Backpacking

[BigPiney]

Unbelievable.

I was waiting by the computer all morning today, finger on mouse, ready to click and reserve a campsite in Yosemite valley for this summer. I clicked at exactly 7:00:00. By the time the reservation page had loaded, no more than 5-10 seconds, the campsite was gone. Reloaded the site page to get a different site and the entire place was emptied out. Within a minute about 500 sites in Yosemite valley were gone.

Looked further outside the valley and found a few sites at crane flat, about 17 miles from the valley. Booked one site, then texted steelblue to see if he wanted one as well. He responded within a minute and I returned to the reservation page just in time to grab the last site in the park for that weekend. 5 minutes, and the place was cleaned out. Unreal.

Now my fingers are crossed that I get drawn in the half dome lottery for that weekend.


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Which weekend?


Would love to do Half Dome again.

And the Yosemite reservation system is terrible. It has been broken for years.

[creekster]

Unbelievable.

I was waiting by the computer all morning today, finger on mouse, ready to click and reserve a campsite in Yosemite valley for this summer. I clicked at exactly 7:00:00. By the time the reservation page had loaded, no more than 5-10 seconds, the campsite was gone. Reloaded the site page to get a different site and the entire place was emptied out. Within a minute about 500 sites in Yosemite valley were gone.

Looked further outside the valley and found a few sites at crane flat, about 17 miles from the valley. Booked one site, then texted steelblue to see if he wanted one as well. He responded within a minute and I returned to the reservation page just in time to grab the last site in the park for that weekend. 5 minutes, and the place was cleaned out. Unreal.

Now my fingers are crossed that I get drawn in the half dome lottery for that weekend.


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Yosmeite is such a zoo in the summer. We only go, now, in shoulder seasons or winter. It helps that we have friends that live and work in the Valley so we have a place to stay. but even so, I am not a fan of sitting in a traffic jam and that is pretty much the story all summer long there now.

Its also easier to get the half dome permit in the shoulder seasons. Good luck on the lottery.

[bluegoose]

Which weekend?


Would love to do Half Dome again.

And the Yosemite reservation system is terrible. It has been broken for years.

Aug 4-7. I put in for the half dome lottery for aug 5-6. Hopefully we get one of those. Lottery closes the end of this month and then results are sent out the middle of April.

Get a half dome permit for that weekend and let's go for it! You can squeeze into our campsite at crane flat.


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[bluegoose]

Yosmeite is such a zoo in the summer. We only go, now, in shoulder seasons or winter. It helps that we have friends that live and work in the Valley so we have a place to stay. but even so, I am not a fan of sitting in a traffic jam and that is pretty much the story all summer long there now.

Its also easier to get the half dome permit in the shoulder seasons. Good luck on the lottery.

They have a graph in their site showing the number of lottery bids are placed for each day if the open season. Entire month of July is crazy - something like 7,000-10,000 people apply for the weekends. August is a little better, but not much.

Our problem is once school starts we are pretty much toast. Too much happening with the kids and my wife's work. Otherwise I would go in September.


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[creekster]

They have a graph in their site showing the number of lottery bids are placed for each day if the open season. Entire month of July is crazy - something like 7,000-10,000 people apply for the weekends. August is a little better, but not much.

Our problem is once school starts we are pretty much toast. Too much happening with the kids and my wife's work. Otherwise I would go in September.


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Yes, it can be tough with kids. We are planning on doing Whitney in August, but our friends put in for the permit so hopefully they are on top of it. Otherwise who knows, maybe Ill try to squeeze into your camp site too!

[BigPiney]

Yes, it can be tough with kids. We are planning on doing Whitney in August, but our friends put in for the permit so hopefully they are on top of it. Otherwise who knows, maybe Ill try to squeeze into your camp site too!

Trail or Mountaineers Route? And if the trail are you planning on staying at trail camp or doing it all in one day?

[creekster]

Trail or Mountaineers Route? And if the trail are you planning on staying at trail camp or doing it all in one day?

Trail route and the plan is to do it in one day. I am a Little worried about the one day plan one of our friends has a demonstrated issue with altitude. But she is planning on taking Diamox and hopes that it will get her through. Do you have any suggestions?

[BigPiney]

Trail route and the plan is to do it in one day. I am a Little worried about the one day plan one of our friends has a demonstrated issue with altitude. But she is planning on taking Diamox and hopes that it will get her through. Do you have any suggestions?

One day is really hard. Especially for you sea level people.

I have done it up the trail, from the west on the trail, and up the Mountaineers Route a few times as well. In all cases start early. 2 years ago I did the Mountaineers Route (first done by John Muir, btw) and we were on the trail at 6 I think. Due to some slow people and altitude sickness we did not summit till 3 or so. Went down the main trail that time and thanks to headlamps made it to the car by 8 or so.

The key to Whitney is starting early if you are doing it in one day. I may be repeating myself... I don't know if you are planning on setting a turn around time, or just doing it no matter what, but it is a long day. 22 miles round trip with close to 5500 ft of elevation gain during that.

As for going up the main trail. After Trail Camp the hike is brutal. From there to Trail crest is really tough. And even those last 2.5 miles are hard even though you aren't climbing much, you are at 14000 ft and it hurts.

It is a lot of fun, but there are way too many people on the main trail, hence my preference for the more direct route.

Here is a good reference.
http://www.dayhiker.com/directory/MtWhitney.htm

[creekster]

One day is really hard. Especially for you sea level people.

I have done it up the trail, from the west on the trail, and up the Mountaineers Route a few times as well. In all cases start early. 2 years ago I did the Mountaineers Route (first done by John Muir, btw) and we were on the trail at 6 I think. Due to some slow people and altitude sickness we did not summit till 3 or so. Went down the main trail that time and thanks to headlamps made it to the car by 8 or so.

The key to Whitney is starting early if you are doing it in one day. I may be repeating myself... I don't know if you are planning on setting a turn around time, or just doing it no matter what, but it is a long day. 22 miles round trip with close to 5500 ft of elevation gain during that.

As for going up the main trail. After Trail Camp the hike is brutal. From there to Trail crest is really tough. And even those last 2.5 miles are hard even though you aren't climbing much, you are at 14000 ft and it hurts.

It is a lot of fun, but there are way too many people on the main trail, hence my preference for the more direct route.

Here is a good reference.
http://www.dayhiker.com/directory/MtWhitney.htm

Thanks for the advice. We are doing it with the same people we did Salkantay with (at about 15.4k feet) and we managed that with the day when we went over the pass being about 18 miles. But it was a hard day, to be sure. And we had a few days in Cuzco to acclimatize at altitude as opposed to driving straight to the trail head form sea level. SO we will see if maybe we consider changing the approach.

[BigPiney]

Thanks for the advice. We are doing it with the same people we did Salkantay with (at about 15.4k feet) and we managed that with the day when we went over the pass being about 18 miles. But it was a hard day, to be sure. And we had a few days in Cuzco to acclimatize at altitude as opposed to driving straight to the trail head form sea level. SO we will see if maybe we consider changing the approach.

I think you will be good, just really tired. Hope you have no thunderstorms and make sure to bring headlamps. Also make sure you poo before you go, because you don't want to have to carry that crap out.

[bluegoose]

Had a couple of people die from exposure this last weekend in the Trinity Alps. The details are still a little fuzzy, but from what I understand, they were initially camping at the Trinity Lake KOA and decided to head into the wilderness last Friday or Saturday. We had a freak cold storm move through last weekend, in which the higher elevations got up to 6 inches of snow. Plus, with all of the snow we got this winter there is still quite a bit of snow covering the trails in the Alps. I'm guessing they lost the trail in the snow and lost their way. Teenage girl survived and was rescued earlier this week. Her mom and aunt passed away. Very sad.

[BigPiney]

Had a couple of people die from exposure this last weekend in the Trinity Alps. The details are still a little fuzzy, but from what I understand, they were initially camping at the Trinity Lake KOA and decided to head into the wilderness last Friday or Saturday. We had a freak cold storm move through last weekend, in which the higher elevations got up to 6 inches of snow. Plus, with all of the snow we got this winter there is still quite a bit of snow covering the trails in the Alps. I'm guessing they lost the trail in the snow and lost their way. Teenage girl survived and was rescued earlier this week. Her mom and aunt passed away. Very sad.

That is terrible.

Going to be a late start to backpacking this year with all the snow. My wife and daughter headed out this morning for the first trip of the year. 4th year hike.

[BigPiney]

Went into the cottonwood lakes basin this weekend with the whole family. To many mosquitos but still great. I carried my three year old up to the top of Cirque Peak(12900). New army pass was too snowed in otherwise we might have attempted My Langley.

Cirque peak from the basin

My youngest up on top



Langley, Whitney and Russell from Cirque.

[Bo Diddley]

Nice! I bet that was a lot of fun.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Went into the cottonwood lakes basin this weekend with the whole family. To many mosquitos but still great. I carried my three year old up to the top of Cirque Peak(12900). New army pass was too snowed in otherwise we might have attempted My Langley.

Cirque peak from the basin

My youngest up on top

Langley, Whitney and Russell from Cirque.

Awesome. Love that shot of your little girl.

Speaking of Whitney, my son climbed it a week ago. 22 miles r/t. Started at 3 am, finished at 8 pm. He was sore for a couple of days.

He is doing Ranier next week.