So, before any of this bear canister mumbo jumbo is decided, I think the group consensus first has to be an agreement to take whatever risks necessary to end up with Adan wrestling a bear.

That said, bacon wrapped sardines are going to be my staple trail food...

Well, how powerful does Adan seem, when compared to a bear? Fairly powerful? Kinda powerful? More info needed.

Also, let's remember that there won't be any sticks above timberline, so the stick-hitting portion of the plan is right out.

"But if it leads to a midnight photo of Adan wrastlin' a bear over Twinkies while Dave is trying to club it with a branch...now that would be totally worth it."

Take LOTS OF PICTURES. I wouldn't miss that one for the world. ;)

Great, now I'll be up all night wondering if James is waiting to sneak some bacon wrapped sardines into my pants!

Dude, I can't believe you still have that picture...That party was f@ckin' nuts. I never did find out who brought the bear.

Good times...

"Well, how powerful does Adan seem, when compared to a bear? Fairly powerful? Kinda powerful? More info needed."


Well, apparently Adan is of the right body shape to fend off a bear, stocky and compact. The abundant back hair can't hurt either.

I was planning a very similar trip that week with a partner who has since bailed on me. Now planning something solo, unless others reading this thread were disappointed to see this trip is full to capacity and want to form another group with a modified route. I'm a bit flexible on dates - any 5-6 days between July 1 through 8 are good for me.

Sorry guys, I've been in the mountains for this discussion. It's nice up there.

I lean away from bringing my bearikade. I'm only concerned about marmots and feel comfortable with a combination of sleeping with my food and/or hanging off of boulders. I'll bring a cord to hang my food off a cliff if marmots seem to be a problem.

Anyone want to produce maps and send them around via email for us all to print off? Each person should definitely have 1:24k-30k for the entire region that we may traverse.

Thoughts on the summits, ridge walking and/or trip out towards Tunemah?

1. I vote for no canister.

2. I will have to take a better look at the route on my Tom Harrison maps at home and the "passes" in Secor (if they are in there) and/or online. My general thoughts is that I'd love to be off-trail/up high as much as possible, use off-trail passes up to Class 2+ level (if you know what I mean), perhaps bag a peak or two at the same level, and prefer as much of a loop as we can do (to avoid covering the same ground twice).

3. I'm hoping to hop into a carpool with the Bay Area/Sacramento folks.

Edited by DaveT on 06/14/2012 13:05:16 MDT.

> 3. I'm hoping to hop into a carpool with the Bay Area/Sacramento folks.

Dave T.

Regarding carpooling from up north, I think the plan is for you, James and me to meet up in the Bay Area then drive to Escalon where we meet Jack and leave a car at a BPL'ers house. If you and James can get to Berkeley, we can take my car from there to Escalon. Parking is also safe and plentiful at my house.

Casey

I can sort out getting down to Berkeley... we are heading over 120?

I'll go with the flow and plan to leave my canister at home then. I'm OK with sleeping with my food or hanging it.

Nice! I'm down for no canister too.

Casey, Thanks again for offering the ride! I'd be heading over on BART from San Francisco... Depending on where you are at maybe Lafayette or Walnut Creek would be a good meeting point? We can work out details/timing as it gets a bit closer.

Sorry, can't help there...I'm not too techy, don't have a working color printer, and don't have any topo software.


This is only 3 weeks away now!! Getting really excited to get out there.

> Regarding carpooling from up north, I think the plan is for you, James and me to meet up in the Bay Area then drive to Escalon where we meet Jack and leave a car at a BPL'ers house. If you and James can get to Berkeley, we can take my car from there to Escalon. Parking is also safe and plentiful at my house.

That's the plan as I see it. I'd really appreciate not having to drive beyond Escalon if possible.

Please bring cord for marmot hangs if necessary.

Jack,

Leaving your car in Escalon is not a problem.

I've never been in the Sierra's "without" a bear can. It will be nice to leave it at home.

I'm thinking of bringing LOPSAK OPSAK odor proof bags ($13 for three 20" x 12.5" bags at REI) and sleeping with my food. Thoughts? However, I'll also bring some chord for marmot hangs just in case.

As Jack noted, all hangs will probably be from cliffs since we will be above the treeline.

"As Jack noted, all hangs will probably be from cliffs since we will be above the treeline."

Yellow-bellied marmots just love to climb rock for food. They have very small rock shoes, and they can climb 5.7 or so. They've learned also that they don't have to score the food bag directly. They can just chew the cord and they win it all. Better take steel wire rope.

--B.G.--

My thoughts?

I think that OP sacks aren't worth much. Bears can smell food inside a can. The bear rangers in Yosemite also say that OP sacks don't do anything to protect food from animals. We're not dealing with bears, but...

Edited by Found on 06/16/2012 17:53:50 MDT.

Just want to double check our plans with everyone as I get a menu together. I'm totally flexible if any of my figurin' is off...

Tuesday night: Dinner at the trailhead. Are we hiking in right away or can I count on eating food from my car (i.e. a burrito, cold pizza, etc.)...Don't know how close we'll be to the cars for this meal.

Wednesday: Same question: is breakfast at the trailhead, near our cars, or should I pack some trail food for breakfast? Lunch/Dinner obviously on the trail.

Thurs-Sat: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner (+snacks) on trail

Sunday: Breakfast and lunch + snacks on trail, but I'm assuming we'll be out for dinner on the road home.

Let me know what everyone's thinking...Mainly just curious where we'll be on the first night and next morning to pack accordingly.

If we don't know what we're doing, that's fine, I'll plan on trail food for all these meals....

Good questions Craig.

I'm going to make the call and say that we're camping at the trailhead on Tuesday night. Us Norcal folks have a long drive and will be arriving pretty late (10-12pm?). We'll eat a restaurant meal on our way in.

Hiking starts early on the 4th. 8am? Cold pizza for breakfast would make me jealous. I hear it's good altitude acclimatization food ;)

At the end of the trip, you're right. Bring breakfast and lunch. Dinner will be on the road. I suspect that we'll camp on the west side of the return pass, wake up early and eat a late group lunch in Bishop on the way out.

How about shelters... normally, I'd figure we'd all have solo shelters. Anyone thinking otherwise? Any non-snorers carrying a multiple person shelter and want to split the weight? I'm not terribly tempted to shack up, but if it drops my shelter weight from 1 lbs. 3oz. to sub eight ounces, I'm tempted.

GPS units. Who's bringing one?

Everyone be prepared for nasty, stormy weather. It can get brutal up high. I'm crossing my fingers for blue bird skies but will be prepared for raging thunderstorms.

Edited by Found on 06/18/2012 22:43:28 MDT.