1) catch some Golden Trout
2) summit kern peak
3) relax by the fire each night

I’m happy to report that all of those goals were accomplished, and our 37-mile itinerary was as follows:

Day 1:
We joined the trailhead to Trail Pass in Horseshoe Meadow, and from there we continued through Mulkey Meadows (very sandy, flat, and long). Camp on the first and second nights was near the Tunnel Guard station at the end of Tunnel Meadow. The end of the first day brought with it some beautiful — albeit small — golden trout, which I caught in the Golden Trout Creek.

Day 2:
The entirety of the second day consisted of Jimmy and myself climbing Kern Peak. (Bob decided to stay back and rest at camp.) We were the fourth and fifth people to summit the 11,510 ft peak in 2010! It was certainly a beautiful day, and some very majestic views were to be had at the summit. There used to be a fire lookout at the summit, but today it stands in ruin.

Day 3:
We packed up camp and hiked to Big Whitney Meadow. My beta on a great campsite served us well, and it was here that we spent the night of the fourth.

Day 4:
We hiked over Cottonwood Pass through a large number of mosquitoes and down lots of switchbacks to Horseshoe Meadow. Of note, the conventional end to our backpacking trips has just been stepped up a notch – the regular Double Double order at In-N-Out has been replaced with a very tasty 3×3!

Coyote Gulch is a very remote, semi-narrow canyon – just to get to the trailhead involved 2 hours of off-roading with the dune buggies. The first day involved hiking across the dry slick rock to the canyon where we descended through a very narrow “Crack-in-the-Wall.” The views from this point were especially majestic. After everyone made it through the crack, we descended into the canyon and began our hike up Coyote Gulch.

Over the next two days, we followed a very shallow creek up the canyon, stopping often to enjoy the views, take photos, and contemplate how we were going to navigate the next obstacle. As we continued to march towards the exit, the walls of the canyon grew shallower and we eventually entered a mosquito-filled marsh / cow pasture. Fortunately that part was short, and we were back to the car before we knew it. Next stop: Vegas!

So on a nearly deserted island there isn’t too much else to do besides sit back, relax, read books, and play some horseshoes, and that’s how we occupied our time in Two Harbors and at Parson’s. The 5 mile hike on the Trans-Catalina gave us an intro to the majestic views that could be had on a clear day, but the fog and clouds we encountered made it a unique and windy experience.

The rangers were extremely helpful, and after a number of recommendations for possible hiking trails, we knew that we would be hiking the trail from Onion Valley to Kearsarge Pass as soon as it was mentioned.

The 5 mile trail took us from an elevation of approximately 9,200 feet to 11,760 feet, past five lakes, and across many ridges with majestic views. What made the hike even better was the fact that the weather was a sunny 70° with fresh snow at the higher elevations from a storm a few days before.

The next morning Paul and I trekked to Alabama Hills to photograph the sunrise on the Sierras. It was a fitting end to an incredible trip. Be sure to check out Paul’s blog for his posts on Kearsarge Pass and Alabama Hills.

Mary and I set out on Highway 1 for the long and beautiful road trip to San Francisco, where we spent the first night with Sara, one of Mary’s friends from the Peace Corps. (She had a knack for telling some pretty amazing stories about life in Vanuatu…)

After a whirlwind tour of San Francisco the next day, we drove to my great aunt’s ranch in Napa Valley. Here we spent the next two days laying around the pool, wine tasting, and going to church where we ended up shaking hands with Nancy Pelosi during passing of the peace.

The drive home went much faster, and like many Californian trips we decided to wrap it up with a celebratory stop at In-N-Out burger. Animal fries are so good.

Back in June 2007, Paul, Jimmy, Marc, and I hiked Mt. Whitney for the first time. Just for kicks, I entered the lottery once again this year. Luckily, my ‘09 permit application was chosen, and even more luckily, the permit was awarded for the first choice of dates (a weekend in early August). Ben, Andrew, and Jimmy joined the adventure this time, and our three day, two night hike took us through some very picturesque mountain scenery.

Although the Whitney Portal is good, Jimmy and I agreed that now after having done the hike twice, any future trips to Mt. Whitney will have to be on a trail less trodden. Alternatively, there are many other 14,000+ ft. peaks that see many less visitors. The options are wide open for next summer…

When I enrolled for the Mustangs course, I happened across one such pack trip – Mountain Horsemanship: Veterinary Care and Horsepacking in the Wilderness. The description sold me on another horse class:

This seven-day pack trip covers the essentials of horsepacking with the Golden Trout Wilderness of the High Sierra’s as your laboratory… You’ll learn about packing equipment, fitting saddles, making loads, hitches, leading strings of mules, back-country shoeing, veterinary skills… and more…

We rode into the Golden Trout Wilderness making camps at Ramshaw Meadow, Little Whitney Meadow, and Big Whitney Meadow. During the days we would either pack the mules and ride to the next camp, or ride the horses to a nearby landmark and have lunch.

In total, there were four packers and seven students. Kaelin, our cook, prepared delicious breakfasts and dinners; Phil and Clay took care of the animals and taught us about hitch tying and horse shoeing; and Sean helped Phil and Clay with camp setup and teardown.

By definition, the wilderness is far from civilization – quite literally, you’re on your own. Mountain Horsemanship was arguably my longest and deepest wilderness experience to date; apart from seeing people on the first and last days, the only other people we saw were 6 hikers who came through our camp in Little Whitney Meadow on a trans-Sierra hike. Packing your entire camp with mules, however, allows for a certain amount of luxury… From past hiking trips I could sympathize with one of the hikers when he said how nice it would be to sit in a chair – it was very nice.

The four-day field class was taught by Craig London of Rock Creek Pack Station. Food, saddle, and a horse were included in the tuition, and after a short refresher, I was back in the saddle in no time. On a daily basis we rode out of our camp at Pizona to the surrounding countryside in search of mustangs. Unfortunately, many of the mustangs had moved out of the mountains to the valleys due to a drought, but we were lucky enough to find and observe the lone stallion that remained.

After a full day of riding, we would return to camp to get cleaned up, eat appetizers, explore the surrounding area on foot, and relax before dinner. After dinner, Craig would fire up the generator that powered his projector so he could give a presentation on the state of wild horses in the West. This provided the perfect opportunity to test out my new digital SLR, a Canon Rebel XSi. Enjoy the photos!