[pct-l] snowy Sierra

[pcnst2001 at covad.net (pcnst2001@covad.net)]

Ever wonder what "orographic precipitation" means in a technical
summary weather forecast?

http://pcnst.oakapple.net/photo/cc-pct/h/2004-10-17-h04/

This "orographic precipitation" however was not THE storm; the storm
arrived on Monday as many lost hikers seem to have learned too late.

Sorry I haven't gotten the descriptive readme pages written yet,
but if you click on the various buttons or read the 
How to Navigate page you can relive an exciting weekend
Rae Lakes Loop.   Exciting to me anyway.

I managed to "rescue" two guys who had lately started at
Kennedy Meadows South and were figuring to reach Lake Tahoe
before the weather turned bad.    They made it to the top
of Pinchot Pass when better judgment prevailed and they
headed down to Roads End and made the unhappy discovery that
it's a pretty quiet place on a rainy Sunday in October
and probably even quieter on a snowy Monday, so they flagged
me down and I hauled them to Los Banos where they have friends.
They were hoping to continue when the sun came out but the
forecast suggests to me that the hiking season for the PCT 
in the High Sierra is over.

Two southbound through-hikers that I met at Three Sisters just after
Labor Day might have been caught in the storm in the Sierra if
they persisted thus far.    I hope they made it out OK; they had
started from Manning on July 27; if successful they might have
the latest-starting through hike ever.