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2013 Hike
#33759 10/12/13 12:23 PM
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Since some of you don't stalk around High Sierra Topix i'll keep this thread for posting some images as I get them up over the next many months.

I once again completed another major hike this summer doing 130 days in the Sierra. I climbed 34 peaks along the way so I have plenty of images to post!

Week 1

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33760 10/12/13 03:52 PM
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Hi Rouge,
Fabulous pictures (as expected).
Will you be including gps/tracks of your hike as you did last year? It would be great to see in advance your route.
Thanks! Most excellent adventure!
John

Re: 2013 Hike
John Sims #33761 10/12/13 04:00 PM
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Good idea about GPS "trail". It will make it easier to orient the pictures/trip -- especially if I am not familiar with the area.


The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.
Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33762 10/12/13 06:45 PM
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Ah yes I have forgotten those maps I made for each week. I'll have to get to work on them!

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33763 10/12/13 07:19 PM
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Ok here we go for week 1 or sort of. I finished it and uploaded before I realized I had drawn the line for all of my first section of 10 days without resupply. Oh well!

Week 1 / Section 1

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33772 10/13/13 08:54 PM
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Your photos take my breath away. The members of the Whitney Zone never cease to amaze me with all the beautiful trails and wilderness there is to explore. The trek you chose to follow is filled with so many amazing beautiful views. Question: what were you wearing while your laundry was hanging out to dry? We can only imagine:)


Lynnaroo
Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33785 10/14/13 05:44 PM
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Yeah I saw plenty of great stuff this year. I am narrowing it down with seeing every major location in the whole high Sierra. I have spent about 500 days in the high sierra in the last 6 years.

As for clothes I had another full pair of clothes on. My system out there is I have 3 shirts 3 socks 2 pairs of underwear and 2 pairs of pants. I change my shirts and socks every day and then also my underwear and pants every other day. The day I change my full outfit I bathe and do laundry so every other day I am washing. It's plenty of work but it's the best system of staying clean I have seen anyone else doing out there.

That first section was rough though. Climbing around Eleanor Lake and up Eleanor / Kendrick Creeks was a horrible experience that I would never repeat. From my camp on Eleanor it took me over 4 hours to do 1 mile around the lake in a total micro cliff bush whack nightmare. The only reason I did not turn back was the thought about having to go back the way I came! I was lucky enough to see a couple Western Pond Turtles though which was a first for me.

I had planned to do some more cross country in that area but not knowing what to expect and it being so early in the trip I skipped past it and stayed on trail.

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33786 10/14/13 07:50 PM
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Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33788 10/14/13 09:08 PM
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Rogue, I think the Rim Fire pretty well cleared out that Eleanor Lake bushwhack problem. But in a few years, it will be just as bad, or worse.

I looked at your map in the Week 2 set. Assuming the red lines are your route, did you connect the two ends somehow? I hiked through on the PCT years ago in that area, and I envy your traveling on all the side trails. It sure is deep and remote backcountry through there.

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33790 10/14/13 09:50 PM
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Yeah it's hard to picture that area all burned now.

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33792 10/14/13 10:51 PM
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I edited my post above -- with comments and a question.

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33793 10/14/13 11:01 PM
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No, my first section was 10 days where I left myself a package in a bear box. From there I did 13 days to Tuolumne Meadows.

At the end of the line for week 2 I went to Benson Lake then up Piute Creek through Slide Canyon over Burro, Matterhorn and Stanton Passes. I climbed Stanton Peak and dropped into Virginia Canyon and on down to the PCT. I then went to the McCabe Lakes and went over Don't Be A Smart Pass to the Young Lakes. Climbed Mt. Conness and went out to Tuolumne for my next resupply.

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33794 10/14/13 11:04 PM
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Maybe tomorrow if I get a chance I will take some photos of the maps on my walls. I have red lines drawn for all of the areas I have been to before.

I did this once before but I have not updated or added other maps.

This photo here shows SEKI before adding any lines for the trip I just completed:

SEKI

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33795 10/14/13 11:07 PM
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One word: Wow!

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33831 10/18/13 07:09 PM
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Got around to it:

Yosemite

Mammoth

Mono Divide

Kings Canyon

Sequoia

I have come along way considering all that hiking is from 2006 - 2013 with most of it being 2009 - 2013.

Last edited by RoguePhotonic; 10/18/13 07:12 PM.
Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33832 10/18/13 11:24 PM
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I'm happy to say that there are at least a few places I have been that you haven't. grin grin

But then, that's been over the past 40 years. frown

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33842 10/20/13 03:52 PM
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Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33846 10/20/13 08:10 PM
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Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33857 10/21/13 08:23 PM
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Hi Rogue,
Your photographs are really quite spectacular (are they straight out of the camera, or do you enhance with photoshop or some other editing S/W?), and the scope of your undertaking quite impressive. You certainly have all the material to publish the "definitive" guide to the Sierras. I'm enjoying connecting your maps, and following your progress through your pictures.
Not that I want to make more work for you, but I would be interested in your planning process. You seem to plan your "sections" based on: distance; pack (food) weight; access to re-supply; and your interest is seeing particular sections of the Sierras. It is though your total hike is a collection of shorter hikes, all hooked together. Is this correct? Could you post, for each section:
- Distance (length and elevation gain/loss)
- Duration (days/nights)
- Amount of food carried
- Particular destination within the section that was of interest
If this is asking too much please just let me know.
Thanks,
John

Re: 2013 Hike
RoguePhotonic #33870 10/22/13 05:34 PM
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The photos this year are all almost completely unedited. Or called SOC (straight out of camera). I have allot of wide angle shots because those are stitches. I try to teach as many people as I can how easy it is to stitch photos together to get the compositions you want. The rest of the editing has been simple exposure adjustments or unless I need to remove 50 hot pixels from a star trail photo. All I took for a lens this year was a fixed 35MM F1.4 so I could not zoom at all but it was no big deal.

Your right about how these long hikes come together. They start by being locations I have not been to or might want to see again and then begin getting a bit dictated based on resupply options which can be limiting. I used to have a rule to not do more than 10 days without resupply to keep the weight down but after last year doing up to 15 days over hard terrain I knew I could do more of that. I try to limit my trail miles to 10-15 miles a day and cross country to 5-7 miles a day. I have got allot better about planning properly so that it's not too far although I still make a few mistakes. Since I just enjoy being out in the Sierra I don't mind at all getting to camp early. Many times I have reached camp by lunch time. It helps that I do allot of reading out there so I am not laying around bored.

Length with gain and loss would be allot of work. In years past I kept track of those types of statistics. I used to run my GPS all day long to keep track of altitude gain and loss and have all the miles added up before I left but the last couple of years I stopped doing that because I don't really care anymore how many miles I am hiking total or how much gain or loss I have. I just figure I gain and lose about 200,000 feet in one of these hikes.

The total days and nights is easy and just depends on how you add it up. There are the total number of days between resupply but then there are more days like the ones I take for rest before heading out again.

I always carry exactly the amount of food I need. Such as if I do a 10 day section I wont need to pack breakfast for the day I leave, I shouldn't need a dinner for the day I come back if I can get food when I get out and depending on how long your last day is you may or may not need a lunch. So for 10 days it would be 9 dinners 9 breakfast and 9 or 10 lunches depending.

My sections were like this:

1: Eleanor to Eleanor (10 days)
2: Eleanor to Tuolumne (13 days)
3: Tuolumne to Reds Meadow (4 days)
4: Reds Meadow to VVR (6 days)
5: VVR to VVR (5 days)
6: VVR to VVR (4 days)
7: VVR to South Lake (16 days)
8: South Lake to South Lake (13 days)
9: South Lake to Cedar Grove (14 days)
10: Cedar Grove to Lodgepole (12 days)
11: Lodgepole to Lodgepole (13 days)

As for locations that were of interest on these section I would have to say:

1: Edith Lake, Horse Meadow, Buck Lakes
2: Benson Lake, the slide in slide canyon, Roosevelt Lake
3: 1000 Island Lake
4: The unique views that Red Slate & Red and White Mountains offer
5: Margaret Lake
6: None
7: Schoolmarm Lake up to Hockey Lakes,
8: Grouse Meadow, Lake 10,565, Dumbbell Lakes, Marion Lake
9: Bench Lake, Meadows between Arrow Peak and Bench Lake
10: Vidette Lakes, Kern Hot Spring, Redwood Meadow
11: Hamilton Lake, Lake 10,600 (Picket Guard Creek)

Those are some places that stand out as being something special to me. I hate that I put none in section 6 but that was the section I got flooded out in the middle of the night and bailed on everything else I had planned and nothing else on that section was beyond the typical amazing beauty seen in the Sierra. grin

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