The West Coast Clan in the High Sierra!

“Don't forget,Sir Naviguesser, trekkngirl was in the tent down the hall..lol

Does anyone have any negatives of this trip they might could spare?
I am having trouble down loading any of your digital prints. : (

I am very desperate...”

“trekkngirl - you have mail”

“http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=viewall&albumID=165397764
Here's my input finaly. Not much after all these great pictures the rest of you have posted. Great job WW keep it up. Great trip reports Trail Angel. Is the lawn mowed yet Gonzo. I finally got to mine too.”

“That link address will only work for you JVZ....you need to get out of the edit mode before you copy the address ;)”

“I miss the fun times we had on the trail and in camp. Great pictures everyone is posting.

Question:
I am thinking about getting a different water filter. My choices are the Katadyn Hiker or Sweetwater. Which one would I be better off buying?

Hope to see many familiar faces on the Ansel Adams hike in september.”

“WOW.”

“WOW.”

“Hi all,

trakkngirl: I have a great shot of you at Lammark Col! I have doubles that I don't know what to do with. If you want them I would happily mail them to you :) e-mail me your address

cubfan: being a new (and stoked) user of the sweetwater, I would say go for that one. Even though it took me forever to filter my water, it wasn't the pump! The sweetwater is very easy to use, fast, and light! The slowness came from my tendancy to always drift off listening to the water and not paying attention to pumping :)

Phil, gonzo, and WW: I'm finally home in little ol' Watsonville and now I'm really feeling the 'miss everyone and Sierras'! You're right gonzo, the pics and report make it much easier!

Here ya go everyone - Day 3

DAY 3 (Tuesday, 7/13/04)

**SUMMARY: On to Unnamed Lake, where a wedding ring and frogs (not fish) co-existed for a few hours.**

The days elevation gain and lateral distance was not going to be extreme, so the group took their time in the morning, except for a few early birds, like trekkngirl (you're awesome girl). Everyone seemed somewhat alleviated by the short distance, but it still wasn't easy. Again, we all congregated on a granite face overlooking the valley, only now we could see the drainage we hiked down from the day before and some of the Big Pete meadows. Hodgeman and trail angel took a little jaunt up the more elevated granite face and enjoyed a spectacular view of the valley and mountains beyond, which from below could not be seen. After a few naps on the rock and lunch, the trek continued on in small groups.

The Unnamed Lake looked so inviting to the first group that they decided to take off their boots and test the water. Cubfan, wind walker, trail angel, Phils son, geologyguy, and Phil decided to wade around in the chilling water and try to catch the frogs sunning themselves on the rocks. Thanks to wind walker, one little frog found out very fast that jumping onto bellies was not a smart thing. Geologyguy had the guts to practice full-on emersion (crazy guy!). Well, it turns out that cold water has shrinking effects on other portions of the male body and poor Geologyguy's wedding ring slipped right off his cold finger as he dunked down into the lake. A little bewildered and somewhat alarmed Geologyguy told the water waders what had happened. Some trekkers took to physically helping and others took to mental support or jest, all seemed fitting at the initial loss.

As the day progressed and more TTers came into camp, Geology guy continued to stand on a rock, just into the waters edge, waiting for a 'glimmer' of hope, and Phils son and jvz practiced their fishing techniques on ghost fish (no fish seemed to exist in this lake). Trail angel and Hodgeman discussed a route to hike up to the Unnamed Lake above the newly renamed Wedding Ring Lake, just over the ridge line to the North. After attemping to gather a group to hike up, trail angel was finally joined by Gonzo and together they began the accent. When they made it to the ridge overlooking Wedding Ring Lake, the trekkers below (now the size of mountain ants) belted out a whoop and holler that was answered by a wave from the ridge-top warriors.

Dinner commenced as the warriors descended and a miracle was birthed when Geologyguy actually saw the 'glimmer' of hope in the water below and he reached down and was reunited with his gold band. Gonzo and trail angel were warmly welcomed back into camp with smiles, questions, and hummus and crackers donated by Phil. Light grew dim, wind walker waited for the alpine glow, and soon it was time to turn in for the night.”

“WOW, What a trip!”

“Yeah, the ring part was not very fun!! LOL”

“TA - Another great installment! More! More! Hey, did you see your photo page yet?

geologyguy - so glad you found your ring. Did I tell you I woke up then next morning with my ring finger empty? Found it in my sleeping bag. Weird, huh?”

“geology guy....i have to believe that it could have been quite a bit less fun had you not found that ring!!

trail angel....another great installment in the saga of the sierrapaloozers....keep 'em coming!!”

“Ok, geez! Do I even want to show my pics after seeing some of these? I don't think so! Nah! I will.

Still don't have my pc working yet. Possibly I'll have the pics and the pc up & running by this weekend. I'm on my work pc now.

Ok, I now have printed three days worth of the trip report and should remember to read it at lunch today. I'll guess I'll get some work done since I am at work. :)

Hey gonzo! How ya doing? It was great meeting you, geology guy, cubfan, trail angle, Matt the webmaster, and David!

And it was great seeing the hikers I met last year. Are we becoming a family? I think we are! Everyone say it together...aaahhh! :) Miss you guys!”

“Great trip reports!! Looking forward to more installments!! Physically, I'm back at work... Mentally, I'm still in the Sierras! Sooooo hard to let go of such a great time!”

“trail angel, great reports! We did all that? I don't remember. Was I there? :)

I forgot to add to my last post, Great pics everyone! And windwalker.....need I say more? Wow!

I still haven't gone into the website that hodge put up. Maybe I can in a few minutes. Supposed to be working. =:o”

“Trail Angel - Did you get my reply email about the trip report?”

“Finallly got the first of my photos up

Hodgeman Webshots”

“nice pictures Hodgeman and good trip report trail angel. Looks like I missed a good one. I am looking forward to the rest of the trip report and pictures”

“Great pics, Hodgeman. Looks like you guys got plenty of wildflowers! Great!”

“WOW....I gotta get down there! Sign me up for next year....”

“Nice pics, Hodgeman. I like the one of Kelli rock...cool shot.”

“Great report trail angel..BTW you got mail. : )”

“Great pics Hodge!”

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the TR and all the photos...you guys rock!

Anybody have a link to JVZ's webshot account? the one he posted wouldn't work for me.”

“I backed into jvz's webshots album. Here is the link to his pics”

“Wind Walker - Nice b&w pics!”

“Thanks Phil I'm playing with a new Photshop plugin that I bought
Fred Miranda's "BW Workflow Pro".”

“WW - Cool!! A b&w of the hut is a perfect application. I sort of expect John Muir to be in the picture with us!
”

“Sorry about the missing link Wind Walker. I don't understand why you want to see my pics anyway 8). This page is rolling along great keep em comming.”

“My legs are peeling.
Well, half anyway.
The left side, because of the hike down from Muir Pass.

This sucks! It keeps taking me back there.”

“Hey Navi, my left leg is peeling too! You have mail!”

“DAY 4 (Wednesday, 7/14/04)

**SUMMARY: On to Evolution Lake through Muir Pass. The long day spawned unseen sights such as Muir Hut, Evolution Valley, and a strobing camp fire.**

An early start was recommended and just about everyone packed out of Wedding Ring Lake before too late. The scenery grew barren compared to the lush meadows, but that didn't decrease the love of the continuous beauty that everyone reflected upon. Patches of snow were present again and there was rumor that one of the trekkers borrowed a trash bag and slid down a hollowed, holey patch of snow with onlookers collecting photographic evidence.

After stopping briefly at Helena Lake the front group continued onto Muir Hut and lollygagged with the homeless traveling sheep inside. Before long, the entire group had made it up to the stone Hut and once again a small band of scramblers including Hodgeman, Geologyguy, cubfan, and trail angel gained extra elevation along the southwest side of Muir Pass, in hopes to catch a glance of Inyo Basin (is that right?) from a nearby saddle. When the scramblers reached their comfort level on top of one of the visible ridges from the Hut, Inyo Basin was still out of sight, yet broader views were gained and Hodgeman reached another new personal best. Group pictures were snapped in front of the Hut before we all began our long decent to Evolution Lake. The group started to spread across the empty vastness of the basins North of Muir Pass and soon smaller groups split from the trekking herd and rested at altering points along the way. Finally, after more breathtaking lakes, flowers, peaks, and falls... and aching feet, backs, and shoulders... the outlet of Evolution Lake was reached.

Tents were set, baths taken, water filtered, and dinner began with the number one question of "what's for dinner?". As the sun fell lower into the Western sky some climbed to the top of the rocks overlooking Evolution Valley and snapped shots of the orange atmosphere. When the sun had completely dissapeared for the night a few TTers decided to join naviguesser in his norm and sleep under the stars, but not before joining the group in the kitchen for an evening lit by the glorious glow of the orange LED strobe, provided by Rockman. A dissapointing glow stick dud was happily replaced by the flashing LED as our 100% legal camp fire.”

“Good try Rookie! Inyo Basin = Ionian Basin. :)

Nice addition to the report, TA.”

“Nice report! Thanks for not mentioning all the fish that go away.”

“Hey Hodgester, great pics! Hey Trail Angel, great report! Hey God, great mountains! Great, great, grrrrrreat stuff!”

“Another great day! Thanks Trail Angel!!

Rockman... I'm impressed!! Your knowledge of where you were going certainly improved from the trailhead!”

“LOL! LadyHiker”

“Great report, TA! Wish I had time to write like that! Looking forward to the rest of it!”

“I still gotta get my photos up..”

“Hi all! Once again, I'm glad you all are enjoying these...note to snow nymph...I know, you're right, it's all about the time (I got lucky this time around, it's like summer vacation!). Cool pic WW and thanks for the rookie correction rockman, I knew it was Ionian, just testing you :)

DAY 5 (Thursday, 7/15/04)

**SUMMARY: On to Darwin Canyon. The beginning of off trail confusion, crystal clear tarns, fish to feed the starving mass, and humorous questions and answers around the redesigned campfire.**

For some, the morning at Evolution Lake began with a short climb to watch the sun rise (Gonza and Ladyhiker03). For others, the usual cup of tea or coffee, some solid calories, and packing. There wasn't much to todays hike as far as distance, just a bit of elevation gain into the outlet of Darwin Canyon. As we dipped down into Evolution Valley along the John Muir Trail, the decent was cut short when the group found the off trail path heading back up through magnificent water falls. The usual speed demons, Rockman, Matt the webmaster, Geologyguy, cubfan, Hodgeman, and wind walker floated up the ascent, while the "flower smellers" for the day (wannabp, landscaper, naviquesser, and trail angel) brought up the rear.

Confusion set in as the small groups neared the first lake to Darwin Canyon. "To take the high trail or not to take the high trail, that is the question!". Rockman, fittingly so, chose to skirt the south side of the lake, rock hoping, and geology guy was the only group member who took the low trail around the north side of the lake after some friendly trekker advise. All the others, despite radioed advice, took the high trail which eventually led back down into the outlet of the second Darwin Canyon lake (where we camped that night). The high trail made for a beautiful "look where you've been, look where you're going", view down the basin and canyon. Camping locations were somewhat sparce, but everyone found their place to bed down for the night and then took to the lakes. Some fished, some watched, many nutritionally profited from a very exciting and plentiful evening of fishing. Jvz, rockman, Phil, and Phils son all dipped their lures into the lakes and all of them pulled in a number of colorful fish. Phil and Phils son were the only two that held onto many of their catch, so the group could later enjoy them after they were cleaned and fried. Yum!

During the span of dinner, wind walker was spotted sitting on a rock high above the group to the North. He was happily enjoying the sunshine when Rockman decided to join him with a temping offer to climb up the rest of the North face. Noticing their elevated progress, trail angel quickly grabbed her water and scrabbled up the rocks in hopes to catch the crazy climbers before they got too far up the mountain face. After encountering some scree, rocks, and grassy tufts the three made it to the ridge line and stepped out to check on the rest of the group below. Cheering was heard from the miniaturized group below and the small band of three celebrated with photos. The three explored the ridge and flat basin-like area, then eventually decided to hop rocks down another route further up Darwin Canyon. The sky was begining to dim when the climbers returned and soon a new electronic fire place was started. This time however, more lights, more color, and a sheer orange poncho combined to make the campfire. As half the groups faces standing closest to the fake flames glowed orange, a couple of group questions were asked and around we went with the answers. The first question that made it all the way around the glowing ring was "what was your worst summer job?". Many answers were pretty horrific and some were to be expected. The biggest rise from the crowd came when Rockman answered the question, that his worst summer job (but enjoyable) was dressing up as Mr. Chuck E. Cheese himself at one of the Chuck E. Cheese pizza restuarants. Geologyguy was not far behind on the group scale with his summer job as a human sized, cartoon cacti. The next question was "what is the stupidist injury you've ever incurred?". Once again, some answers made your toes curl because they were so painful, but others were hilarious stories resulting in minor injuries. One that was brought up more than once (not just within our camp LED ring), was LadyHiker03's famous arm brake in the Grand Canyon (we love your gabbing and laughing LadyHiker03, you go girl!).

After question and answer, thoughts and realizations of the next days strenous hike beckoned us to our sleeping bags for one last night in the backcountry.”

“Studs!!!”

“SHUDD-UP, Mr. CACTUS KONG!!!!”

“Trail Angle ;) yeah I know but somebody had to spell it wrong
might as well be me !

Rockman and I had already disccussed the probability of you joining us... if you noticed us moving upward and just a few moments latter...we could see you heading our way! Glad you did it was fun :)”

“Your rock scramblers rocked!!!

Speaking of fish (photo by Rockman)
”