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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Aug 23, 2013 - 02:58pm PT
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What a journey. Memories that will last a lifetime and grow fonder with time I'm sure. 60 years from now I suspect they will be telling their grandkids about you and these trips.
Thankyou for the time you spent on these reports. I especially appreciate it, as not having any children, I know I've missed out on some treasures life has to offer.
Thanks for sharing a glimpse of them.
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10b4me
Ice climber
Wishes-He-Was-In-Arizona
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Aug 23, 2013 - 04:37pm PT
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I can't get enough of your trip report, Brad.
I liked the pic of you, and your dog in the tent. It looked pretty tired.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 23, 2013 - 09:06pm PT
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Darwin, Katie got home a short while ago. For a laugh I told her that you'd asked if she'd consider posting her thoughts on this thread (I was pretty sure ahead of time what the response would be).
Indeed, I got the "Dad-the-fact-that-you-even-breathe-is-so-uncool" look.
I actually quite enjoy being the least cool substance in the universe.
I suspect that I'll also enjoy being beyond that stage though....
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 10, 2013 - 01:03am PT
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Here's the trip report I posted on the Mud'n'Crud site under the title "The PCT Volume 20: Ending the Season 942.7 Miles From the Mexican Border:"
Tricia and I did the Mammoth to Tuolumne Meadows hike on Saturday and Sunday (helped as always by Vicki, to whom - if I mind my manners for a few more days - I will have been married to for 21 years come Thursday!). We had great weather; even the Rim Fire smoke was totally gone until the wind shifted on Sunday, half an hour after we got to The Meadows (and things then got pretty smokey).
We did the 27.8 mile trip in two days since it is too soon in the school year to take Tricia out for a day. It worked out well, Saturday we did over 16 miles and then had an easy, even cruiser Sunday during which we hiked just under 11 miles by 12:15 in the afternoon.
After spending Friday night in Mammoth, we got over Minaret Summit before the shuttle bus becomes mandatory and then had breakfast at Reds Meadow. After eating we drove back to Agnew Meadow where it was still cold enough that Tricia got ready in the car and so Vicki "stole" her too-small down jacket to stay warm:
I on the other hand wore my brand new jacket (the result of an "oh-shit" moment driving down the night before and remembering that I had forgotten to pack that item - thanks if you read this Erin of Mammoth Mountaineering for helping us on an emergency basis after normal hours!!):
Unlike the John Muir Trial, the PCT takes the "High Trail" to Thousand Island Lake. This trail has some of the most magnificent views in the Sierra, to the west, looking at Banner Peak, Mount Ritter and the Minarets (right to left in the following photo):
Tricia and I really flew up this trail. We made the 7.8 miles to Thousand Island by just after noon. We ate lunch there and then posed for photos:
Here's a view looking back toward Mammoth at the High Trail, San Joaquin Mountain and Two Teats:
With the day's milage half done, we looked forward to crossing Donahue Pass and entering Yosemite:
By the time we neared this pass we had hiked nearly 15 miles for the day and were feeling a little tired:
But we made it, rested for a while and then continued:
Just over Donahue appears one of the most sublime views in the Sierra, the wonderful Lyle Canyon of the Tuolumne River (our next day's hike):
We made our way another two miles then to a small, unnamed lake beyond the pass, but still above the main part of Lyle Canyon:
Once there we relaxed as the last sun of the day faded onto the surrounding peaks:
I got Tricia to laugh at how her long underwear matched the color of our water bottle:
Then we made a tent-less, stove-less, but very comfortable and pretty bivy (these were the lightest packs either of us had carried for quite some time). There really is something life-affirming about hanging out at 10,000 feet, in warm sleeping bags with your 11 year old, watching the Milky Way slowly appear in the night sky:
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Sep 10, 2013 - 01:17am PT
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You are living the life. Your daughters will remember these days.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 10, 2013 - 10:54am PT
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I also intend to remember these days!! :) :)
Here's the next/last section of this report (by way of explanation, I usually do a day at a time in these so that digging through/downloading lots and lots of photos on Flickr is less cumbersome):
Day two started with a chilly descent to the meadows of the Lyle Fork:
We then cruised a very easy and very "viewful" eight miles of hiking down this pretty canyon:
In the photo above, The Kuna Crest makes up the right side of the canyon. We decided to come back on an October weekend to spend a day summitting this formation (and we'll spend the other weekend day exploring the volcanoes near Mono Lake - Tricia is studying geology in science right now).
Other campers weren't moving yet, they were hanging around their campfire:
The day slowly warmed and the canyon slowly changed direction from north to west:
After a wonderful morning we started coming into Tuolumne Meadows. To have hiked to Tuolumne Meadows from Mexico was really moving for me; "mountaineering" in my boyhood meant camping and hiking with my family there. I knew Unicorn and Cathedral Peak by name and sight from any angle by the time I was six or seven years old. Dad and I hiked up Mount Dana when I was seven years old. So, when "T" and I arrived there, I was quick to grab photos of her, "the" trail, and these peaks:
We then quickly arrived at Highway 120 and crossed it. This is the end of PCT Section "H," and the end too of the first of the three PCT guidebooks:
We'd agreed to meet Vic at the Lembert Dome parking area at 2:00 p.m. But since we arrived almost two hours early, and since the next two tenths of the PCT weren't particularly aesthetic (the trail is the shoulder of the gravel, Soda Springs Road for that distance), we decided to get a small jump on next year's first hike (we dumped our packs with some picnickers at the parking lot first though):
And so, with the customary several extra feet of hiking (to insure overlap and that we haven't missed a single step), we brought to a close our best PCT season yet (when we got home we started talking about our first trip next year - to Sonora Pass, a 50 minute drive from our house!):
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10b4me
Ice climber
Soon 2B in Arizona
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Sep 10, 2013 - 11:13am PT
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Still one of the top five threads on Supertopo in recent years.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 10, 2013 - 01:29pm PT
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Thanks 10b. Obviously we're having fun on our end.
But it's time to shut it down now until next July or so (as much as I'd like to do the Tuolumne to Sonora Pass leg now, I don't think the school, or my wife, would appreciate me taking Tricia out of school for a week right now).
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Jim Herson
climber
Emerald Hills, CA
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Sep 12, 2013 - 12:13am PT
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Your daughters rock! Such great troopers. What a fun, memorable, gorgeous project. Good luck next season!
-Jim
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 12, 2013 - 12:38am PT
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+1 for the good guys and gals!
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Michelle
Social climber
1187 Hunterwasser
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Sep 12, 2013 - 12:43am PT
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Kick ass!
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - May 13, 2014 - 05:01pm PT
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I'm bumping this post now for two reasons:
1. We've got an excellent summer PCT schedule penciled out; and
2. I owe a bunch of you a "you told me so!."
First, we'll do one big trip this summer and a whole bunch of smaller ones. Mostly this schedule is dictated by the locations of the various trans-Sierra highways. Here's the plan (subject, of course, to fine tuning):
 Late July, Tuolumne Meadows to Sonora Pass, 76 miles, seven days (allowing an extra day for peak-bagging - also, since this is one of the very, very best parts of the PCT, I'm saving it for only me and the girls);
First half of August, Sonora Pass to Highway 4, 31.6 miles, two days (or maybe three days if a friend or friends join us);
First half of August, Highway 4 to Highway 88, 28.8 miles, two or three days;
First half of August, Highway 88 to Highway 50, 14.3 miles, one day;
August or September, Desolation Wilderness, meaning Highway 50 to Forest Road 3, 32.3 miles, two or three days;
September, continuing to Highway 80, past Donner Pass, 32.0 miles, two or three days.
Early October, Highway 80 to Highway 49, 38.4 miles.
Schedules are always subject to change, and plans don't always work perfectly, but these are the trips we're going to aim for.
Second (and here's where I owe some of you), I used the word girls (with an "s") in the first entry above on purpose. Katie is going to join Tricia and me on the first (seven day) leg from Tuolumne Meadows to Sonora Pass.
Many of you told me to expect this (or something like it). In all honesty, I agreed and I hoped that she would join us some more. But I expected that she absolutely wouldn't do this until after college, or at best toward the end of it. It makes me very happy to say that I was wrong.
U.C.S.B. has been very good for Katie. She's been away from our small town for most of a year now. Friends who have stopped by to see her have used the word "thriving" to describe her. She's kept in good contact with us, and, to our surprise, she decided to join us for Spring Break, the whole family camping and climbing in Joshua Tree (she brought a friend too that we all thought was a very nice young man, the type of person that a parent wants their child to hang out with).
Early on down there she joined the university's Excursion Club and started sea kayaking, camping and hiking with them. I think she found her niche. After only a few months they made her a leader of the club, and now she's been taking other kids on hiking and backpacking trips (it does me a lot of good when she calls for gear and planning advice for these!).
I've been looking forward to this summer since we stopped our trips in September of last year. Now I'm looking forward to it even more.
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zBrown
Ice climber
Brujo de la Playa
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May 13, 2014 - 06:51pm PT
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Great idea you have here. It would be cool, I think, if you posted an annotated map showing the segments completed todate.
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HighGravity
Trad climber
Southern California
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May 13, 2014 - 11:05pm PT
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BUMP, for one of the best TR's on the site!!!
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - May 13, 2014 - 11:44pm PT
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zBrown: Although we keep a map like that on our kitchen wall, I don't have the computer skills to find, label and post one here. (Yeah, I know, damn us dinosaurs).
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briham89
Big Wall climber
san jose and south lake tahoe, ca
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May 14, 2014 - 12:30am PT
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I was just thinking Whitney and I could join you on the Tuolumne to Sonora section but then I read on to just the girls, which is understandable.
I'm glad for you that Katie is joining in on the adventure.
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zBrown
Ice climber
Brujo de la Playa
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May 14, 2014 - 10:00am PT
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After playing with it, such a long route is hard to do on a map, but not impossible. I did this in Paint. If you click to enlarge, it's decent.
You could try taking a photo of it. I've had some success posting photos of book pages elsewhere.
I've only been on part of the PCT, the southern terminus and first 19 miles from Campo to Lake Morena. It's a very hot and dry segment. That's me in red.
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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May 14, 2014 - 10:05am PT
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Cool, Brad and Tricia!
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Topic Author's Reply - May 14, 2014 - 10:22am PT
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...that's me in red.
I had to smile at that.
It is a long trail; over 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada. Your map shows it well, at least in a format that fits on this thread.
If you had the time or the inclination we could be shown (in orange?) as having made it to Tuolumne Meadows? That would show that, as much as we've done, we're not even halfway yet!
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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May 14, 2014 - 10:41am PT
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Looks like a great time! When we did the JMT two years ago, we ran into a father and his adult daughter at Forester Pass, and at Glenn we saw a kid and his grandfather headed southbound. They all were having a fine time.
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