Rain Threatens to Dampen the Trip TR

“After everyone left for home, we decided to do a mini day hike. It turned out to be much smaller than anticipated. We hiked a little and found a nice fire pit and decided to build a fire as it was raining an chilly. Remember, I had no rain proof gear and my friend, who will never leave home without a Marmot again, had nothing either. So we donned our only pieces of plastic and tried to stay warm by the fire. In addition, one of the group members boot decided to sell their sole to the storm gods. Jim and Evan spent about an hour performing resucitative surgery on the boot to try to salvage our trip into the high peaks of the sierras. Ultimately, I was too cold and decided to go back to the tent and try to wait out the storm. Several hours later I could hear movement outside and discovered that everyone's, except mine, tent was in the path of the flood. We moved one of the tents and miraculously, it seemed the storm was beginning to relent. We had dinner and went to bed dreaming of clear skies in the morning.

As luck would have it, nary a cloud dotted the sky when we woke up. We packed up and moved down the trail before the sky changed it's mind. As we hiked up Fernandez Peak, it did just that. Big black threatening clouds followed us all day. When we got to the summit, we decided to abort the original plan, about 50 miles) and go to Rutherford lake and do another layover there as the condition of Evan's boot looked like it might relapse at any time. The clouds chased us and spit a little on us but we made it to Rutherford Lake dry. We remedied that by quickly jumping in and bathing while there was a little bit of sun left. We had a perfect little spot on the lake with even more stunning views than Chain.

We got up in the morning and did laundry and bathed since we had relatively warm weather with clouds scudding by overhead. it looked like the storm had passed and now we would be having typical summer weather patterns. We set off on a day hike up to this unnamed peak behind Rutherford. Interestingly, Rutherfor has two dams, one on each end. Does anyone know the story behind Rutherford Lake in the Ansel Adams Wilderness? We climbed up to the ridge and hiked over to a beautiful lake, Lake Alpine, before descending back to camp.

That night we played liar's dice and finished off the alcohol. We decided we would hike out early the next day and went to bed early. The hike out was long, thirteen miles, and uneventful, until the soles of both Evan's boots completely separated. He ultimately hiked about 10 mniles on one boot with only the midsole, and 3 final miles with both boots having only a midsole. My feet were killing me and he said his were fine! Wow, I really am a baby.

On the way home we stopped at Pizza Factory and it was fantastic! I know, I never mentioned the mosquitos did I? Well, some aspects of this trip I am trying to forget. Let's just say I probably lost a pint of blood to the swarms. I also got to cross the headwaters of the Merced River while being gnawed on. They had an amazing ability to keep finding the same spots on my ears and temples. I am still recovering my sanity and will run in fear from them the rest of my life. Have you ever seen a swarm of mosquitos coming at you with dinner forks and napkins?
http://community.webshots.com/album/428572893GzOXRY
last edited: 8/21/05 12:01:10 PM”

“What were the dates of this trip? I saw some reference to "snow on Monday" on another trip report.”

“We left on Friday, August 12th and returned Thursday, August 18th. Sunday was the hail day and Monday the extremely wet day.”

“We were on Whitney Sunday, saw clouds to the north. It didn't rain til that night, but we could hear thunder to the west. Later there was thunder and lightning to the east. It rained Monday as we drove home.

Bummer about the boot soles. I don't go anywhere without my Precips, even on dayhikes. I'm trying to go lite but there are a few things I can't give up. Your friend can save a little weight by leaving the slinglite head rest home. :-)

Good report and pics! thanks!”

“Snow Nymph - thanks! I read your story and wondered if what you were seeing was what I was experiencing. It was pretty spectacular. I have been in bad storms before but this was a little close for comfort since I had no 'house' to hide in.”