Laura
freespirittraveler
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2012
- Messages
- 961
Stan and I recently celebrated 9 years together by hiking in the Eastern Sierra. Nothing adventurous in this trip, just a lot of relaxation and enjoying the outdoors. The Sierra Nevada has two distinct regions-the Western Sierra, which is very forested and lush because it creates a rain shadow. The elevation is around 5,000 feet. The Eastern Sierra rises abruptly from the Owens Valley and climbs very steeply, up to 14,000 feet, and because the western side gets all the rain the Eastern Sierra is dry and rugged. It was formed by glaciers and uplift from tectonic plates and volcanic activity (which is still active-Mammoth Mountain periodically has to close areas when excess carbon dioxide escapes from cracks in the earth, and I've heard lava is only several hundred feet below the surface). As a result of its steepness, to get to any of the trailheads on the eastern side you switchback up roads that ascend 5,000 feet in just a few miles, and most trailheads are over 9,000 feet. Ours was 9,200. Since we didn't have an extra day to acclimate I started taking Diamox 48 hours before we were supposed to hike in, which I hate. It makes you dizzy, your extremities tingle, everything tastes weird, and it's a diuretic, so you're peeing all the time. What fun! But it beats altitude sickness, which I've had so many times Stan and I joke about me throwing up by the side of the trail.
Anyway, we drive from sea level to 9,200 feet in about 5 hours, and I can barely take one step at a time. But the Diamox started working, and soon I was hiking a slow but steady pace, and no signs of altitude sickness aside from normal being out of breath.
We were hiking the Kearsarge Trail, which is the eastern entrance to King's Canyon. It's a very popular trail, but there's a basin with beautiful lakes right off the trail which isn't on the map, and that was our destination. When we got there, we had the entire basin to ourselves.
The next morning I was feeling fine so we decided to join the herd and hike to Kearsarge Pass (11,760 ft). It was only a few miles, but in the open sun on a talus slope with no shade. I've gotten sick there before so I made sure I was drinking water like a camel in the Sahara. The views from Kearsarge Pass are incredible. This is looking into King's Canyon:
Due to the drought areas of the high sierra backcountry are accessible that usually have year round snow. The snowpack this year is only 25% of normal. This place can be snowed in on July 4.
There were a lot of people on the trail and we weren't optimistic about our chances of having our basin to ourselves when we got back, but again, we were the only ones there. We went au naturel and swam in our lake, then laid out on the rocks. There's something about being outdoors by yourself that makes even a swimsuit too much clothing. Stan and I are getting good at finding secluded lakes just off popular trails!
I brought a lens for night shots since the moon was at just the right phase, but being the Eastern Sierra there also are gusty winds (great for keeping mosquitos at bay, though!) Each night winds were gusting around 15 mph and I almost bailed on night shots, but I'm glad I didn't.
The next morning I got up and decided to check out the light on a nearby lake. July in the Eastern Sierra is terrible for photography, the light is harsh and there aren't any clouds, but I got to this lake early enough, and the light was coming in from the side, making everything an incredible green. No color enhancement, this is what it looked like!
We headed back to Lone Pine after this and had a steak dinner for our "anniversary". I was out by 8:30! All in all I think it's the best anniversary we've ever had.
Us on Kearsarge Pass:
Oh yes, those shoes I'm wearing are supposed to be purple. The Eastern Sierra has a lot of dust!
Featured image for home page:
Anyway, we drive from sea level to 9,200 feet in about 5 hours, and I can barely take one step at a time. But the Diamox started working, and soon I was hiking a slow but steady pace, and no signs of altitude sickness aside from normal being out of breath.
We were hiking the Kearsarge Trail, which is the eastern entrance to King's Canyon. It's a very popular trail, but there's a basin with beautiful lakes right off the trail which isn't on the map, and that was our destination. When we got there, we had the entire basin to ourselves.
The next morning I was feeling fine so we decided to join the herd and hike to Kearsarge Pass (11,760 ft). It was only a few miles, but in the open sun on a talus slope with no shade. I've gotten sick there before so I made sure I was drinking water like a camel in the Sahara. The views from Kearsarge Pass are incredible. This is looking into King's Canyon:
Due to the drought areas of the high sierra backcountry are accessible that usually have year round snow. The snowpack this year is only 25% of normal. This place can be snowed in on July 4.
There were a lot of people on the trail and we weren't optimistic about our chances of having our basin to ourselves when we got back, but again, we were the only ones there. We went au naturel and swam in our lake, then laid out on the rocks. There's something about being outdoors by yourself that makes even a swimsuit too much clothing. Stan and I are getting good at finding secluded lakes just off popular trails!
I brought a lens for night shots since the moon was at just the right phase, but being the Eastern Sierra there also are gusty winds (great for keeping mosquitos at bay, though!) Each night winds were gusting around 15 mph and I almost bailed on night shots, but I'm glad I didn't.
The next morning I got up and decided to check out the light on a nearby lake. July in the Eastern Sierra is terrible for photography, the light is harsh and there aren't any clouds, but I got to this lake early enough, and the light was coming in from the side, making everything an incredible green. No color enhancement, this is what it looked like!
We headed back to Lone Pine after this and had a steak dinner for our "anniversary". I was out by 8:30! All in all I think it's the best anniversary we've ever had.
Us on Kearsarge Pass:
Oh yes, those shoes I'm wearing are supposed to be purple. The Eastern Sierra has a lot of dust!
Featured image for home page:
