Anyone in the sierras yet?

[Richard Nelridge]

Hi Kevin,

Not only have we butchered the Spanish language on this site, but we have also butchered Latin, and Greek? What’s next butchering English?

Rich

[kevin davidson]

alls fair with English–it’s still an evolving language

[Ron Stoecklein]

Ah–the Sierras will always be the “Sierras” to me–and yeah I am a gringo–but i do appreciate the langauage lesson.

[Jeremy Best]

Thomas,

As we read Ron’s important writings, do listen as I have encountered heavy amounts of Mosquitos in this area. Though 3 bottles of Deet is extreme. Even in extreme cases I have never used even half of an ounce of that stuff. I try to wear long pants and shirts and a bug net. Clothes also limits the use of sunblock….lighter loads (If clothes are light). I will through hike this part of the trail and will probably trek to some of the off trail lakes through out the trip. I will let you know the conditions when I get back July 26.
Note: I do hate most all insects and do not have high tolerances of them, Though I would expect to get a few bites.
Jeremy

[paul johnson]

A question for anyone who can answer it. I live & hike in the NE – so tons of skeeter pressure (& black flies in Maine) for some of the best hiking mos. of the yr. Normally, it’s a combo of clothing, bug-headnet, & DEET.

A co-worker swears by “Buzz-Off” clothing. Apparently, it comes in both cotton (oops…the ‘c’-word. i’m going to go wash my mouth out now!!), & the much more expensive cool-max (i think that’s the proprietary name of the fabric – it’s some synthetic fabric at any rate).

Can anyone steer me towards or away from the synthetic version of Buzz-Off?

Many thanks,
pj

[Ron Stoecklein]

In reference to 3 bottles of Deet used–it was extreme–and most likely “over done” I was dealing with two 16 year old girls–who although were great with everything — “crashed and burned” when it came to dealing with the little buggers. But at the same time–I was using 100% DEET and was still getting bites.

When I think that I could have bought some netting for 13.00 — I’m still kicking myself.

And Al had given that advice prior to our trip.

The biggest problem I think is all the stagnant little ponds–where ice melted–where normally there would be no water–but that should start drying up in the next month.

[Tom Clark]

Jeremy,
Thanks for the input, and I look forward tou your recon report later this month. I have a headnet on order (OR Deluxe Headnet), but was looking at GoLite’s nest to use with my 8×10 tarp since I will be sharing it with someone. Anyone have experience with it?

What do people use with a tarp when bugs are expected? I like to be able to have some space away from the flying bugs.

Thanks,
Tom

[Tom Clark]

Jeremy,
My brother-in-law wants to do some fishing on the trip. Any tips of location, prevelent bugs on water, or terrestrials?
Thanks,
Tom

[Jeremy Best]

Ron, I hear ya…two sixteen years olds. How’d you get them to hike so far? If you don’t have a bug net then nothing will help!

Thomas, I use an OR wireless net and it works great. Mine is a bit bigger, so there are other nets that are lighter and smaller. As for a shelter, I too am using a tarp (Tyvek), I am relying on my bivy for shelter from the bugs. Only at night. In the day I will use clothing and a net.
In my experience, Sqeeters are usually in the trees and around water. If you avoid camping in these areas there are less of them around. (lake outlets, snow runoff, or soggy meadows)
Last year I was at Minarete Lakes and caught more fish than any where else I’ve been so far. There is a small lake to the north of the main lake (it is connected by a small stream). In this shallow lake we caught 14″ trout all day long on 1/12 Gold Febes (barbless). I hear Rush Creek, Lyle Canyon, and Waugh has incredible fishing.

Well I will see soon enough, Jeremy

[Ron Stoecklein]

Funny thing was my one daughter(16) seems to be a natural born hiker–I mean she always sets the pace–and loves to hike–but almost “freaks” out with mosquitoes. And this year–It really didn’t matter where you were–as there is water everywhere—and they attacked in force. Again–netting is the key word here!

Garnet Lake–had some incredible fishing–big brookies and rainbows—I caught 6 in 30 minutes–all keepers.

[Jeremy Best]

Very good! I will then have to fish there also. Tomorrow morning we leave (6am). It takes 4 hours to get to Mammoth, we probably won’t start on the trail until noon (permits, last good meal,and bus ride to Agnew Meadow). I had to do a last check to see if there were any new posts, and……..I can’t go to sleep yet. More than half my total weight is food and water ,about 5.5 lbs. food and 2 lbs. water. I guess I will be eating good!

Jeremy

[Ronald Rogers]

Starting this Sunday, I am hiking the PCT from Kennedy Meadows north to Trail Pass near Mt. Whitney. What conditions should I expect: skeets, snow conditions, creek crossings, low temps? I have never backpacked in this part of California before. Trying to decide if I should running shoe it or wear my boots with my light pack. Thanks! Ron

[Scott Nelson]

My buddy and I just got back from a three day hike out of Agnew Mdws. We found lots of snow at 10K and above. We took the Shadow Lake Trail almost to Ediza with no problems and then went cross country to Nydiver Lakes. They were still mostly snow covered. We found some dry camping around the first lake. The weather is warm (40 deg. at night) so the snow stays soft. We went up to look at Ritter and Banner but we were moving quite slowly so we turned around. We cross-countried over a 10,400 pass to Garnet Lake and were very happy to have ice axes for the north facing descent. Less snow (and giant fish!) at Garnet Lake. We decended the trail from Garnet Lake to the River Trail-THERE IS NO WAY TO CROSS THE RIVER AT THAT JUNCTION. We could find no crossing in either direction until we ran out of use trails. We ended up bushwacking down stream for about a mile until we stummbled on enough downed logs that crossed the river. We had a some worried few hours looking for a crossing and thought we might be late in getting out. Anyway, it’s warm, lots of bugs, few hikers, and the JMT is clear as far as Garnet, probably 1000 Island is good, too. I don’t know one way or the other beyond that. You can not camp along Shadow Lake, check the rules. Scott Nelson

[Thomas Caleshu]

I just completed the JMT southbound from Yosemite to Mt Whitney – 14 hiking days from July 4 – July 20 (2 layover dates). To the best of my knowledge, and from information gleaned, I was approximately the 10th person this season to complete the southbound journey.

So let me say this – Do Not Be Afraid. The trails are very passable, and getting better each day. I dare say that within a matter of days all snow will have dissapeared from the trails save the largest and highest snowfield (Muir Pass, Forester Pass).

Bugs, as everyone has said, are only a problem when you stop moving. I only encountered a few locations where bugs where a major issue – outside of Edison Lake, Rae Lakes, and one or two streams.

As per night-time bivy/tarp handling of bugs, try getting one of the cheap Army surplus style headnets – the ones that come close to your head. Wear that to bed while keeping your sleeping bag tight.

No specialized snow gear is required at this point, nor could even be used. The snow that is left never truly re-freezes overnight, and is slushy much of the day.

Stream crossings can be hazardous – although the water content in the area has peaked as of mid-July, there is still tons of it out there. Talk to other hikers on the trails, see what they have to say.

-t

[Ron Stoecklein]

As Scott indicates–you can’t camp near the lake–but you can camp 300′ back from the lake–which rules out many spots—we have our “secret spot” which really is almost the perfect campsite–if anyone is interested I think I have the waypoints for the site. And by the way we were visited by a ranger who was looking for another group–they were camped almost on the edge of the lake and were told to move–but our site was fine.

[Chris Joseph]

Ron, I would be interested in the waypoints for the campsite…can you email me at chris AT cajaeir.com
Thanks much.

[Jeremy Best]

Hey there, I am now back from my weekend trek. Like others have said the bugs are there but I used Deet only three times (once in Agnew Meadows, once in Shadow Lake, and once on the river trail by Garnet). If you use a bug net and wear clothes it is not bad at all.
It rained on Wed. and Thursday, even hailed so shelter is needed. I used a Tarp and Bivy combo so I was fine though the ground is saturated and water runs down hill quickly.
The trail is very busy with hikers and packers so there is little chance loosing the trail and snow patches are all that are left (no cramp-ons needed).
There are two bears around Garnet and Thousand Island lakes so be alert. And I tracked smaller bear tracks up to Altha Lake (near Garnet).
As for fishing, Shadow is supposed to be good but I did not fish it–it rained. Garnet has incredible fishing any where around the six miles of shoreline , but the biggest was in the outlet. There is a small pool below the lake that has fish about 16″ long (Brown, Rainbow, and some brook). Also just below the bridge there is some rapids and a small 20′ diameter pool with a log half out of the water, I caught 18 fish from here all 14-16″ long. Best fishing on the whole trip.
There is nothing in the Waugh Lake area and is a waste of time fishing. Rush Creek, I did not fish. Tuolomne Meadows Creek is full of Brook Trout, but are very hard to catch. They seem to like flys, but I only used lures. This part of the trip was very relaxing and pretty, not many sqeeters, and was weak on the fishing.
Good luck,
Jeremy

[Mitchell Keil]

Just back back from a plus 10k altitude hike out of Sabrina Lake. Spent 4 days hiking around the lakes in the Blue Lake drainage and up to Hungry Packer lake. Got as high as 11.5k and found that the only bad thing was the aircraft size mosquitoes. They were really bad and were not knocked down at night because the temp never got much lower than 45F. But the streams were still running very strong and high. Almost no snow on the trails. Days warmed up to the mid 80’s even at 11.5k if you can believe it. Never felt so warm so high up. The lakes were jumping with very hungry Goldens. Great for catch and release. Only advice — don’t expect relief from the bugs and don’t expect the evenings to drop into the low 30’s. And expect some pretty severe T-Storms. The weather has been very unstable all along the Eastern Sierras from Lone Pine to Bishop. BUT, getting out and getting up to where the sky is clear as a bell and the scent of pine and wildflowers fills the nostrils is still better than the 9 to 5 life any day of the week. ENJOY!

[Tom Clark]

Finally getting a chance to comment on my trip to Yosemite (Vogelsang area) in mid August.

The weather was much rainier than expected with rain coming in from several directions over a course of hours. Made it tougher to get the correct pitch on my tarp considering how poorly the water drains in some areas.

The OR Deluxe headnet worked well, but it wasn’t needed too often. It was appreciated at nights sleeping near Fletcher Lake to keep the bugs away. It also served double duty by adding some warmth to my face and breathing air since I don’t have a bivy with netting. I often have difficulty keeping the sleeping bag in the right position to keep out (actually in) drafts.

[Author]

Posts