Trip photos...
Jan. 7th, 2006 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
summer_jackel...as I promised. I've been quite busy this week, what with starting my new job and all. I am deeply pleased with the new job, and think that I can potentially make this work very happily for quite some time. I am now a worker's comp lawyer. :) Will post links to my official online bio when it is up; I slacked on that this week.
But anyway. The trip. In a nutshell, it was supposed to be a snowshoe/backpacking thing, but when we got there, it wasn't snowing...it was raining lightly. The forecast called for mixed rain and snow, and we decided to chance it, assuming that this high, we'd get the snow. newbies. We got in the first night and pitched the tent, but that night it stopped raining lightly and started raining HARD...at 8000 feet. 0_o This was not fun and not what we planned, nor were we prepared. We hiked out with our tails between our legs, cold and wet and with a new understanding of how much our tent sucks for winter camping. ;)
We got everything dried out at the local laundromat and undaunted (well me anyway, Chris was pretty grumpy) headed south to Bishop...which (in the winter, anyhow) is gorgeous...a flat desert town sitting at the bottom of these *frikkin huge* mountains, in the Eastern Sierras. There we found another trailhead, this time with much better snow. It was gorgeous and by far my favorite day of the trip. I like snowshoeing and want to do it more. However, the next day promised a big storm with more rain and possibly snowing the truck in, so we headed south again, all the way to Death Valley. I'd never been, and this couple of days, when it was very cloudy and actually raining lightly, was probably the best possible time for me to visit this stunningly beautiful place.
Exploring it all, from the car-eating gravel anti-roads at the north end of the park where we entered to the incredible variety of habitats and vegitative zones in the desert, was awesome. Coyotes made their presence felt. We heard howling from the top of the Eureka sand dunes and found two dens. The only actual coyote we saw was standing nonchalantly near the freeway after we had left the wilderness some time before.
The mountains we hiked into on the first night. Note the rainclouds.
Jez looking particularly wolfish.
Silly pic of me at Mono Lake. More cool weather.
Even cooler weather...this is the mountain we hiked into at McGee pass, a wonderful trailhead.
The dogs loved this.
At McGee again.
Dogs in truck!!! This truck really earned its keep. I found myself wishing that I *had* gone for the 4x4 version, but that would be silly for the rest of the year, and "only" with 2wd, it comported itself admirably. I am still not resting easy with the fact that I own an SUV, but the thing is so useful.
Awesome desert geology. Lookit those strata!!!!!
Tired dogs looking contemplative in the dunes.
It was fun. I have some solo snowshoeing and dogsledding weekend trips planned for the near future. I love the snow, even though it can really be a pain.
But anyway. The trip. In a nutshell, it was supposed to be a snowshoe/backpacking thing, but when we got there, it wasn't snowing...it was raining lightly. The forecast called for mixed rain and snow, and we decided to chance it, assuming that this high, we'd get the snow. newbies. We got in the first night and pitched the tent, but that night it stopped raining lightly and started raining HARD...at 8000 feet. 0_o This was not fun and not what we planned, nor were we prepared. We hiked out with our tails between our legs, cold and wet and with a new understanding of how much our tent sucks for winter camping. ;)
We got everything dried out at the local laundromat and undaunted (well me anyway, Chris was pretty grumpy) headed south to Bishop...which (in the winter, anyhow) is gorgeous...a flat desert town sitting at the bottom of these *frikkin huge* mountains, in the Eastern Sierras. There we found another trailhead, this time with much better snow. It was gorgeous and by far my favorite day of the trip. I like snowshoeing and want to do it more. However, the next day promised a big storm with more rain and possibly snowing the truck in, so we headed south again, all the way to Death Valley. I'd never been, and this couple of days, when it was very cloudy and actually raining lightly, was probably the best possible time for me to visit this stunningly beautiful place.
Exploring it all, from the car-eating gravel anti-roads at the north end of the park where we entered to the incredible variety of habitats and vegitative zones in the desert, was awesome. Coyotes made their presence felt. We heard howling from the top of the Eureka sand dunes and found two dens. The only actual coyote we saw was standing nonchalantly near the freeway after we had left the wilderness some time before.
The mountains we hiked into on the first night. Note the rainclouds.
Jez looking particularly wolfish.
Silly pic of me at Mono Lake. More cool weather.
Even cooler weather...this is the mountain we hiked into at McGee pass, a wonderful trailhead.
The dogs loved this.
At McGee again.
Dogs in truck!!! This truck really earned its keep. I found myself wishing that I *had* gone for the 4x4 version, but that would be silly for the rest of the year, and "only" with 2wd, it comported itself admirably. I am still not resting easy with the fact that I own an SUV, but the thing is so useful.
Awesome desert geology. Lookit those strata!!!!!
Tired dogs looking contemplative in the dunes.
It was fun. I have some solo snowshoeing and dogsledding weekend trips planned for the near future. I love the snow, even though it can really be a pain.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-07 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-07 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-07 07:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-07 09:03 pm (UTC)Jezibel is in love with the neighbor's rottweiler, who always stares at her like she's out of her mind as she bounces up and down all over him.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-08 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-07 06:10 pm (UTC)Hey, as long as you use it, you're fine. We had an Expedition for a while because every weekend we were hauling stuff out to (or back from) my grandfather's place some 50 miles out. After he passed and we finished cleaning out the house, we got rid of it - no need.
But as for the CEOs who get them for status and never go 10 miles from a city or suburb, shame shame.
Heh, and as for your tent and general preparedness not being up to the wateriness of rain, I've got a good camping story to match that experience.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-07 09:09 pm (UTC)My SUV actually seems puny compared to some...and it is a big vehicle. While on the trip, we saw an overinflated behemoth for no less than 50K. Fifty THOUSAND dollars for a CAR?!?!?!?!!?!?! WTF?????????? And you know people wouldn't take this thing offroad because, like, what if you scratched it?
no subject
Date: 2006-01-07 11:15 pm (UTC)But yeah, I saw a couple of Excursions when I was in New York for the 2003 Gathering and I was rather dumbfounded. It just didn't make the slightest bit of sense. At all.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-08 04:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-09 02:47 pm (UTC)snow job
Date: 2006-01-08 06:45 pm (UTC)Re: snow job
Date: 2006-01-09 02:46 pm (UTC)I'm going to try the snow thing again some time soon.