Sierrapaloosa 2003

“and well when i left them at Bearpaw Meadow yesterday. what a swell bunch of folks. i'm bummed that i missed you 5-dayers, but i couldn't get out of the gate until Sunday morning. i found the 7-D's at Big Arroyo Junction around noon on Tuesday and camped with them for 2 nights, somewhere in BA on Tuesday night and at Upper Hamilton on Wednesday night. i had no real interest in slogging up Timber Gap and my car was at Crescent Meadow, so i gave in to homesickness and trotted all the way out yesterday. i'm heading off to my mom's house to pick up my baby! i took a ton of photos, like everybody else, and will post them once i get them developed to CD. awesome times & awesome people. except for that Naviguesser - he sucks! ;)”

“Glad to hear you made it Fritz, tell us about Whitney!”

“Still haven't had time to look at the pictures, but will do so this evening since I'll be by a fast computer.

Picked up my pack to weigh it for the Yosemite trip I'm heading out for -- and I caught my Sierrapalooza-damaged toe nail on the pack. Guess that toe nail's gone for awhile.

Got my Bearikade. Boy, are those guys fast and friendly. It's just like the Snow's that they had on the trip. It weighs so little that at first I thought they shipped me an empty box! Good I got it, 'cause this trip is 7 days and without Jerry to carry the tent.”

“I was going to ask if Shawn was our Arizona Shawn--he is :) Loved everyone's pictures-- especially the water ones--it is so hot and DRY here. MP”

“Shawn=RocketMan

That boy can MOTOR! :)”

“Wind Walker really, really tried to get me to badmouth you, but all I had to say was good stuff.

Honest, I did.

:)”

“Wannabp-Where ya going in Yosemite? Hope you have a great time.

Great pics everybody! Looks like everyone had a good time!”

“7 dayers are out!
a grand time had by all..
details to follow!!
Mrs. Navi”

“Thanks for the report Mrs Navi!!!”

“I added captions and a topo map to my webshots pictures.

Pictures


I'm glad to hear that everyone is out safely.”

“Hi Everyone!!

The 'seven dayers' have all returned safely, and departed from the Best Western in Three Rivers....

JVZ left early this morning to get Aussie and Big Poppa back to the airport in Sac. Navi, Trekkin Girl, Phil and Lady Hiker drove up to Yosemite and Tommy's waiting for their return. Hikerchic and I brought Rockman back to Stockton, and are planning to hook up with JVZ, Pepperdog, and Lady Hiker tonight for dinner

A fantastic trip for all !! Spectacular scenery and perfect weather. There was lots of photo taking and I'm anxious to see them all, and share mine, when I get home to Vancouver

Glad to hear you 'five dayers' all made it through safely. It was terrific meeting you all, upat Columbine.

Gotta run.... I'm sure the others will all be checking in soon

Fantastic Trip !! Thanks for the effort Navi. And thanks to all of the TTers up and down the coast, that have made this road trip such a great time so far!!”

“It was nice to meet you too Hodgeman!”

“12:21 a.m. Just got home from the most scenic backpacking trip ever. Gotta get up at 4:00 a.m. to take a relative to the airport so I can't say much now. Thanks to everyone for a fabulous time and especially Navi for all his work to coordinate the 7-day group. Nice meeting the 5-dayers and tarbubble as well.

It was fun taking Trekkngirl and ladyhiker to Yosemite today even if it was only quick trip to the valley.”

“Thur.
Picked Trekngirl up at the airport.
Fri.
Drove up to the mountains with Phil, Tommy, & T-girl met some people from TT.
Sat.
Walked uphill and camped with some nice people from TT.
Sun.
Went over a pass and camped with some pleasant people from TT.
Mon.
Walked around in the woods and camped with some excellent people from TT.
Tue.
Walked downhill and camped with some unrivaled people from TT.
Wed.
Walked over a pass, by a lake and camped with some great people from TT.
Thur.
Walked around for awhile camped under some big trees with some magnificent people from TT.
Fri.
Walked back to my car and spent the night with people from TT I now call worthy friends.
Sat.
Drove some people to Yosemite. Then went home.”

“Nice trip report there, Navi. Could it be any shorter?”

“awesome times & awesome people. except for that Naviguesser - he sucks! ;)"
tarbubblebaby
11:07:08 AM
07/11/03

Dang kids!”

“I seem to be getting a lot of credit for this trip.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

BUT!
Those people up north did a WHOLE lot more.
Pepper coordinated picking up 2 people from the airport (I did it for 1) and the driving in of 6 people (I did it for 2) including international and interstate travelers (Hodge, I think there is a law here against taking an unmarried woman across state lines!) and didn't get to go on the trip!
Folks, I think I know where the thanks really should go.
Yeah PEPPER!”

“Tree, I think I covered the IMPORTANT parts! :)”

“Did you make any new friends....
you know the buzzing/flying kind.”

“No, I had DEET.”

“Navi is too modest. He was the consummate leader by making things happen without a lot of fanfare. Everyone is grateful. The fact that everyone on the trip was helpful, kind, and funloving made for a great time.

Tuesday's trek over Sawtooth Pass was one of the most memorable parts of the trip for me. Me and my stupid, heavy external frame pack slogged up over sand and rock 1400 ft. to the pass. Then down thru snow fields and over rocks to Columbine Lake where we got to spend a few minutes with the 5-day group. What a thrill to meet like that. I fell more times that day than I have in the last 4 years combined. The last time I post-holed in the snow I ended up dragging my pack down the snow field to the base. I wish I had discovered that at the beginning...much easier away to get down.

Each day had a major highlight that, in itself, would have made the whole trip worthwhile. Precipice Lake has always been a dream of mine. It was neat to just sit at the edge of the lake for an hour and look at it. The snow all around added another dimension of beauty.

The views of Big Arroyo from Kaweah Gap and Hamilton Lake were other pleasant surprises. Just awesome.

Sleeping under the Giant Sequoias was another thrill.

Great people on this trip as in the past. Everyone seemed to bond well and have fun together. Tarbubble's visit for a few days was an added bonus. I really enjoyed her company and gregarious nature. The tortilla feast was a nice touch.

In summary, this was the most demanding week-plus hike I have ever been on, but the most scenic. Everyone was great.

My thanks to:

Naviguesser
Tommy
Trekkngirl
ladyhiker
hikerchik
aussie
BigPoppa
Thick Energy
Hodgeman
Rockman
jvz
tarbubble

You guys rock!”

“aw shucks, Phil, i'm blushing. it was wonderful to meet you as well. i'd suspected you were a sweetheart and i was absolutely right. i had a fabulous time with you ALL, and i heard that you met Will & India again at Redwood and took good care of them after they'd had a rough day over Black Rock. i thought to myself "of course they took care of them, those Sierrapaloozers are just that kind of people." i look forward to everybody's pictures and will try to get mine up soon, although it's a BUSY week for me. kisses to everybody!!”

“Just got home from the greatest trip ever.The beauty in this trip is beyond words.Ever step,every turn,every gorge,every lake,every gap,every mountain top had a special view I will always remember.I am in awe from what I saw...Many,many thanks to you Navi for making this trip possible for me.Great meeting new and known TT'ers..Can't wait til the next PALOOZA!! :~ )”

“Hi Team -

Just got a minute to check in. I made the drive from Stockton to Portland today, and with the help of weekend traffic, it took a grueling 11 hours. Alpine welcomed me with dinner at a local pub, and a short driving tour around town. Thankfully, I wasn't driving.

Tomorrow I'll make my way home to Vancouver. I'm hoping to connect with Aussie in Seattle for lunch, on the way through..... and of course stop at REI”

“What a great trip with the best of backpackers ever known. It was great to do the passing high fives with the up hill five day lot. Thanks to Navi for a trip that really sucked 8). Way up North Hodgeman! Have a safe finish.”

“This trip rocked the casbah. I didn't think that it was possible for a dozen people, most of whom had never met each other before, to go backpacking for a week and get along so marvelously.

The scenery was AWESOME. The people were AWESOME. Phil's snoring was AWESOME. ;) Even that Canadian guy wasn't so bad. ;)

I wanna Palooza again.”

“jvz, I have your giant blue tarp. I have to pass by your way in about a month or so if you'd like me to drop it off.

bigpoppa, I have your buckle. I can mail it to you if you want to email me your address.”

“If you're passing thru do you have time for a meal(spork???) The fridge seems to need a cleanin. The tarp is in good hands. If you're close I'll plan to be home but if not we'll just plan a Pinnacles day hike come fall.”

“I went looking for the list of who was on the five day and its gone from the "trips" page. Can some one of you post your group? Snow???? I think I can remember all the faces I just need handles.Thanks.”

“It is quite something to see what everyone got from the outing. That's part of it too. Your experience. It only ends when you want it to.

You see, what we choose to do with our time is what we will look back on. And what others see. It's the substance that inspires you. It serves as the foundation for which we take on new endeavors.

It has been said, "Nature in the highest degree belongs to those who love it the most."”

“5-day Crew:

Fritz
Shiprunner
Shawn
Windwalker
Josh
Nathan
WannaBP
Landscaper
Wingding
Snow Nymph
Snow Dude
tekdude”

“I'm working on my photo journal...I'm up to little five lakes now ;)

”

“Glad to hear the trip was a sucess! Beautiful pictures WingdingO!!!”

“Thanks Tekdude. Great pictures wingding. I can't get my head out of the clouds (even though there never were any). The trip rocked and rocked and is still rockin. Missed you lots Pepperdog.”

“Thickenergy,

Send my your email. I would like that buckle back. EClajus@GCCC.com

What a great time I had. I agree with Thickenergy on how marvelous that 12 strangers came together and none of us had a problem with the other. I never saw a frown or heard a complaint. "Can't we all just get along?" Yes we can!

I will be scanning some photo soon and sending them your way.

My vocabulary is not strong enough to describe the beauty that I saw the past week.”

“I'd like to thank Navi for putting together such a great trip. And thanks also to pepper for picking me up at the airport (even if I'm not a blonde), Hodge for driving us to the trailhead and jvz for getting BigPoppa and myself back to the airport so early. ;-)

I consider myself fortunate to have my next TT trip coming up in less than two weeks - Rocky Mountain National Park.

This is truly a great community and I'm grateful to Hodge for pointing me to this website.”

“That one goes on the wall WindW.

Glad all the 7 day folks made it out and had a good time.

What's next?”

“I'm glad I could be involved, if only vicariously. Ladyhiker breezed through my home on Saturday night with a ton of veggies. She commandeered my kitchen and threw together a great "Greek/Californian" salad. We stayed up late drinking wine and trying to look at pictures first on my computer then my tv and finally had to resort to looking at the led screen on her camera. Awsome photos. Wish I could have been there. It was great meeting Big Poppa (I haven't tried the "chili" yet!), lady hiker and that stunning blond, Aussie. Good seeing Mr Hodgeman again, too.”

“I wish, I wish, I wish...If I keep on wishin...maybe it'll come true next year...”

“Wonderland!

(maybe)”

“It was cool to meet the 7-dayers. Really wish we had more time together.

Truth is, we passed each other when I was at a physical and emotional low...blisters, fatigue, and concerns about getting too much sun--with no shade in sight around Columbine. I am usually slightly more charming than I was that day. :)”

“As the 7-dayers know, on the last night of our trek an ember popped out of the fire (while Navi was burning his shirt, I suspect!) and it burned a nickel sized hole through my Thermarester and into my prized Thermarest LE.

Dr. Hodgeman assisted and encouraged me in performing reconstructive surgery using the Thermarest Repair kit. We set up an operating room and the remaining 7-dayers became the gallery.

Sadly, the thermarest pad did not hold air that night and I ended up with the equivalent of a thin ensolite pad.

Anyway, after putting the Thermarest pad in a tub today I found there had been a second burn area (less than 1/4 in. diameter) about 1 inch from the bottom edge of the pad. We missed detecting it because it did not burn completely through the pad and I did not see it before I removed the Thermarester cover from the pad. The burn just damaged the coating...no hole all the way through. It should be repairable with minor surgery.

Thanks again to Dr. Hodgeman for helping me with the repair!

Moral of the story: If you sit around the campfire with your thermarester chair, be warned you could get a burn hole. If you are not occupying it, move it farther away until you return. Also, if someone is burning their clothes after a week on the trail...STAND BACK! lol”

“You're on, Fritz! Wonderland Trail! Next fall?”

“Sign me up!!”

“Ladyhiker, did you lose a corkscrew?”

“Help, I'm in topo-shock! Columgine Lake and Sawtooth Pass Monday morning, Phoenix @ 114 degrees Tues-Friday, Mt. Humphreys Sunday, downtown DC Sunday night till Friday. Then southern CA again Sunday/Monday. Somehow it just doesn't seem real.”

“Shawn, come on up for dinner one of these nights. I'm only 3 hours from DC. :)”

“I finally made it home late this afternoon. I hit Seattle right at noon, so I stopped by Aussie's office. Thanks for lunch and the tour Aussie.

And thanks again to Pepperdog, Alpine, Hikerchic and China Chas for being such gracious hosts. You all made this road trip a ton of fun!! It was great to see you all again.

Hey Navi - I think that's my corkscrew

Phil - I'm glad you've got that Therma-rest injury under control. That was really too bad that it let you down that night, after such a valliant effort in the O.R.”

“Glad you made it home okay Hodgeman.. Real cool meeting you..AWESOME TRIP, EH!! :~ )”