Solo in the Sierra

[davidji]

Last weekend I rode from the SF Bay Area to the mountains to climb and watch the Perseid meteor shower.

I only have pics from Friday & Saturday. Sunday morning my camera battery was dead. The temp was right at freezing, and the camera probably would have worked when it warmed up. But I didn't try. No pics of my ice-encrusted sleeping bag :)


Early friday evening, packed for the road:


I had forgotten the signs last time out here that said Old priest Grade would be closing, but sure enough it was closed. It was my first time riding New Priest Grade on a bike, and while much longer than the old way, with its sweepers it's probably a more fun ride. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moccasi...ty,_California

1st stop, late Friday evening, at the top of the priest grades. I was glad this place was still open.


Sunset over the Central Valley:


I enjoy eating here more than at the various places I've tried up the road in Groveland. It's owned by Conrad Anker's sister, and they have a log for climbers to sign. Motorcycle friendly too. When I stop there during the day there are usually bikes in the lot. Once there seemed to be a 3-patch christian biker thing going on. I forget the club names, but they all seemed to be friends.

Not really a photograph-my-food guy. Prolly shoullda shot dinner before I was halfway done. If I'd left my faceshield open, I might not have been hungry at all:


Got gas a mile or so up the road, and then next stop was camp:


I picked this informal spot outside the western border of Yosemite National Park partly for the open view of the sky to see the Perseids. And I did get to see some good long streaks across the sky.

I've slept here before, but this time someone had turned the area I planned to sleep into a toilet--so I slept in the open area where I parked. Also it's the first time I've ever camped anywhere just outside the border of YNP and had loud neighbors.

Normally people are fairly stealth about the camping: sleep, then get up early and leave. But a group of Isrealis pulled in a little after me, around 10PM, and for awhile they were talking loudly, with occasional shouting at each other. Then they got completely silent. So they could start shooting. At least it means they were prolly paying attention to their guns and where they were pointed. The abrupt transition from loud voices to bang.....bang.....bang..... was kind of weird though.

One more shot of the bike. I added reflective tape under the red panels on the top case a few weeks ago. Not as bright as the yellow stickers on the side cases. As a contrast, I didn't tape under the red plastic between the panels, and that part is dark in the camera flash.


Still to come: Bagging 4 peaks in the Tuolumne Meadows area, and dinner at the Whoa Nelly Deli at the Mobil Station in Lee Vining.

[davidji]

I got up before sunrise, a little after 5AM, packed, ate a little, and moved on.

The Isrealis parked pretty close to my bike--despite lots of room in the dirt pullout--and pitched a tent directly in front of it. I didn't go out of my way to be noisy, rev my bike or anything. But I was aware they were getting a little payback as my headlight lit up their tent, and I threaded my bike forward around the front of their car.

I planned to start my adventures at a different trailhead from where I'd end up, and I wanted to catch the shuttle from one to the other in the morning. Shuttles start at 7AM, so I wanted to be ready to climb, and at the shuttle stop a little after 7. I've got maybe an hour of riding, and a bit of getting ready before then.

Off to Tuolumne Meadows...

[davidji]

I have ridden highway 120 through Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass at night, but I'm happy to be doing it when it's getting light this time.

This is from my opening weekend drive up there in June:


I never saw what I hit. Just a loud bang. Then a flat tire. A nearly new flat tire. Hate to do that on a bike. And my plug kit wouldn't be much help...

[davidji]

Saturday morning I made good time to the trailhead where I'll finish up at the end of the day. Changed clothes, geared up for climbing, and I'm waiting on the shuttle to my starting point by about 7AM.

Looking back at the trailhead from the shuttle stop:



The shuttle is supposed to start at 7, and one of the end points is nearby. The sign says it comes by here at 21 & 51 after the hour. No shuttle at 21...

This guy walked by while I was waiting:


And waiting. I've never caught the bus here before 8. Maybe they start at the other end of the route, and take about 1 1/2 hrs to get here. So I thumb a ride with a nice Italian couple who drive me to Tenaya Lake. They were heading straight through to San Francisco on their US tour. I tried to talk them into spending a little more time in the park. Oh well.

I see a lot of bikes pass through here too, but don't see many parked at the trailheads. If you want to see a little of the high country that you don't see from the road, follow me...

I start hiking from Tenaya Lake, and soon I'm approaching the first solo climb, Tenaya Peak:

[wachs]

Looking forward to the summit shots!

[davidji]

Getting steeper near the top:


Exit moves:



Looking west from the summit. Cloud's Rest, Half Dome, and Yosemite Valley:


Looking down, at some of the route up, Tenaya Lake, and highway 120:


Looking east from the Summit. From the left, Cathedral Peak, Mt Dana (background), The Unicorn, the unicorn's hump, Echo Ridge, a couple of the Echo Peaks, and Tressider Peak.


Next up: Tressider Peak.

[davidji]

Four of the Echo Peaks form a ridge, and I'd been planning to traverse that next. But I'd done it earlier in the Summer--tho in the other direction. And the hike there takes me over the saddle between Tressider Peak and Columbia Finger. I hadn't climbed either of those before. So they're next.

Flowers on the hike to Tressider:


The hike to Tressider:



Getting closer:


My route up Tressider Peak. This isn't a popular climb and I didn't remember how hard it was supposed to be. I didn't bring a rappel cord--I have before on solo trips--so I tried to be careful not to make any moves going up that I couldn't downclimb. Wasn't a problem, but I wasn't completely sure what I was getting into.



Columbia Finger from Tressider Peak:


Next: Columbia Finger

[davidji]

If you want more details about the peaks so far (elevation, etc):
Tenaya: http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/r...naya-peak.html

Tressider: http://www.summitpost.org/view_objec...ject_id=150432

[AZ_ADV_RIDER]

Great pics! I love Yosemite, well... Tuolumne Meadows more so than the valley. Great climbing right off the road. I have yet to ride my bike through it though.

[davidji]

Approaching Columbia Finger from Tressider Peak.




Looking at the Columbia Finger summit block from the north. I've since read the north side of the summit block is moderate difficulty if you're 6" (1.83m) tall, and hard if you're shorter. I'm a bit shorter, but I've got long arms, and maybe it wouldda worked. I looked for an easier way.



Trying to get a shot of my feet while climbing:


Cathedral Peak (center) and two of the echo peaks (right) from Columbia Finger:


Tressider Peak and Cathedral Peak from Columbia Finger:


Next, Decision time: Echo Peaks, Cathedral Peak or hike back to the bike?

[davidji]

Originally Posted by AZ_ADV_RIDER

I love Yosemite, well... Tuolumne Meadows more so than the valley

Me too. The valley is great, but I'd rather be in the high country.

[Bryn1203]

I will never tire of telling you Americans how lucky you are to have such a big beautiful play ground. You can get away from the madding crowd here in the UK - but it ain't the same

Nice one davidji

[davidji]

What next?

An echo peak traverse? From the left, echo peaks 1 through 4. I would traverse from the right to left.


Earlier this Summer I climbed all 9 Echo Peaks in a day. From that day
Approaching:


Climbing (on the ridgeline):


Anyway I'll pass on doing it again today. I haven't been up the southeast buttress of Cathedral Peak yet this year, so I'll do that or back to the bike.

Cathedral Peak from the John Muir trail:


Upper Cathedral Lake:


And finally, the moment of truth. Head up and a little around the right side of the peak, or hike the trail back to the bike. At this point I'm kinda tired and having a little pain. back to the bike is tempting...


Forget a little pain, I want to do another climb. The last two were kinda short.

Made it to the summit, tho I realized I shoullda skipped it--I was too worn out to solo that route safely that day.

The summit was the most crowded I'd seen it, so there was someone there to take my photo:


And I took a few pics.
The Coxcomb over Budd Lake:


Budd Lake:


Next came a long hike back to the bike, followed by a ride over Tioga Pass (9943"/ 3031m elevation, according to Wikipedia), and into Lee Vining for dinner at the Mobil Station.

[davidji]

At the mobil station:


The fish tacos were good as always.

As was the view of Mono Lake:


Since my camera batteries were dead in the morning I'll stop with this post.

Bivvied in a spot I like not far below Tioga Pass. High dew area. Brought a bivy bag for extra warmth, and to keep my sleeping bag dry from the dew. The synthetic bag is rated to a little above freezing, but I need to wear a jacket inside it to get anywhere near that.

Didn't use the bivy bag, so i could sleep on my side. Sleeping bag even even got a little damp inside from dew, and iced over on the outside, but still kept me warm enough. With a hooded jacket & fleece hat.

Ride back was pretty uneventful. Temperatures progressed from freezing when I started to a little hot in the central valley, and my gear worked pretty well through all of it. A far cry from a trip last summer in different gear, when I was warm enough in the cold of the mountains at night, but couldda died from the heat on the ride back.

Talked to a guy with a 990 Adventure and an ADV sticker at the Rim of the World vista point off 120. Don't think we exchanged names tho.

The only part of the ride that sucked was the altamont pass, approaching the East Bay from the Central Valley. All those fans make it kinda windy :) Windier than usual this time. There are alternative routes, but I wanted to get home more than I wanted to avoid the wind...

borrowed from www.pollutionissues.com

[davidji]

Originally Posted by Bryn1203

I will never tire of telling you Americans how lucky you are to have such a big beautiful play ground. You can get away from the madding crowd here in the UK - but it ain't the same

Nice one davidji

Thanks! I love the UK. And with my daughter moving there soon enough, hope to spend more time there. But we are really lucky as far as mountains in the western US.