[pct-l] mini trip report

[jape@nethere.com (jape)]

Just back from four days on the east side.  We started from the McGee
Creek trailhead north of Tom's (Since 1917) Place.  Hiked west to McGee
Pass and down Fish Creek to the PCT.  South over Silver Pass to the Mono
Creek Drainage, east to Mono Pass and out to Rock Creek (Mosquito Flats
trailhead).  Shuttle between the trailheads by Randy at Sierra Express,
$27.50.

Temps between mid 80's and low 40's. Elevations between 8K and 12K.  No
skeeters to speak of.  No bears sighted, one pile of scat seen.  Currant
berries and elderberries were ripe.  Saw several blue grouse and a
multitude of Clark's nutcrackers.  Got scolded on two occasions by pikas
with attitudes.  One day saw only one other hiker, three was the most in
a day.  In the two days along Mono Creek got passed by 17 mules and 9
horses in four groups.  The ratio between trail muffins and rocks was
about the same in the rockier parts.  Most of the water dams placed
across the trail had been broached by the stock of the Rock Creek pack
station.  Some of the dams had central boulders pulled and set to the
side, others had alternate routes carved into the soil which
circumvented (and rendered useless) the dams.

Micky, in the employ of the NFS, checked our permit, announced that next
year bear cannisters would be required in all of Inyo Nat'l Forest (to
"help standardize the regulations between Parks and Forests), and the
packer trailhead quotas would go into effect.  She then shouldered her
55+ pound pack, grabbed her full sized shovel and slogged up the creek
to the Hopkins basin.  She had been assigned to record GPS waypoints for
each campsite found, and log the number of tent sites and fire rings.
According to her, the readings will be fed into a centralized data
base.  Yep.

Great (a bit on the warm side) weather, no afternoon thunderstorms until
after we were over the pass and out, and vistas the will keep my soul at
peace for while longer. Our last camp was at the 4th recess lake, and I
would match it with anything we saw through Evolution Valley. The waxing
gibbous moon broke above the bowl's rim a half hour after sunset, and
for a few minutes appeared to be impaled on the craigs above.  It was
bright enough to cause the snowmelt, falling into the end of the valley,
to shimmer in it's light. The lake, still in the calm of early evening,
offered a mrror image of the night sky above.

No thru-hikers met on the PCT <g>

Eckert