Just got back earlier this week from a trip out to California. Hiked into the Sierras/John Muir Wilderness and did a night hike up 10,400 feet to Blue Lake from Lake Sabrina.
Buddy and I thought we heard a mountain lion on the way up only to see scat on the way down.
Stayed the first night at the Mt. Whitney portal before deciding against climbing it (14,000+ ft.) Maybe next time. We did have the legendary pancakes, see here:
Next day we headed into Yosemite and saw Half Dome and El Capitan. To get an idea what kind of crazies are drawn to El Capitan see here:
Yosemite was finally letting people drive through but in sections the park rangers were stopping people and telling them that they couldn't stop or pull over or deviate from the main road for 40 miles and that they couldn't exceed 35 miles an hour. It was a sad sight and I imagine those guys are working their tails off to get that fire out. Some places it just stopped burning at the road and they had done a ton of cutting to eliminate fire ladders.
If you're interested, here are some pictures I took from the trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/102171010@N03/
Oh, and the best part! I was sitting on a bench outside the terminal at LAX waiting on my ride and who comes and sits down on the bench next to me? Good ole Jack Bauer himself! I couldn't help but recite in my head (beep boop bip boop beep boop bip boop) while I waited to hear him put in a call to Chloe at CTU
They don't call him "HIKERJIM" for nothing!
Great pictures and thanks for sharing.
When I look at those pics and can only think "How great Thou art!!
My buddy is out there now. He sent me some pics of elk and blacktail. Very beautiful country
I used to live 13 miles outside the gate of Yosemite in a little town called Buck Meadows. I hiked all around those parts. Very beautiful country. Which gate did you go in? Did the fire hit Buck Meadows? I know it was close. I used to work at Buck Meadows lodge and I was a volunteer firefighter at Smith Station. I had some good times there. Got paid for those bigger fires.
I wish we would have seen more game, just deer out there this time.
I'm not sure exactly where we went in, a buddy was driving and serving as tour guide. I'll have to ask him. It is beautiful country. I kept telling my buddy "If you turn around and I've run off, just keep going man, it's probably intentional"
