Sierra Nevada

Saturday, 13 Aug

Sierra Nevada

Great sunset. Lots of clouds to give it color. The blazing reds and oranges contrasted against the intense blue sky. A little later, the elk were bellowing in the woods in teh hills, and now the coyotes are making a lot of noise as twilight turns to night. One coyote is really close. It sounds almost like it's laughing.

The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range in the western United states. The northern end is a little north of Lake Tahoe in California, and it runs 400 miles south, gradually gaining elevation, passing spectacular regions such as the Lake Tahoe region, Yosemite, Sierra Crest, Kings Canyon, and Sequoai national park. It ends just beyond Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the continental United States with an elevation of 14496 feet. The range is about 70 miles wide.

The Pacific Crest trail (PCT) is a long range hiking trail (about 2600 miles in length) that stretches fromthe mexican border to the canadian border. It passes through the length of the Sierra Nevada. The route is mostly through national forest and protected wilderness areas. 100s of people hike the length of it every summer.

My girlfriend and I went into town for supplies yesterday. Somebody in town mentioned to me that they were driving down to San Francisco in a few days. I knew that at some point, their route would take them across the PCT. The PCT is a hike I have wanted to do since I first heard of it, and I would be happy to hike even a segment of it. I mentioned this and asked for a ride. They generously agreed to driv e me and my pack and let me off at a PCT trail head just off Interstate 80 where it crosses the Sierra Neveda, specifically at Donner Pass near Truckee, California.

So, I have spent the rest of the day yesterday and this afternoon preparing for the trip. I plan to hike from Donner Pass (Soda Springs) down 500 or so miles of trail, summit Mt. Whitney, and hike down 20 miles to Lone Pine, CA. At Lone Pine, I will hitch a ride or take a bus back home. With a pace of 20 miles per day, it should take me 3 or 4 weeks, and I will have hiked nearly the entire length of the Sierra. If I were to run much of it (like some ultra maraton people do) I complete the trip much more quickly of course, but that speed is too fast for me to enjoy the scenery. I have plenty of time and want to absorb the sights.

So, I have finished packing and repairing my equipment. Including 3 weeks of food and 1 gal of water, my pack weighs around 70 pounds. Not horribly heavy for a month long trip and my modest pace. But I did pack some odd things like a camp stove (because of fire restrictions in some areas), infrared goggles (for hike up Half Dome I plan to do at night to avoid the notorious crowds of slow, out-of-shape people clogging the cables), fishing gear, a couple of books, a journal, a sketch book, etc. And I'm not bringing some heavy things. No tent, no camp shovel, no hatchet, no change of clothes or underpants, etc.

Also while in town, I was excited to find some poppy pods while walking. They are dry by this late in the year. Black resin has dried a few inches down the stem. They were near an abandoned building that must have been some kind of “general store” that looks to have been built more than 100 years ago. This place practically a ghost town. It has negative population growth, claims a pop of over 1000, but that is hard to believe so many live here. Anyway, I going to make tea with them. Hopefully they are still good.

My ride leaves early Monday, so I'm not sure how long before I will have access to a computer again.

 

Pods lose a bit of their punch when they dry on the stalk but since that is how they are harvested for the floral trade, ergo how all these people using them for tea buy them, you should have no proble$. I wish I could feel poppy tea haha. I'm envious about your trek. Its perhaps too late in the season for that hike but you would know much better than me. I only know from reading about Donner Pass over the years. Do you count on snow? I've actually considered doing a short one up Mt.Apo about 150 km south of me. A volcanic peak, highest in Philippines. AmaIng vistas and wildlife BUT it is also crawling with NPA and other unsavoury types. They say the main trail is hands off for the NPA but, still a concern. Still, I would love to see some snow and Apo is the only place here.

 

Sounds like a great trip! Safe journeys, and I look forward to hearing of how it went.

 

Rach: From the trip reports I have read, now is the best time of year. Last winter's snow fall in the Sierras was I think twice the normal amount. It has only now melted enough to do the hike without crampons or an ice axe. But I anticipate some walking through snow fields. Trekking poles, boots, and polarized sun glasses (for the glare) should be adequate. It is usually dry, except for an occaisonal thunderstorm this time of year as well. Snow usually doesn't fall again until around the middle of October.

Mt. Apo sounds like a great hike, except for the NPA. Hopefully things will soon calm down over there. Next time you are in the US, if you haven't already, check out someplace like Yosemite. It is one of the most spectacular spots in the US. It still has some glaciers and permanent snow fields. It is worth the trip. People from all over the world backpack and mountain climb there.

I didn't really get anyting off the pods. I used 4 of the larger ones. I was trying to figure out why this morning, checked some photos of pods, and it turns out that they look much more like papavar orientale than somniferum. But it's still really hard to tell from the pictures on this laptops dying screen.

Dave: Thanks for the support. I'm going to keep a daily? journal and hope to post some of the highlights here when I return anywhere between 2 weeks to a month.

 

If you can upload a pic of a pod (nice alliteration) I can ID it for you. One thing, the 2 types that produce morphine, Somiferum and Setigerum, have no discernible hairs on the straw. Most others have thick hairs, almost like thorns. Also, the pods of the non-morphine varieties have a pod that looks like a cup. If you look at the pod in front of you, corona on top, the top of the pod, underneath the corona, should be round. If it is flat on top it is no good.

I have not had any experience in that part of the US. Farthest West I have been is Dallas, Texas. I have only been in airports in California and Alaska.