Overdue hiking party - be careful out th ere!

“There is still a lot of snow in the Sierra above 9,000-10,000' - and a party of 8 who had plans to go up to Summit Lake in Sequoia National Park and Maggie Lakes in Sequoia National Forest is overdue... They're starting a search and rescue for them this afternoon. The leader is experienced - but even the experienced can get lost and be quickly over their head when the trail's under snow...”

“I have the utmost respect for Mother Nature!

I will freely admit that it took just about all of my teaching skills / experience this weekend at different times to figure out where I was & plot a path to where I wanted to be! These trails, which I had been on numerous times before in past years, were all under 2+ ft. of snow, so you can forget looking for ducks & any basic trail markings one may be accustomed to. Almost all of the trail is on granite rock or scrabble so, since it's VERY dificult to ascertain one rock from another...you're kinda' on your own out there. There was one point when I wanted to get an exact location using my GPS, but, guess what... I was under too heavy tree cover to get a good reading... only two satellites & the message "searching" forever... that doesn't help when you're out on your own!!

The only other time I can remember being so dis-oriented was.. you guessed it... this time of year in past years! If its summer, we count on familiar markings. If it's winter we count on everyting being snowcovered & plan accordingly. BUT.. this time of year, if you plan on a clear trail but then find yourself on a trail buried under 2-4 ft. of snow, it's not something you may be 100% prepared for, or can easily navigate around.

To me, this is the scariest time of the year to be out there scrambling around! At least in the sierra, where snow-covered trails can hide a lot of potential dangers on our paths, or, prevent us from finding the right one!”