[pct-l] eastside departure points

[sierra_marmot at yahoo.com (John Randall)]

After Kearsarge/Onion Valley--which is an easy hitchhike to Independence--there are three bailout hikes in the "booger" classification; Baxter, Sawmill and Taboose passes, all of which lead to dirt trailheads at approximately 6,000-6,500 ft. elevation and a four-mile hike to US395 for a hitchhike in either direction to Bishop or Independence.   There is a twice-a-day bus between Lone Pine and Bishop.   The next reasonable exit is the Bishop Pass trail from LeConte Canyon up through Dusy Basin to South Lake, and a very reasonable hitchhike down to Bishop, which has full supplies for everything.
 
john

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Today's Topics:

1. Re: Hike Forester Pass-Kennedy Meadows (dude)
2. Re: Introduction (Joanne Lennox)
3. Re: PCT with a dog? (Ddd51@aol.com)
4. Re: aqua mira. (Daryl Waycott)
5. MSR pot dimensions (Dave Blumenthal)
6. Orthodics (John Hildebrand)
7. camera phones (CMountainDave@aol.com)
8. maps (Steve Setzer)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2003 14:36:18 -0500 (EST)
From: "dude" 
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Hike Forester Pass-Kennedy Meadows
To: lindajagger@yahoo.com
Cc: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Message-ID: <3FB28BB2.000239.66075@ns.interchange.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> What is the closest departure point after
> Forrester Pass? 
The Onion Valley Trail Head over Kearsarge Pass is 9 miles off the 
PCT and 15 miles west of the town of Independence. 

> How many miles would that be on the trail and than
> access trails? Seems like I remember 50 mi? 
http://www.pctplanner.com indicates that it is 87 miles from Kennedy 
Meadows to the Kearsarge Pass Trail, which is just barely north of 
Forrester Pass. It is 9 miles from the PCT to the parking lot at the 
Onion Valley Trail Head. I beleive that Kearsarge Pass is about 
11,700 ft, so its not an "easy" hike. The trail head itself is 9200 
ft.


> What are the road access points? Are there any people who would 
shuttle a group of 2? 
The only real road access I know of is via Lone Pine over the trail 
that climbs Whitney, or via Independence over Kearsarge pass. There 
may be other access points further west or further south that I am 
not aware of, I really do not know.


> What NF does one go thru, what permits are needed, how
> difficult are they to obtain? 
Permits for that trail should not be too hard to obtain. You can 
probably get one from the Inyo National Forest:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/wild/index.html If they 
can't get you a permit, they will know where you can get one.


> Are there other mt passes to go thru, how many 
> miles per day could one expect to do in the summer,
> probably Aug. 
I do not recall how many passes there are in that section, but don't 
expect it to be a cake walk; there will definitely be some elevation 
changes and altitude. The number of miles you can expect to hile per 
day depends greatly on a number of factors such as: (a) your physical 
condition, (b) your pack weight, (c) the number of hours actually 
spent hiking, (d) how long or short your rest breaks are, (e) your 
hiking speed, (f) how much you slow down or speed up going uphill or 
downhill, (g) orienteering/route finding skills, (h) trail 
conditions, (i) stream crossings and how you deal with them, (j) 
other factors. I would say that most people in decent hiking shape 
could probably cover anywhere from 12 to 20 miles per day depending 
on their hiking style and provided that they do not lose the trail 
due to snow or darkness. If you are in great shape and have lots of 
experience hiking in the mountains and reading maps (and nothing goes 
wrong) then perhaps you will be able to do 20-30 miles per day. 
However, most people cannot cover this amount of ground on that 
section of trail; its very rugged, the whole way is above or near 
10,000 ft, and there is frequently snow. To be safe, I would plan on 
doing no more than 20 per day.


> Are there permanent snowfields to cross?
There are no really "permanent" snow fields, but there can certainly 
be lots of snow still on the ground and especially on the passes, 
even in August. This can vary greatly with the amount of snow that 
falls in the Sierra the preceding winter and spring. In 1998, there 
was snow on just about every pass during the last week of August and 
the first week of september. Forrester pass still had significant 
snow, and there was even snow protecting the trail up to Whiteny in 
september. Most years are not like this, but anything is possible. 
If you go in late august, there will have been 100's of hikers that 
have already kicked steps in the snow (if there is any) at the passes 
and you will likely not need an ice axe, but the snow will slow you 
down.


> Were there any bear issues this yr? Anything in > particular I 
should know to do this section? 
Bears have been particularly bad in years past at Onion Valley. In 
fact, this was at one time arguably the absolute worst "bear problem" 
area on the whole PCT outside of Yosemite (I have even heard people 
say that it was worse than Yosemite). In 1998 I ran into a Ranger 
who told us of an account of someone being swatted in the gut by a 
bear after he left his food unattended and the came back to find a 
bear chowing down. Apparently, he tried to take the food from the 
bear, which is a big no-no. Once the bear has your food, it is no 
longer "yours". At that point, its the bear's food and he will 
protect it. Other than that, the only other stories I have heard are 
all just people losing food; and if you use the bear boxes provided 
in that area, you will have no problems. We camped near the Rea 
Lakes and used a bear box and didnt even see any signs of a bear all 
night. I think that recently the bear situation over there hs 
improved. If you hang out on the passes very long, you might want to 
keep an eye on your food, as the marmots in that area are now very 
agressive and will dig through a pack to find food.(especially in 
heavily used places like Keasrage pass)


HTH,
dude
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http://fastmail.ca/ - Fast Secure Web Email for Canadians

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2003 19:37:07 -0800
From: "Joanne Lennox" 
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Introduction
To: "Marion Davison" , "PCT List"


Message-ID: <200311130229.hAD2TEIE004254@cnwmail.isomedia.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hay, Marion, you didn't tell them what a nifty tool you invented!!!! I
made one and works great. Didn't it win a prize at the PCT kickoff??.

Goforth



------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 01:35:13 EST
From: Ddd51@aol.com
Subject: Re: [pct-l] PCT with a dog?
To: DjgPct@aol.com, pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Message-ID: 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

I do a lot of day hiking in the Sierra with my dog, a mix of black lab and 
Australian cattle dog. There are three factors that would deter me from taking 
him long distance through arid terrain; heat, lack of water and the trail 
surface condition. How they handle heat may vary by breed, but a large dog with a 
thick black coat appears uncomfortable when the temperature is above 80. Dogs, 
never having read survival guides only drink when they are thirsty and then 
only enough to quench their thirst. I tried to explain to my dog the 
re-hydration rule, if water sources are limited drink until you can't drink anymore, but 
he never seems to comprehend. As a result, he needs to drink about every 
three miles. I've been told that the surface temperature in places like the Mojave 
can reach over 140 degrees, even when the air temperature is in the 90s. Dogs 
will hesitate to walk on a paved street on hot days, much less walking 25 
miles on a very hot surface.

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 09:32:55 +0000 (GMT)
From: Daryl Waycott 
Subject: Re: [pct-l] aqua mira.
To: David Tibor 
Cc: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Message-ID: <20031113093255.26278.qmail@web40413.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Hi David,

I thru-hiked the PCT in 2002 just using Aqua Mira and
I had no problems at all with finding water that was
clear to purify. When I was in a hurry to get to a
post office; I even carried the mixer top along the
trail so I didn't have to wait for the 5 minutes !!!
The only thing to consider is that you can't buy it in
CA (unless that has changed), so put 2 or 3 spares in
your bounce box. I found that one usually lasted
around a month.

Daryl

--- David Tibor wrote: > With
all this talk on water filtering and such, I
> was
> wondering if anyone is planning to do the PCT in
> 2004
> just using Aqua Mira? 
> 
> I used it for 10 days around Lake Tahoe, and loved
> it.
> So nice not to have to pump water, or carry my one
> pound MSR Miniworks... just mix the chemicals, wait
> a
> bit, dump in water, and start hiking (drink in 15
> minutes). And making 4 liters of water in a
> Platypus
> is just as easy... just mix 4x the chemicals. The
> thought of filtering 6-8 liters of water in my
> Miniworks makes me cringe. With Aqua Mira it's just
> two tiny bottles in your pack and good tasting
> water.
> 
> Is there such nasty water in SoCal that you really
> need a filter sometimes to cut through the gunk?
> 
> Peace,
> 
> Dave.
> 
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------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 08:29:43 -0500
From: Dave Blumenthal 
Subject: [pct-l] MSR pot dimensions
To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20031113082859.00a999c0@studiozoic.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Hi all.
What are the dimensions of MSR's .85L titanium pot?
Thanks
Dave Blumenthal


------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 08:59:59 -0500
From: "John Hildebrand" 
Subject: [pct-l] Orthodics
To: 

Message-ID: 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Hi. Who has prescription orthodics? I got a pair from my doctor... They're carbon fiber inserts. The specialist glued a cushoined insert (like a DR. Scholl's type) to it. He then took out the factory inserts from my shoes and dropped these in... 

My question is : Has anyone used these type and how do you change the cushioned part (it is glued to the carbon fiber part)? 

Can I just tear it off and glue some of those Superfeet (are they just cushions or actual arch supports) to them? If so, what type of glue and how often did you change them? 

Thanks and have a great day!! 

------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 11:27:49 EST
From: CMountainDave@aol.com
Subject: [pct-l] camera phones
To: pct-l@backcountry.net
Message-ID: <1ce.145ed672.2ce50b05@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Just read an article in Time magazine that may solve the what to do with your 
digital images while still on the trail: Camera phones. Although the phone 
probably won't work in mountain valley you can e-mail them to a computer when 
you get to a trail town where reception is available. Your pictures will be 
awaiting you on your return neatly filed. Have a friend confirm it for you, or 
send them to their computer too, as back up.
Now if this picture phone was also a PDA including altimeter, compass, 
map/guide book data base, pedometer, GPS, diary, watch, worked on AA batteries and 
weighed only 4 ounces, I would get one
Almost forgot, It's gotta be at least 4 mp to satisfy the pixel nit pickers

------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 10:33:35 -0700 (MST)
From: Steve Setzer 
Subject: [pct-l] maps
To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Message-ID: 

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


What do thru-hikers generally use for maps? I have the guide books and
plan on taking the appropriate sections for my 04 thru-hike. The maps in
the guide book cover the whole trail but not much beyond them. If you
make a wrong turn, I think you could quickly get off the map. Do most
people also carry larger scale maps or just the guide book maps?

Steve

------------------------------

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