July 3-8th: 80-90 mile, partial cross country Sierran trip. EPIC!

Permit pickup is at the White Mountain Ranger Station in the middle of Bishop. I suspect that they have after hours pickup, but I haven't confirmed that yet.

Mantica sounds good to me. Perfectly situated for a fortifying in-n-out.

Adan, cool to see you again, Casey, Dave and Craig looking forward to meeting you guys.

105 days

No idea where we'd park a car for that long in Manteca though.. I've left mine on city streets for the weekend.. but…

I'll try to call the ranger station tomorrow about pick up times/after hours. Let me know if you get any info before I do.

I'm on summer vacation on the 3rd so I could pretty much get up there whatever time I want, depending on when Adan can leave. So I think getting the permit is no problem.

By summertime, the White Mountain Ranger Station in Bishop is fully involved with the summer schedule and procedures. However, right now I would guess that they are still in winter mode, so they may not be thinking ahead far enough about details.

Whatever they tell you now may get changed as a result of federal staffing cutbacks.

–B.G.–

I called today at 4:45 and they had closed due to winter hours at 4:30.

hey all.

i'm liking the sound of this. i imagine us folks from the bay area/valley should carpool over. i've always wanted to go in over Taboose, but Baxter is an option too; plenty of time to come up with lots of cross-country granite wandering.

sounds good!

Just called White Mountain; they said the permit can be picked up at any of the 4 Inyo stations before 5PM.
If I can get away before 2PM, I'm thinking that stopping in Lone Pine before 5 would work on July 3rd.

After-hours pickup is OK as long as nobody is entering Sequoia/Kings Canyon.

Dave, we're going over Lamarck Col and into Ionian Basin (and perhaps elsewhere). Climbing peaks, doing some cross country passes. Are you still interested?

Craig, thanks for calling them! I'm all for carpooling.

Who's driving from the bay? Can I park and ride?

It'd be great if you can reach Lone Pine by 5pm. Since we're entering SEKI, we'll have to pick up the permit on the 4th otherwise. Not a huge deal..

Who's carrying the watermelon?

Looks like I'm too late to join the party. Sounds like an awesome trip and one I've had in mind. I'll be looking forward to a good trip report!

Ryan

"Dave, we're going over Lamarck Col and into Ionian Basin (and perhaps elsewhere). Climbing peaks, doing some cross country passes. Are you still interested?"

I'm down for that. Never been over Larmarck and into Ionian. I'd be up for peak bagging as long as it's Class 2 – easy 3 kinda stuff. More off-trail the better for me.

And I'd be looking to carpool with the NorCal crew.

If you guys from the Bay need a place to park I have a space for you in north Modesto right off CA99. It would be no more than a few minutes detour to get back on CA108/120. If it's only one car, I'll let someone park in my designated carport parking space at the apartment complex I live at.

I am not sure I will be able to watch you all takeoff for the trailhead because I will be tearing my heart out with jealousy. It looks like a great group and plan.

Too bad, since if you went I'd have someone to talk electronic music with!

That would have been great. We will have to do a trip this summer.

Jack,

Giving the maps a good once over. One obvious route from Darwin to Ionian would be through McGhee Lakes, over the ridge to Davis Lake, down to Martha Lake, back up into Ionian that way. Seeing lots of good beta out there for this. Seems like a good off track route with plenty of potentential peaks to tag if so inclined. I'll look for other route possibilities to make this a loop back to South Lake or North Lake.

Or Do you already have an idea of where we're going on this one?

hey y'all.

i trust this trip is still on the calendar (it's on mine!). just firming up all the summer plans.

game on?

All good here, I'm looking forward to it.

Game on.
Adan, sorry I missed your post. I'll look at your proposal. just a sec.

Adan, we’re thinking along the same lines!

Everyone, check out my proposed trip. Thoughts?

Jack, looks great. Red and blue routes would be my preference as well.

Looks like there is an alternate return via Lake Sabrina if you'd prefer a loop. Basically it breaks east at Saphire lake cross country, crosses over just north of Mount Haeckel and then down to Hungry Packer Lake. Not a preference of mine, just another option. might be slow going though as info is sparse and route finding may be tricky…. http://www.scaruffi.com/travel/evolut.html

Yep, Haeckle Col is definitely an option. Now that I look at it, that blue line near Darwin Lakes is miss-drawn. I was intending it to be Haeckle.

(some info about it and photos are here: http://www.snwburd.com/bob/trip_reports/scylla_1.html)

A good discussion of the four passes that we can choose from. http://www.summitpost.org/enchanted-gorge/420576

I figure we head in via Lamarck and assess the groups desires on the return to see if we want to aim for Haeckle or Echo or something.

Everything on the route looks great to me so far.

Guys, I'm still totally stoked for this. Red and blue routes seem great to me. Jack, I like your idea of seeing where everyone is at and having the opportunity to select options from there.

I see an early posting that the trip is full. Is it still full? Have space for one more? I've done lot's of backpacking trips with the Sierra Club, and would like to join in on this one if there is room. Thanks, Gary.

Sorry, Gary. It's still full.