the bag with constant squawking. We had an adult at the same time that was also carrying on. It was quite the ruckus.

Orange-Crowned Warbler

Audubon’s Warbler

Western Tanager

Days Off

It seems I’m becoming a bit of a kayaker hag (I've since been told that the term is "shuttle bunny." I have to say that I prefer mine. No one should ever call me a bunny, or I'd have to dropkick him.) They put a car where they finish their run, and then it saves them a lot of time to have someone drop them off at the put-in and run that car back to a central location. Since I wasn’t planning on doing anything on Saturday and it was ungodly hot (probably 99 or so), I volunteered to drive the shuttle car again. This means I get to drive down to the South Fork of the Tuolumne River and get in and cool off. It is a very chilly river, so a few minutes will do. It is beautiful to hang out there.

I watch the rafting trips leave and other kayakers come and go. After Bob and his fellow kayakers set off I hung out to wait for two other kayakers that were coming off a Class V run – Cherry Creek - from up the river (Bob’s put-in was their end point). I hung out and read and got in the water for an hour and a half. I then drove with these kayakers up to the main road. I dropped them off at their cars and shuttled the Jeep back to our house, where Bob and his two kayakers would eventually show up. All in all, it is a relaxing way to spend a day. Bob and I then played a lot of cribbage and drank beer. We were sitting on the porch doing this when I heard a lip-smacking noise. I stood up to investigate and scared off a deer that had been snacking on a small tree right next to the house.

Yesterday I had the place to myself. Everyone was off on trips, so after driving to Sonora to do laundry I decided to embark on my own adventure. I was going to drive the whole way to Mono Lake, but got pooped out at Tuolumne Meadows. I took myself on a hike to Young Lakes, which was gorgeous. I think it was about 13 miles round-trip and worth every moment.

Lupine on the trail to Young Lakes. High Sierra peaks in the background:

Ragged Peak

This is how dirty my legs got from trail dust:

I got back around 7:00 p.m. and had a huge dinner. I didn’t really take lunch with me because my original plan was to drive to Lee Vining and have some fish tacos there, so I was woefully unprepared with food for the hike. I survived just fine, though, and rewarded myself with a massive chicken-potato-asparagus-salad-white-wine feast.

Tentless

I went back to the Glacier Point Road area of the park, and did a second survey of several of the sites I visited last time. All sites need to be visited twice. My partner was Sage, who is an amazing outdoorswoman. I have a lot of respect for her. She is one of the handful of people on the crew who sleep without a tent; she just throws down a ground sheet, her sleeping pad and sleeping bag and – voila! – there’s home. I decided I would try that this time as some kind of interesting, crazy experiment. So, first night out we find a nice granite outcrop in the middle of some dense forest and set up camp on some pine needles. It’s interesting how, especially when I’m not in a tent, I like to sleep high up or in areas where I have a clear view – I want to be able to see what’s coming. At first, we both thought we were going to be sleeping in the dense forest (filled with a lot of bear scat, mind you) and that made neither of us comfortable. The granite outcrop was found with a bit of relief. We got there in time to set up camp, eat and then read for a bit while chasing away the mosquitoes. The main problem with not having a tent is that if the mosquitoes are bad, you have to either deal with it or wear a head net. They weren’t too bad. All told, it was about a half hour of swatting them away before it got cold enough and they went away on their own. I have to say that I certainly didn’t feel like I slept any worse than usual that night. When you sleep out in the open like that, you tend to sleep right next to each other also (when I’m in a tent I’ve noticed that people will often spread out more). As a result, I think I felt safe, huddled in our group of two. Plus, I’m convinced Sage could kick any bear’s ass. The worst thing was the moon – it was so bright! I kept having to pull my bag down over my eyes because I felt like I was being blinded.

The next day we went our separate ways. We were given three sites to do over two days, but we decided to do them all in one day. Sage took the one bigger site (which was beautiful – I wanted her to see it), and I took the two small ones that were less inspiring and involved a hike in between them which I had done before. All were off trail navigating with a compass and map – something which I am now comfortable with. Nothing exciting happened that morning for me. Now, when I hear a large branch snap in the woods, I start talking loudly because I know it’s a bear. That usually sends them off, often without seeing them. I did see a lot of nice birds. I got back to camp about 9:30 a.m. and waited for Sage. We figured she would be longer than me. She showed up about 11:00 a.m. with a great story. She was walking out of her site and heard a HUGE racket ahead of her. Much to her delight, she spotted a black bear up a tree ripping the crap out of it. She stood there for a bit and got several pictures. I will post these once I get them from her. She also noticed that there was a cub in an adjacent tree, hanging out. Very cool.

Sage and I hiked back out to Bridalveil Creek Campground, where another four members of our team were staying, hoping maybe maybe we would be able to loaf a day since we got done early. No such luck. Bob recruited us to go down to Wawona the next day and resurvey two sites down there. It was really hot (still is), so we all piled in two cars and went to a creek/waterfall outside the park and then to a movie and dinner. It was a big night out for the survey team. Unfortunately, this meant that we actually didn’t get to sleep until 11 p.m., which is really late when you get up at 4:00. We guerrilla camped in a National Forest campground just outside the park. I have a huge tarp in my leaky car trunk that was going to be used to cover it in case in rained. It has not been used for that purpose, but serves as an excellent ground tarp for group camping. I threw it out and three of us slept on it, including me keeping up my tentless policy for the third night in a row. I was starting to enjoy it. The next afternoon we all compared notes and it turns out we all heard the very loud bear that was sneaking around at who knows what time, but no one said anything in the middle of the night. He made lots of noise snapping wood.

Bob gave me a choice of which site I wanted to do the next day, and I chose Wawona because I had done South Entrance several times, and it had exhausted me. That’s the one with the major bushwhacking along a creek. Bob assigned me a portion of Wawona Meadow that I hadn’t been in before that involved finding my way through willow thickets. This meadow also has the incredibly tall dew-laden grass, which I discovered was even taller (as in, over my head) in the section I was assigned.

I couldn’t see where I was putting my feet, and the ground is very hummocky and riddled with stream and holes of water. I lost count of the amount of times I fell over. I put my left leg in a water hole up to mid-thigh, I put my right leg in over my knee. My waterproof boots eventually surrendered to the onslaught. I emerged wet, hot (I forgot my sun hat and it goes from being freezing out there to being a sauna) and exhausted. When I returned to my car everyone was waiting for me and had been for at least an hour. I’m not so sure it was any easier than South Entrance. Also, winding my way through the thicket was a little unnerving. I had a map of Bob’s plotted points, so followed those – and his footsteps from his previous visits. I scared a deer when I was back there.

Insects at Wawona - these were all over the meadow:

Sage and I told each other we were both exhausted when we returned to Bridalveil Creek Campground. We decided we would rest and then do an easier site the next morning and then go back country again the last night. This plan changed when one of three people who was supposed to hike out to Dewey Point wasn’t feeling well, so she couldn’t go. Bob needed either Sage or I to go. Sage is the kind of person who would suck it up and just go even though 1) she was exhausted and 2) she had a toe injury that was bothering her. I knew that I should be the one to volunteer to go. I mean, I was exhausted too, but I didn’t have any injuries. I left with two guys at about 5:00 p.m. We got there before sunset. Dewey Point hangs over the valley, and it is an incredible view – you can see the valley and the high country. White-Throated Swifts were flying above where we laid out our sleeping bags. We had a 180 degree view of the sky and the stars (and then that bright moon came out again). It was pretty amazing.

Up and survey the next morning, and then back out (it’s about 6 miles). We spent the rest of the day resting at Bridalveil Creek Campground. We slept out under the stars again on the blue tarp (dubbed the “swimming pool” by Bob). The next morning I had a site that had a huge burn through it.

I was excited to do this as Bob saw Black-Backed Woodpeckers there. These are a relatively rare find; they frequent burn areas. It was fascinating to see the burn, and to see how the forest regenerated itself. Unfortunately, neither I nor my partner saw the woodpeckers. Grrrrrr ... Bob couldn’t believe it and even asked (jokingly) if we had surveyed the right creek. It was a big bear day that day. I stopped to survey a point and saw a bear hauling out of the creek into the woods behind me, about 30 meters away. My partner also saw a bear at the beginning of her survey, and we both saw one in the forest across a meadow on the hike out. His ears looked so cute and fluffy, you just wanted to pet him.

We have one more survey period and then that’s it. I can’t believe it. The next one will be a very long hike up in Hetch Hetchy.

Bird Banding

I have now had the privilege of handling wild animals. I went banding with the MAPS crew on Monday and again this morning. I managed to extract my first bird from the net today, a Spotted Towhee. He kept trying to bite me (can't blame him) and defecated on me too. But, I got him out! I couldn't believe it.

Here is a better look at a Spotted Towhee in another bander's hands:
This is often what it looks like when you walk up to a net. I feel terrible seeing them like that. This is a Black-Headed Grosbeak:

Black-Headed Grosbeak unwound and in the hand:
A juvenile Anna's Hummingbird. They release these from the net immediately, and do not band them. Very cool to see.

Yellow Warbler

The beautiful, punk-rock Ash-Throated Flycatcher. He had a lot of attitude.

Red-Breasted Sapsucker

Getting him out of the net:
It's amazing to come upon a net and see the birds entangled, and then to be able to set them free and handle them. It seems vaguely mean, but the birds are very hardy creatures and often fly off with a defiant "cheep!" and a trail of poo. They are so light and seem so much smaller in the hand than when you see them through binoculars.