Snowshoeing Among the Giants

“I've never driven here before either but I believe its' towards 99 south. So, if you don't mind, Wanderer, you can pick me up at home. I'm close to 99 fwy, or, I can go to Songbyrds' house and you can pick us up there. Whatever is more convenient for you. Yes, we pitch in for gas of course. The earlier, the better. Pick your time. I always wake up at 4:30 am :-) Email me at - Ladymaritel@comcast.net

I am so excited to see you all again and meet the others.”

“We will be staying at the Bug Hostel on Thurs and Fri nights, trying to ski to Glacier Point during the day on Friday......... Can we connect with you guys by phone or walkie talkie and caravan Sat morning?”

“Wanna, Better stick to the radio (channel 7). No phone service in Yosemite. I will bring mine.”

“Songbyrd / Lady Marital... I always check in at the Nor Cal site, let's make sure we don't miss communications if we still want to coordinate rides. My email addy is cabackpacker@yahoo.com, send info there as I don't plan on checking in here.”

“So just ot get this straight. We will be camping out of the car at the campground and day hiking from there? I'm trying to plan if I need to bring my pack and or sled or a duffle and day pack.
Anyone have one of those small patio firepits? Wouldn't that be nice to sit around a warm fire? Of course we would have to put it on something solid. I have lots of wood.”

“I'm going to bring the sled and my backpack so I'll have all options covered. I can use my backpack as a day pack. That way, if there is an issue with the campground, we can just walk in a ways.”

“Great idea, wanna. I will do the same, just in case. I will bring my backpack and have a separate duffle bag for the car camping.”

“Wish I could go :(
You guys have a grand time!
I have been to Lodegpole Campground in winter, there was an area right off the main road that was cleared out for the most part, could have had a fire in the pit provided(guess this would depend on amount of snow there now though) Would be worth a call to the rangers up there so you don't have to haul up a fire pit. There were "no camping beyond this point" signs for the majority of the campground, only about five sites available at the beggining. I was tempted to hike in along the river to the back of the campground and break the rules, but I didn't. In the future I would do as you guys are doing, bring a sled so you can haul in some stuff and get to a better more private spot along the river toward Tokopah Falls on either side. Hopefully you can get away from the rules!”

“I'm open to either camping at the campground or snowshoeing in a ways. We can also snowshoe in a ways and camp from the Wolverton Trailhead which is between the campground and Giant Forest.

Giant Forest is about 3 miles from the campground so we'll want to drive there to begin our snowshoe jaunt on Saturday. On Sunday we can snowshoe right from the campground up to Tokopah Falls.”

“I will be staying in the explorer.

What time are you meeting on Sat.? I will probably begin the drive on Thurs but not till 7:30pm from Santa Barbara. I gotta work. So will finish driving on Sat. morn.

Debra”

“BearCrossing, you know the area best. Where do you think we should stay?

Also, from what I can tell perusing the SEKI website, we should come in on the road that leaves hwy 99 at Visalia (forgot its number) to be sure it's plowed. We'll be coming south from Midpines on Sat morning. By what time should we arrive to enjoy our hike? I'd rather not spend the day driving and setting up camp and not snowshoeing. My rule of thumb--never drive for longer than you can hike.”

“When I conceived this trip I figured staying in the campground would be the easiest after snowshoeing for 6 miles or so. We can't stay overnight in Giant Forest, so we have to either go to Wolverton or Lodgepole. Either one works for me. I don't have a sled so I don't think I'd want to go too far with a full pack to camp.

Does 9 or 10:00 work for you guys?

I hope this storm turns colder, it was raining last night at 6,000' and melting the snow :(”

“I think 10:00 works well for myself and Ladymaritel. We will be coming in together. That gives everyone enough time to plan for 10:00.
I will bring my 2 way radio and use station #7 for communication.
Bummer on the rain. Pray for snow for now and sunshine for trip date. LOL”

“10:00 it'll be then unless anyone objects...”

“BearCrossing, any idea about the altitude of the possible camp sites and trails? Dealing with daytime rain and nighttime freeze could be a bummer.......”

“The altitude will be about 6,500 for both. Tonight the snow level is supposed to drop down to 6,000' so that's good news for now. In the Sierra you pretty have to be prepared for anything!”

“I keep thinking that we could ask Snow Dancer to start dancing, but then we might get a blizzard.”

“http://www.nps.gov/seki/attntion.htm#bears

Just on the site reading that bears are active all year and that we must carry cannisters as well as not leave anything in our cars. Any comment Bear Crossing? What's your outlook on this?”

“When I think about the drive time from Midpines to SEKI, I start to doubt whether or not I really want to spend so long in a car. Yahoo says it's a 4-hour drive. It may be less, but I guess I'm just not wanting to tackle so much driving for a weekend trip, even though it's a long weekend. Earlier this year, Jerry and I had talked about skiing out to Glacier Point. I think we would relax more -- the actual reason for time away -- if we just did that rather than try to do both.”

“Both Lodgepole and Wolverton are active bear areas so I'd take their advice. I always clean out my truck - making sure there's nothing smelly in there - before I go to SEKI or Yosemite.”

“We got about 4-6 inches of snow last night in the mountains, more on the way tonight and tomorrow :)”

“So it looks like 8 people are signed up to go. On Saturday we're meeting at 10:00 at the General Sherman Tree Parking area... We'll be snowshoeing about 6 miles in a loop over pretty gently rolling terrain and will see the Sherman, President, Washington, and Lincoln Trees (#1, #3, #2, and #5 largest trees in the world). We'll also see #9, the Franklin Tree and #27 the Chief Sequoyah (one of my personal favorites).

On Sunday we'll snowshoe up alongside the Kaweah River to Tokopah Falls. This will be about 7 miles round trip and again shouldn't be too difficult.

I'll probably camp Sunday night as well and then head home on Monday.”

“Aaargh, it sounds so lovely. This is one of those times when I wish I lived somewhere closer to the mountains.”

“We are staying Sunday night as well.”

“I just called the Giant Forest Museum and talked to a very nice ranger about snow conditions :) He said the snow coverage is pretty good, they just got 6" new snow last night. There are a few south facing areas near Moro Rock where the snow coverage was spotty and there are a bunch of trees down near Crescent Meadow. But he's heard good things about interior trails near Circle Meadow which is where we'll be.”

“D'oh! The President Tree is #4, not #3... Not that anyone but me really cares about these technicalities, lol

#3 is the General Grant Tree, it won't be on our route as it's in another grove...
last edited: 1/27/05 4:48:07 PM”

“Snow or rain there last night? Dang, It stormed here in Sac. Kept waking me up. If it snowed there like it rained here we should have no worries.”

“Snow, woo hoo!

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
400 PM PST THU JAN 27 2005

SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-

...SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM FRIDAY TO 4 AM PST SATURDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HANFORD HAS ISSUED A SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO THE KERN COUNTY LINE FROM 4 AM FRIDAY UNTIL 4 AM SATURDAY.

SNOW WILL BEGIN LATER TONIGHT GENERALLY ABOVE 5000 FEET ELEVATION... AND BECOME HEAVIER TOMORROW INTO TOMORROW NIGHT. SNOW LEVELS WILL DROP TO BETWEEN 3500 AND 4000 FEET TOMORROW NIGHT. TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF BETWEEN 5 AND 10 INCHES ARE EXPECTED. SNOWFALL WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY SOUTHWEST TO WEST WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH...
RESULTING IN SOME DRIFTING OF NEWLY FALLEN SNOW.

THOSE PLANNING TRAVEL INTO THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA SHOULD EXPECT DETERIORATING WEATHER CONDITIONS LATE TONIGHT AND PLAN ACCORDINGLY. STAY TUNED FOR WEATHER UPDATES FROM NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA SOURCE.”

“Ok...who what when & where....well I know where but what are the details is this a sleep over or a day trip? What Day or Days?”

“Windy - on Saturday the plan is to snowshoe in Giant Forest, about a 6 mile loop. On Sunday we'll snowshoe up to Tokopah Falls. Camping in Lodgepole Campground on Sat and Sun nights. Some folks may try to snowshoe back from the campground a little ways to set up camp.”

“Wow, well, the Washington Tree is no longer the 2nd largest tree on Earth after this last set up storms...

The Washington Tree was 254.7 feet tall, had a diameter of 26 feet at breast height, a ground perimeter of 101.1 feet, and the total volume of wood in the trunk was 47,850 cubic feet... making it the 2nd largest tree in the world. The upper trunk was hollow and an IMAX film crew once rappeled into "the Pit" and used this footage in a film called "Wild California".

Now the Washington Tree is only about 115 feet tall with limited green foliage at the top.

Two summers ago there was a lightening caused fire in the top of the Washington Tree. This caused the tree to lose about 20 feet from its height and it also lost the large branch that looked like a second trunk or an arm waving at you. Recent winter storms have caused an even larger portion of the tree to collapse.

Anyway, here is a picture of Mataharihiker at the base of the Washington Tree before the lightening fire. We hiked out there in June 2003.



And another pic showing the whole tree back when it was the 2nd largest...



So I'll be very curious to see what it looks like now. It kind of makes me sad that this giant is no longer one of the largest but there are many sequoia seedlings in that area that will probably benefit from more sunlight and water available now that the Washington Tree is now only 115 feet tall...”

“This Sat and Sun?”

“Feb. 19-21st. President's weekend.

Debra”

“I've been shopping for a sled but no luck. Guess I'll have to hit the stores at the beginning of snow season next year. Soooo, any idea as to how far from the parking we will be? If we will be close, I think I might bring the firepit and wood. If not I will leave it at home.”

“I know at least one person is planning on staying in the campground... Others have expressed interest in going in a little ways. So I think we'll all have a choice :)”

“Did you try Big 5? That's where we got ours.”

“Yeah, I tried all the stores as well as Big 5. I found one on line but they want way too much when you add $35.00 s&h.”

“Yikes, not worth it at all. Did you ask the local Big 5 if there might be one in a different store that they could bring to your local store?
I don't think you would need one for this trip, anyway. As warm as it's been, it's funny to think of snow, huh? I slept with the window open all last night.”

“I just printed out all the Big 5 store address's and phone #s. I'm going to call all of them today.
I love this weather we are having. Hope it's like this the weekend of the trip. I have been out doing yard work and it feels great. I notice that all the Almond trees are in bloom and the mustard weed has been in bloom for a couple of weeks already.”

“Found it at the Folsom Big 5. They still have lots of sleds and 30 percent off too.”

“Fantastic! Look at the trip pictures -- ours and Rockmans are the same Big 5 sled.”

“I got the same one as you two.”

“Cool. Now we need matching outfits. JKing.”

“Got me some new boots and a new jacket for snow camping. The boots are Sorels and very warm. Did I mention red boots? LOL Black jacket with lots of extras.
Did you get your video karen?”

“Hey All...

I was going to take a 4 day weekend, but have to work a half day friday, so I'm going to stay local. I've decided to head down to Kings Canyon and would like to meet up with you all at least one day for a while. I'll review the agenda and decide which day may work best. Any ideas.

Rob Ritchey

Should I bring the Baileys... again? ;)”

“I'm a wine lady myself, but would take baileys with my coffee in the am. ;^}
Why don't you come in on Saturday so you can hike with us to the falls on Sunday. Then we will head out on Monday. :^{”

“Thanks for the invite Songbyrd...

I'd love to spend the entire weekend with you all, but since it is a 3 day weekend (and now I may have 4 days after all since I had the dates wrong), I'd like to spend a bit more time on the trails. I'm hopeing to do about 30-35 miles over the 3-4 days. I'm planning the TRT hike this summer so am trying to build up the endurance and get in shape (yah, I know... with Baileys?) :)

Perhaps just Saturday would be an option - I'll hike in with you, stay a few hours, then hike back out the same day. I'll follow the thread and keep in touch.

Rob”

“Finally did my snowcamping 101 at Lassen!!! Now I can focus for this trip. Look forward. BearCrossing, Hikerduane said "hi". Songbyrd, I don't have a sled :-( but happy that you got one. Robertr, maybe I can have a tiny sip of that Bailey's :-)

maria”

“Just want to make sure I have the plans straight: Saturday we'll snowshoe in to the Giant Forest, about a 6 mile loop. On Sunday we'll snowshoe up to Tokopah Falls. We'll camp in the Lodgepole Campground on Sat and Sun nights?

We can only make it the saturday night (I don't get President's day off :( ) so we'll probably join for the Saturday hike, overnight at Lodgepole, and the dayhike on Sunday.

How would these trails work with skis?”

“The trails in Giant Forest are groomed for cross-country skis. Not positive that we'll stay on the groomed trails, though. The terrain to Tokopah Falls should be reasonably ski friendly, except maybe right at the end...”