Steve - thanks for the weather updates, checking on the status of the fire for us, and keeping everyone here updated.
What's with the mileages? Bearpaw is a lot more than 7.33 miles in.
I noticed the Delorme split up some days into multiple tracks. Not sure why this happened. I need to look over the data.
Yesterday they climbed to Precipice Lake -- they were there by 2 PM! Text wrote about crazy heat. This morning, they have cleared Kaweah Gap, and are heading down Big Arroyo Creek.
It appears they had some experience with salt-starved marmots chewing on hiking pole handles: #MarmotsEatHikingPoles
I hope they got some good pictures at Precipice Lake.
Update: Today's DeLorme map shows a fire high on a ridge across Big Arroyo Creek from the trail. I hope it isn't too smoky for them. Appears they may make Kern Hot Springs by tonight.
Very hot weather. I drank 7-8 liters of water some days.
The marmots did get to my hiking poles!
I put the waypoint showing the fire on the Delorme map, so that my wife could see our location in relation to the fire. We did run into some smoke near Morraine Lake, but it wasn't bad.
Progress from the HST up has been slow -- they must be carrying heavy packs.
They managed to find the route, and reached the hidden packer camp about 7 PM.
Packs were heavy to begin with and we left HST with about 8 liters of water between the two of us.
Packer Camp was a cool spot.
They made it to Guitar Lake in 4 hours. Spending the night just above Guitar Lake. Weather predictions were for wind on the summit, so I think they decided to stay low tonight.
We actually left Guitar Lake thinking we'd stay at Trail Crest or the summit, but we ran into lots of hikers talking about how cold it was. Apparently 8 hikers spent Saturday in the summit hut.
Started up at 2 AM; made the summit by 6 AM, Trail Camp by 10 AM. Looks like it is Exit Day. Could be burgers for lunch at the Portal Store.
...or pizza in Lone Pine. They finished about 2:15 PM today.
Gil(
GoHiker.com) missed sunrise by about 20 mins. Early on I knew we wouldn't make it for sunrise, so I slowed my pace and watched it from the last window.
The burgers smelled amazing, but we had been talking about pizza since hitting the summit.
