[pct-l] Re: date of arriving at Kennedy Meadows

[aandg at telusplanet.net (Alistair & Gail Des Moulins)]

We arrived at Kennedy Meadows last year on May 27th and left on May 29th.
The following mileage statistics illustrates how we were slowed up by the
snow in places. Gail was not too well at times either. We were evidently the
first people last year to make it over Muir Pass without snowshoes.
But this section is not one to be rushed as Suge says. Going early means
it's harder work but there are the rewards of having the whole Evolution
Lake area to yourselves too. However, living in Calgary, Canada, we do have
plenty of snow experience from all months of the year!!

              On Trail
Date         Mileage
May 29th   17.8       KM - Upper Cow Creek
May 30th   19.7       to Diaz Creek
May 31st   16.7       to 2+ miles before Rock Creek - we started to be
slowed down by snow
June 1st     10.2       (part day to 3pm) then we camped near Crabtree
Ranger Station. Also climbed Mt Guyot from Guyot Pass.
June 2nd      0.0       Climbed Mt Whitney
June 3rd       8.9       To just after Lake South America Trail Jct. Gail
was not feeling too well.
June 4th       6.5        To 11240' level on north side Forester Pass. Gail
slow and the snow did not hold our weight well after 8.00 am. We were
wallowing  in the deep snow on the north side of the pass. This was the
worst snow of the whole trip.
June 5th       5.5        To Bubbs Creek Junction after Vidette Meadow by
10.30 am. Then we hiked down west towards Cedar Grove.
June 6th       0.0        Hiking to and from  Cedar Grove to resupply.
June 7th       7.3        Back to the trail by 10.30 am then over snowy
Glenn Pass to Rae Lakes.
June 8th     13.0        To 11600' on the north side of Pinchot Pass.
June 9th     11.6        to Upper Palisade Lake - Had to kick steps in the
snow up SE side of Mather Pass.
June 10th   14.8        to 10,400' on south side of Muir Pass
June 11th     8.8        Over Muir Pass to Evolution Lake. On or in snow
almost the whole day. Hard snow at first then some more deep stuff after
1pm!
                                 We hiked 4.00 am to 4.00 pm to have as much
hard snow as possible but we spent a lot of time at Muir Pass and we paid
for that
                                 in deep snow later!
June 12th   16.6        To Little Senger Creek
June 13th   16.0        To 1 mile before Mono Creek
June 14th     3.1        We went to VVR during the day then hiked on 2 miles
in the late afternoon
June 15th   11.6        We stopped early (4pm) at Lake Virginia as it was a
nice place!
June 16th   18.2        To just past Devils Postpile - we also spent 3 hours
at Reds Meadow.
June 17th   13.3        We stopped early again (3.30 pm) at Thousand Island
Lake as it was a nice place!
June 18th   16.0        To 2.5 miles before Tuolomne Meadows - surprisingly
a lot of snow on both sides of Donahue Pass but it generally held our
weight.
                                 The snow line got lower as we got further
north.
June 19th     9.0        Much of the day spent at Tuolomne Meadows Store
then on to 1.3 miles before Glen Aulin.

We mailed our ice axes from Sierra City on July 5th. We were glad to have
them in many places north of South Lake Tahoe.

Alistair & Gail

>
> Message: 25
> Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 07:53:13 -0500 (EST)
> From: Christopher Willett <chwillet@indiana.edu>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] date of arriving at Kennedy Meadows
> To: Billy Anderson <banderson1@naxs.net>
> Cc: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> Message-ID:
> <Pine.GSO.3.96.1040122074248.3230A-100000@ariel.ucs.indiana.edu>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>
> This depends heavily on how much snow is around.  This past year was, I
> believe, eventually considered a somewhat average snow year.  There were
> several late season storms that seemed to even things out.  I left Kennedy
> Meadows on June 10 and went over Forrester on June 14, where the snow
> began. While unpleasant at times, the snow was manageable:  Passes were
> buried in snow usually for 2-6 miles on the south side, making navigation
> and postholing tough.  The north sides were buried for a longer distance,
> but navigation there was pretty easy, the postholing presenting the
> greater problem.  From KM to VVR took 8 days and a morning of hiking,
> including the walk up Whitney.  This involved three somewhat difficult
> days: The day over Forrester and Glen, over Pinchot and Mather, and
> the day over Muir.  Selden and Silver passes were easy.  Donahue was
> fairly well buried, but not too difficult (despite getting lost).  The
> first people into the Sierras this year left KM sometime around June 1 (I
> can't remember the exact date) and they had some harrowing stories to
> tell and needed snow shoes to get through parts.  Unfortunately, I
> don't think any of them read this list.  There were two really
> dangerous fords:  Bear Creek, about 10 miles before VVR, and
> Kerrick Canyon (about 1.5 days north of Tuolumne), but there were
> lots of other unpleasant ones.  Benson pass was covered, but not
> too bad and the Sonora pass area, while snowy, was not dangerous (just
> really snowy!).  Once clear of Sonora Pass (just over the 1000 mile mark,
> which I got to on 25th), snow begins to run out, although there were still
> some dangerous concentrations of snow up to Sierra City.  I didn't
> send my ice axe home until Chester.
>
> I'd say that the group I was hiking with was moving faster than most,
> and averaging in the low 20s was tough at times from KM to TM.
> >From TM to South Lake Tahoe, and average day was in the 25 mile range.
> >From SLT north, 30+ mile days were reasonable.  How much you average is
> up to you.  Just make sure you are enjoying yourself as you go forth,
> and the rest will see to itself.
>
> Suge
>
> On Wed, 21 Jan 2004, Billy Anderson wrote:
>
> > is May 25 to early of a date to arrive at this point on the pct..
> > and what kind of milage can i expect through the next several hundred
miles.
> >
> >
> >