Eastern Sierras, 4-6 July 2008

Who

  • Anup (can leave 3:30pm from Silicon Valley)
  • Dawna (can leave 1pm from Pleasanton)
  • Jamie (can leave 1pm from Pleasanton)
  • Mark (can leave anytime from Palo Alto)
  • Nicole (can leave 3:30pm from Redwood City)
  • piero (can leave anytime from Redwood City)
  • Weilin (can leave anytime from Menlo Park)

Warnings

First the warnings, because i'd rather have people flake out now than when we get there (and these are only the ones that i can remember off the top of my head):
  1. The trailhead is reached via 30' of narrow unmaintained unpaved bumpy sandy road (and taking the correct turns to get to the trailhead is a lottery)
  2. We'll camp semi-legally far away from facilities the first night, and on the mountain the other two nights
  3. The hike to Shepherd Pass involves at least four major creek crossings with water up to your knees
  4. Suicidal hikers who want to summit Mt Williamson will also need to use their hands up a chute full of skree and snow, and climb a class-3 chimney (short but at 4000m of altitude)
  5. There might still be patches of snow on Shepherd Pass (not this year probably, but could be)
  6. We may not get permits to camp on the mountain so you may be hiking illegally the whole weekend
For some people this is a lot of fun. For some people this is a horror story.

There are of course also good news: there is a lot of water; the temperature is usually mild if not warm; after the creeks the trail to Shepherd Pass is one of the best marked and maintained trails on the sierras; and there are lots of other attractions on that plateau besides Williamson (in fact Williamson is the least visited of those attractions). Because the route is so long, you are unlikely to suffer from altitude as much as on the usual sierras. Needless to say, the views are unforgettable. As a learning experience, once you've done Williamson you can literally do any of the other sierras because it doesn't get any worse.

Carpooling

  • Dawna's car: leaves 1pm from Pleasanton with Jamie, Mark, Weilin
  • piero's car: leaves 4pm from Redwood City with Nicole, Anup
Reference point in Pleasanton (and place to put everybody on the rental contract): the Enterprise office and parking lot (4275 Rosewood Dr, 94588).

You can park cars in that parking lot. We've done it countless times.

Car rentals

The rentals for subcompacts cost $140 for four days at Enterprise, including taxes, so about $40/50 each person (once we add insurance). Any number of co-drivers can be added to the contract for free, but in that case you need to be in Pleasanton (where all major car-rental companies have offices) before they close: 6pm. (Why rent? If you pay the official AAA cost per mile, a private car costs more than a rental car. Furthermore, if anything happens to the private car, the owner is unlikely to just say "who cares", whereas you can just call the car-rental company if their car has a problem. Also, the driver is more likely to say "no" to driving a bad road or park in a so-so place when s/he's driving her/his own car than when s/he's driving a rental car, which may limit what we can do, where we can camp, etc. Finally, a private car belongs to the... owner, and s/he can change his/her mind at any time about what to do. You are literally depending on that person to stick to the original agreement. That said, if you decide to carpool in someone's car, make sure you agree upfront on the compensation and what to do if the car breaks down, has an accident, etc. These days you may also want to make sure about gas mileage).

Meeting points in case we get separated

The Bishop ranger station on friday at 8am.

The trailhead in Independence at 10am. See Mt Williamson for directions to the Shepherd Pass trailhead.

Use walkie talkies on channel 13. Cell phones do work in Independence, even at the trailhead.

Backcountry permits

Jamie made a reservation for five backcountry permits for two nights for the Shepherds Pass area. The fee was $25. Must be picked up in person by 11am at any Inyo Nat Forest Office in Lee Vining or Bishop. Any person beyond those five can apply and get a permit in person (for free) at the ranger office if walk-in permits are still available (usually they are).

Where we camp

Thursday night we will camp at high altitude on the other side of Yosemite. Zero facilities. Very remote.

The second and third night you'll be camping on the mountain. I'll be sleeping in the car.

Tents

  • piero has a tent for 4
  • Nicole, Jamie and Mark will bring a tent for 2 each

How we communicate

Cell phones may or may not work. Surprisingly, they do work at the trailhead. However, assume that cell phones will NOT work. The most reliable device is the walkie-talkie. We use channel 13.

Walkie talkies: piero (2), Anup (1), Weilin (3), Mark (1)

Day plans

  • Thursday night: Stop in Pleasanton to put drivers on contract. Have dinner on the road. Camp after Yosemite.
  • Friday:
    • 8am Get the overnight permit in Bishop
    • 8:15am Last meal at a restaurant
    • 9am Drive to the trailhead
    • Everybody except piero starts hiking towards Shepherd Pass and camps somewhere before the pass
  • Saturday:
    • Everybody except piero hikes early in the morning to Shepherd Pass and to Mt Williamson and back to the tent
    • piero starts at 3am and hikes all the way to Mt Williamson and back to the car
  • Sunday:
    • Hike back to the car in the morning, restaurant, shower, hot springs, and drive back (arrival time around midnight)

What To Bring/ Checklist

  • headlight/flashlight
  • sleeping bag/mat/pillow
  • toilet paper
  • mosquito repellent
  • drinks and food for two days and nights
  • If you don't drink natural water, then water filter or iodine tablets
  • hat, sunscreen, chapstick
  • walkie talkies (mandatory)
  • spare batteries for headlight and walkie talkie
  • band aids/emergency kit whatever makes you comfortable (but the number-one safety item is actually a walkie talkie)
  • emergency poncho
  • emergency blanket
  • Tivas sandals if you don't feel comfortable crossing creeks (we have to cross four creeks)
  • At least one hiking pole (helps cross creeks)
  • change of socks (there are six creeks to cross plus potentially some snow on the pass and in the chute)
  • your own copy of maps/directions
  • if you are a driver, a duplicate key for another passenger (in case you lose yours)
  • tent (if you are supposed to bring one)
  • cash to pay the car renter
  • The temperature will be very warm before Shepherd Pass, but very chilly at Shepherd Pass and beyond: warm clothes, gloves, windproof jacket
  • possibly an ice pick (if you are concerned about snow/ice)
Please no smelly food (fruit, meat) unless you know where to store it (read the warning about bears and mice)

The weather will be warm during the day but chilly early in the morning and very chilly on top of the mountain.

Food

A general note about food: while bears are rare in this area in the hot season, it is wise to leave absolutely no food in your cars. If you keep some in your tent, make sure it is not smelly (no fruit or meat), it is well wrapped, and keep it inside a tightly closed container. Bears do not like humans and are unlikely to mess with tents full of humans unless the reward smells really good, but rodents have the all night to make holes in your tent or backpack. If you are paranoid, buy bear canisters. If you are reckless, leave the food outside the tent stored in a tightly closed container on a boulder with steep sides that rodents and the likes cannot reach (in more than 20 years of hiking, no animal ever touched my food left outside the tent). If you are the really complicated type and have unlimited amounts of time, hang it from trees (this only works where there are no bears and no rodents, because both can climb trees).

We can have one last good meal before starting the hike.

If you plan to cook where you camp, you need a campfire permit (yes, even just for a gas stove). The fines are steep, and even a small fire is visible from very far.

The hike

Read my notes for details on the trailhead, distances, the trail and the cross-country route.

See the pictures of the hike to Shepherd Pass to get an idea of the terrain. Suicidal hikers can also view the pictures of the cross-country portion from Shepherd Pass to Mt Williamson (click on the link at the bottom of that page).

Best to get a sense of what is involved are probably these group pictures of two years ago. Funny but very realistic :-)

Maps

See my Mt Williamson page

Weather and webcams

My page has links.

Trivia

The cover of my book "The Nature of Consciousness" is a picture of Mt Williamson and the Williamson Bowl taken in 2004 from nearby Mt Tyndall :-)

The number one obstacle

A word about rangers, especially in the Inyo National Forest. It always spells truble when someone wants to stop by a ranger station. I've been hiking these mountains for more than 20 years. I still have to meet an Inyo ranger who really commands respect (if you always trusted what they told you, you don't know how wrong they were). They mostly have a desk job to issue and check permits, which compares with the job of a parking officer. I found them to make things up just to show off. Mostly they try to discourage people from doing what people want to do. It's either what they are ordered to do (to be on the safe side), or they do it just out of existential frustration. Based on my 20+ years of experience, i regrettably have to say that many of them are miserable people with miserable lives who want everybody to be miserable like them. It could be that i never meet the good ones because the good ones don't work at a desk and don't ambush hikers on the trail to check their permits. So... feel free to ask rangers your questions, but it would be sad if a trip depended on what a random bureaucrat said on a given day, which may only be due to his mood (or his amateurish experience) and not on reality. I have countless stories of people who canceled trips or turned back because of what rangers told them, and it turned out to be completely false, from weather forecasts (trust the internet, not the rangers) to trail conditions to snow level to avalanches etc. On the other hand, i value (a lot) the judgment and opinion and information coming from any hiker who has just done what i want to do. So... some may ask rangers (who are mostly interested and competent in bureaucracy), but i prefer to ask real-life hikers (who are mostly interested in Nature).

Original email

Time to make up our minds about the first trip to the sierras, with main target Shepherd Pass (Mt Williamson if you are the suicidal kind). First of all let me know what is your level of committment, from 0% to 100%, then we can decide which weekend based on the most committed ones. The choice is between the first (long) weekend of july and the second weekend of july. (The Shepherd Pass region is closed for the bighorn migration/mating after July 15).

For those who have never been there
* The drive is long and hell, ending with 30' of narrow unpaved bumpy sandy road
* We'll camp far away from facilities the first night, and on the mountain the other two nights
* The hike is strenuous to Shepherd Pass, involving at least four creek crossings
* Suicidal hikers who want to go beyond it will also face real mountain wilderness and class-2 rock climbing (*not* gymn-style rock climbing)

Countless things can go wrong and usually they do.

The reward is Shepherd Pass, one of the most legendary passes (but it is legendary also because it's so difficult).

Right now i consider all of you a "maybe". Please reply with your level of interest and commitment.

piero the migrating wild beast