 | | The long drive up to the Sierra Nevada! But we just got started and have a long time on our butts...
Somewhere just past Fallbrook, CA
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 | | So our directions from Google... had us go down this... empty one lane road. Very picturesque... in a deliverance sort of way. Of course we ended up getting a little lost, it only cost us 30 min or so.. that would come to haunt us later.
BFE, near Elderwood, CA
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 | | Dammit! We got to the permit office maybe 15 minutes too late, they closed at 3-ish! So we had to get a campsite and kill some time until the next day. It also made the proposed loop hike that much harder because we'd have less time to do it... doh...
Cedar Grove, Seki, CA
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 | | Our campsite... we're eating backpacking food during a carcamp... oi, that's not natural. On the upside we'd have less to carry up the first climb...
Cedar Grove, Seki, CA
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 | | So in the middle of the night these f*king sierra clubers pull up in their giant bus and unload tons of gear and people promptly waking up everyone in the campsite... dumbasses.. funny thing is that i knew these folks, they're part of the SD chapter, i know the leaders... grrr... anyways we got up early to beat them to the permit office and everyone else too.. we made it 2nd in line... and the idiot permit fellow took 30 minutes to open up.. after showing up late... gubment workers...
Cedar Grove, Seki, CA
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 | | Everyone smiling at the trail head!
Cedar Grove, Seki, CA
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 | | Hiking out of Cedar Grove is hard and hot. See, we're not exactly in pine forest wonderland. Lots of manzanita, oak, and sun... and a big ass mountain... which is proving to be harder than i thought...
Cedar Grove, Seki, CA
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 | | At the front of the group they run into a little bear, Rob and Paul are saying hello, goodbye to it!
Cedar Grove, Seki, CA
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 | | Nice haze huh? Over the last week northern california pretty much burned down. There were thousands of small fires, especially toward the coast and the winds were blowing the smoke toward Sequoia. The whole area was borderline unhealthy for strenuous exercize....
Seki, CA
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 | | Wait for me guys! Damm, i got out of shape fast... it's only a 3rd of the way in the 6000ft gain day.. oi...
Tent Meadow, Seki, CA
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 | | Stopping for lunch on day 1. Hmmm... cliff bars, frosted animal cookies, and jerky.
Tent Meadow, Seki, CA
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 | | Toward the 2nd half of day 1 Paul's knee started acting up. Everyone is hurting, and Megan/Rob/Julie are doing well but the pain factor is taking it's toll on group morale : (
Tent Meadow, Seki, CA
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 | | Rob/Megan/Julie/Alex waited for Me and Paul at the pass to Granite Basin... here's Rob chillin'.
Granite Basin, Seki, CA
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 | | And the whole group once we all arrived.
Granite Basin, Seki, CA
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 | | At this point we abandon the loop, everyone's hurting, tired, hurt, and can't go much more. Alex the trouper wants to push through the pain but we have to stick togeather. The change of plans means hiking across the basin to the west side (see trees) and camp a night or two at Granite Lake.
Granite Basin, Seki, CA
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 | | Alright! New mission! Campsite, food, sitting! It's just over there (as i try to rally the troops). I think they want to kill me : )
Granite Basin, Seki, CA
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 | | There's a stream cutting through the basin, it winds all over in a generally marsh like fashion. It made for an interesting crossing (and falling) here and there..
Granite Basin, Seki, CA
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 | | Yeah! Almost there, just over that little bit! Paul's really hurting now...
Granite Basin, Seki, CA
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 | | Alex surveying the lake, snow pack, and surrounding mountains.
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Dinner time.. a somewhat miserable experience... the environment was awesome.. the mosquitos sucked complete ass!!!!
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Megan getting all photography-like... at 4:30am.
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Megan was first up but i wasn't too far behind... here's Rob still counting sheep at 5:30 in the morning.
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | The breakfast scene... day 2. Not too bad, but the bugs are already starting to come out. Damm them!
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Since we changed our plans we had a lot of time to kill, it was no longer going to be a 5 day-er... so we were going to hike up to a ridge and look around..
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Hiking out of Granite Lake... not too bad but there's some scrambling here and there...
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Hehehe... Rob's sunglasses took a beating, but duct tape fixes everything!
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Our lunch spot, day 2. We're tired so we konk out for a bit somewhere between Granite lake and the un-named one above it.
11N 354964 4080722
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 | | A fantastic view.. there are soooo many beautiful sights here, all it takes is for one to get off their ass and walk out here! Too many chezburgers, cheetos, and coke won't let you come up here though.
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Now what? We still have lots of time, so we decided to hop the stream, head north, and try get to the top of a ridge...
Above Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Megan making her way above Granite Lake.
Granite Lake-ish, Seki, CA
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 | | This is the highest we'll get on this trip, just over 11,000ft. Rock scrambling is hard at this elevation! The views are fantastic!
Ridge at 11N 355001 4081622
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 | | So we hit the high point by going across the elevation lines... we went perpendicular on the way down. Yeah, it's kinda steep. Loose rock makes for an interesting hike down.
Above Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Told you it was steep, that's Rob up there navigating the rocks down.
Above Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Finally, back on more or less level ground. But we stink like... hikers. Alex is eyeing the little waterfall.. ha.. i don't think so dude, it's freaking freezing, and the mosquitos count is 5,000,000:1.
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Dude... Alex has got balls.. no, i can't see them, i mean cajones! Yeah, it's cold. And he's getting eaten alive!
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Well shoot.. the lake is looking real good-like, and there can't be too many mozzies on the island. Just about everyone took a plunge in for a bit. Megan, Rob, and myself all swam out for a bit, and there were only a couple of mosquitos there!
Granite Lake, Seki, CA
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 | | Ok, time to get the hell out of dodge. The bugs are insane here... it's still so damm pretty...
Granite Basin, Seki, CA
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 | | Here we are making like trees...
Granite Basin, Seki, CA
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 | | Parting shot of lower Granite Basin..
Granite Basin, Seki, CA
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 | | Whoa! The numbers on this marker match the numbers on my map! Cool!!!
BM 10347
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 | | Bugs like Megan.
Granite Basin, Seki, CA
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 | | Oi... we still have a long way to go... down.. to tonight's campsite... 6000ft drop...
Tent Meadow, Seki, CA
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 | | At least we're making progress... the views are always good here.
Lower Tent Meadow, Seki, CA
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 | | Whoa! A bear! I got off this one shot before he took off and ran! Um.... camp is only 100ft ahead.... we better take extra precaution tonight with our storage...
Lower Tent Meadow, Seki, CA
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 | | Alex and Megan chillin next to the fire Alex gathered for. Dude.. he loves gathering and chopping wood, bare handed. It's something carnal for him or something, he gets off way too much doing it!
Lower Tent Meadow, Seki, CA
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 | | This is nice! Not exactly according to plan but things always happen and you make the best of it. It was a nice, fun trip.
Lower Tent Meadow, Seki, CA
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 | | Back to the lowlands, lots of sun, no wind, and no shade. Julie (and everyone) is booking to get back!
Cedar Grove, Seki, CA
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 | | Junior! Here's the always fun Alex waiting for us and laughing for no particular reason!
Cedar Grove, Seki, CA
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 | | Last break before we hit the bottom, the shade is nice.
Cedar Grove, Seki, CA
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 | | The drive out of Cedar Grove... is pretty boring. Not much to look at... except the floating bodies in the Kings River. Dumb people never read the signs, it's a fast river and many people drown each year. We saw the family and the SAR teams walk the road, fly over, horse ride, and boat the river looking for the body. How sad : ( But we had to go on, we needed a place to crash. After some offroading on some old logging roads (recommended as free spots by the ranger).
Cedar Groce, Seki, CA
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 | | So we check out the campsites in Grant Gove and they have plenty of openings... sheesh.. and we were getting all worried for nothing... after setting up and hitting up the food-mart we went to hike around the General Grant Tree Loop.
Grant Tree Loop, Seki, CA
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 | | Alex is a southerner but he can't help but smile!
General Grant Tree, Seki, CA
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 | | Fantastic picture by Megan!
General Grant Tree, Seki, CA
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 | | Rob indiscrimately hugging a big-ass tree!
General Grant Tree Loop, Seki, CA
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 | | Sequoia Tree sees in my hand. They look like milled oatmeal...
General Grant Tree Loop, Seki, CA
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 | | It took us/Megan a few times to get this photo, she had to run back and forth each time : )
Grant Tree Loop, Seki, CA
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 | | Back in camp, if we haven't yet we'll be stocking up on beer and other booze-like items. It's going to be a long night.
Azeala campground, Seki, CA
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 | | Whoa... Deja Vu.. i played catch here with my dad when i was in first grade... pretty much right on this spot, this is the first time i've been back....i remember some guy talking to my dad as we threw the ball back and forth....wow.... *teary eyed*
Azealea campground, Seki, CA
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 | | And i think this was this tiny tree that was in our campsite (#33). Back then it was 3-4ft tall and had a major crink in it that someone made... it's all grown up now.
Azealea campground, Seki, CA
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 | | Time to quit reminiscing, back to practical matters like dinner, a fire, and drinking. The boys would stay up late buzzed talking smack, looking for satellites, and going pee.
Azealea campground, Seki, CA
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 | | Megan saw this nice stand of Sequoias and had us pose. She's a good photog/artist.
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe?
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 | | Fresh from posing with the sequoia trees we march on. It's late morning, a nice time to hike. My feet hurt like hell though, i got a killer blister going on.
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe???
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 | | A Sequoia tree with the bottom all burnt out. It's still alive, these trees can take a beating. Paul wanted to go on this trail, it was a nice hike but we were tired... but he didn't have much go his way so we gave it to him. It was a nice hike, i've never been here and saw some some cool stuff, good idea.
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe???
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 | | That'd be me at the bottom of a burnt out tree, i started from the other side.
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe???
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 | | Megan looking for the ultimate shot.
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe???
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 | | Create Megan picture. Nice!
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe???
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 | | Yeah, I'm all presidential like. The majestic trees look good next to me.
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe???
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 | | Now that's a turd! Poor bear needs to get some more fiber in his/her diet!
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe???
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 | | Group photo! We did meet in the Sierra Club after all!
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe???
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 | | Destructo at work! Alex is all man and it shows!
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe???
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 | | I wanted to go just a bit further (everyone else was done) but there looked like a vantage point ahead... and i'm a sucker for a good view.
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe???
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 | | I got some hick friends who collect shit that rusts. I thought they'd get a kick out of this, a fire hydrant in the middle of the mountains, not connected to any sort of water supply.
Somewhere Redwood Saddle maybe???
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 | | Oi, this guy talked and talked and talked. I guess that was his job.. no one really paid much attention but i got some video of him...
General Sherman Tree, Seki, CA
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 | | The victorious group! Thanks for the fun trip!
General Sherman Tree, Seki, CA
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 | | They changed the path to the Sherman tree, you can't park near it unless your retarded, diabetic, or old. And i wasn't about to hike up with my ginormous blistered foot so some of us took the bus. These hardy folks hiked back.. and beat us.
General Sherman Loop, Seki, CA
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 | | Time to get our of dodge, again! We got our city clothes on, time to drive back. Morro Rock is in the background.
Near Potwisha, Seki, CA
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 | | So Alex and I have this thing, everytime we go out into the woods, we get some *real* food on the way back. And if we go to Sequoia it's almost always the Claim Jumper in Valencia... for dead cow/pig! Ribs baby, baby back ribs! Julie, Megan, Rob, Me (lance), Paul, Alex- thanks for the fun trip!
Valencia, CA
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