Bishop Pass South-North Lake Loop 9/17-21/2012

I just did that loop a few weeks ago. I had my Spinn Twinn and a Western Mountaineering Summerlite (down). The first night I had rain at about 3:00 am to 6:30 am. It rained real hard. Due to poor set up, since I set it up after dark when I saw lighting strikes from the east, I had to sleep a bit off center due to the BIG ROCK I had set up on! Because of that I had a bit of spray and condensation. I packed my wet tarp and damp bag and headed out. I was able to dry it out later that day while I stopped to eat lunch in Dusy Basin.

I was planning on going over Muir that day until I hit rain at Little Pete Meadow and then rain and hail at Big Pete Meadow. I decided to stay there and not chance it up at Muir. That way I got a good camping spot, enjoyed the rain under my shelter, and was able to fish a bit. I was glad I did since the next day I saw a ton of people that had a real wet cold experience going over Muir the day before. As I was hiking up nice and dry most of them were barely rolling out of their tents as I headed up to Muir. I was glad I didn't continue on the day before. I was able to dry my stuff out at lunch that day in Colby Meadow and then I headed down to Muir Trail Ranch for some hot springing.

After that it was dry. All in all, I am always leary of taking down during wet conditions, however, it is so rare there is not a bit of time to dry things out in the Sierra I don't really worry about it. Also, I really don't have a good synthetic I could even take.

Those passing, middle of the night rainstorms are what make me reluctant to camp sans-shelter, using my tarp, ala Mike C! as a pillow. I make end up bringing the down quilt since I do have my synthetic BPL cocoon hoody as a safety layer if my down got completely drenched, which is unlike anyways. It would be survival level-safety, and I wouldn't likely sleep, but I wouldn't die either.

The first two nights of my trip, according the the 7 day weather.gov forecast, are looking clear with a low of 34 and 37, respectively, perfect for sleeping out under a tarp. My BPL Nano is only slightly smaller than the SpinnTwinn, (9" at the ridgline, 8" head, 15" foot) and I did okay in rain and hail, probably didn't even need the bivy, which in fact probably caused more condensation wet-out than I would've gotten from spray each night, though it does scare me to leave the bivy behind when bringing the Nano, which would make the Solomid/Nunatak combo the lightest by about a 1/4 lb, but the Nano/Nunatak/bivy combo has the life-style appeal of sleeping out/open views. Probably I'll pack both and then leave one combo in the car based on a more timely weather forecast.