On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Such beautiful scenery, and I feel as though I am right there with the horses. ~WaterGirl
way2blue
I set off on my first pack trip in July, four summers ago, deep into Kings Canyon National Park. We, an odd mix of high school & grad school friends, hiked in 17 miles from the pack station to the camp site while pack mules carried our supplies. We hadn’t thought, however, to carry rain jackets with us, thus were unprepared for hail at midday. Everyone, soaked & chilled, picked up the pace to generate a bit of heat. Rain returned a few days later, and continued through the night. I’d offered our groundcloth as a tarp over the kitchen area, so piled all my clothes under my sleeping bag to keep from getting soaked from water seeping into the tent as our trenching proved inadequate…
Needless to say, I’d been wanting a do-over. This pack trip, with extended family, was more posh. The pack crew brought in tents, cots, food, kitchen & a cook, plus a wrangler stayed with us. This time I rode the ~19 miles in from Kennedy Meadows to Emigrant Lake. We’d left for the Sierras the morning after a freak electrical storm in northern California, and saw a couple small wildfires on the west side of Crystal Springs Reservoir on our way north. Oblivious to the soon raging CZU wildfire close to home and a friend’s efforts to remove artwork & essential documents from our home, to water the yard…
View down the lake, looking to the northeast.
West end of lake, just below our camp site; prime fishing spots on back side of the rocks.
Most of the horses stayed with us for the week. They were let loose each afternoon, one with a bell around his neck. The wrangler found them in the morning by hiking to a vantage point and listening for the bell. He’d lead his horse into camp, the rest would follow, and were then treated to the grain bag. That’s my horse, getting his treat. (I also shared an apple with him each day, just to stay on his good side.)
My strategy for keeping chipmunks out of my boots…
We hiked to Buck Lake one day for lunch. There was a small group camped there with a couple dogs and a passel of mules. Who were quite friendly. This stream valley was fairly smokey owing to a wildfire near Bear Lake (the one to the south).
The packers left one mule behind. Shooter. As ‘he’ was in love with one of the mares, and would bray whenever she wasn’t nearby. Plus he kept balking on the way in, stalling the pack train when the riders lagged behind the pack.
This huge pine tree with a broken top looked like it belonged in the GOT series.
Mostly granite bedrock in this part of the Sierras; the long granite face on the far side of Emigrant Lake appears to have been polished by glaciers. Lots of pegmatites and pancake inclusions (dark blobs of more mafic minerals), and flashing feldspar crystals to add variety. This outcrop appealed to my love of nature’s textures & patterns, caught in late afternoon light.
Kent
I love hiking and backpacking in the Sierra because the landscape is more open. I grew up hiking and backpacking here in Oregon and Washington, which is also beautiful, but you are often stuck on some steep ridge in dense fir forests. It doesn’t have the same open alpine feeling as the high Sierra.
Beautiful photos. It’s a shame so much of it is burning every year.
Yutsano
Is that a bristlecone pine?
Achrachno
@Yutsano:
No. Maybe a foxtail pine?
Origuy
I think that’s a Jeffrey Pine, but it might be a Ponderosa Pine. The outlines are very similar; I can only tell the difference by getting up close. The bark of Jeffery Pines has a strong, pleasant odor like vanilla. Ponderosa pine cones have prickles, Jeffrey cones do not.
JanieM
Interesting country. If I squint, the rocks almost look like ancient sculptures of rather voluptuous bodies. It’s the rounded edges, I think.
These recent sets of pictures — rafting, packing/riding — make me think I did it the hard way. I only ever backpacked — we’d put a week’s worth of stuff on our backs and head up the trail.
I love the sky in the first picture, and I really, really love the hat. Except I’d like mine to be black. ;-)
susanna
Lovely and serene. I never got to this area of the Sierras in backpacking times, but hope there’s still some opportunity, now that those pack horses are opening up the ease of trekking there. Back in the 70s when there were mule packs, I objected to their outfit owners when they’d chop down small trees to make corrals. That never fit the feel of backpacking, imo.
Love the pictures, in some part reminders of temporarily living outdoors and knowing that that captures the essence of life. Fuck politics.
Wag
@Origuy: Ponderosa sap also smells like vanilla, or like butterscotch.
BigJimSlade
Geez, I’ve spent maybe 60 days (quite a few to many years ago) in the Sierras. I’ve only encountered about 20 minutes of rain. Anyway, LOVE Emigrant Wilderness :-) I knew that first picture was of Emigrant Lake because it was long (most Sierra lakes are pretty small) and the big angled slab of granite on one side.
namekarB
200 miles north is Leavitt Meadows pack station. My uncle used to take me there (he was a Ferrier) to reshoe the horses and mules in the 1960’s. I loved that area of alpine forests, marmots, pristine small snow melt fed streams and lakes and golden trout. The High Sierras are a true wonder. Your pictures brought those memories flooding back. Thank you
Achrachno
@Wag: I. think you have them reversed in your head. Jeffrey has a sweet , vanilla or butterscotch, odor, while ponderosa smells like a typical resinous pine tree.
But this can’t be either of those as this site is near timber line , and on the eastern slope of the mountains (which totally excludes ponderosa). This tree also has short dense needles which excludes those two long-needled species. The stature and bark are wrong too. I’m voting for foxtail pine (Pinus balfouriana) a rare species of exactly this sort of habitat and general appearance.
Actually, I’m voting for Biden but I guess that’s another issue.
sgrAstar
Thanks for this! I adore the Sierra and have climbed and backpacked all over. The Emigration Wilderness is so beautiful! Have to admit that horses and mules sound very, very appealing. :)
?
Wag
@Achrachno: Nope. I grew up In a Ponderosa forest in Colorado, and in Colorado, Mew Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming, ponderosa pines smell like vanilla or butterscotch, depending on the tree. In my experience, about 2/3 vanilla, 1/3 butterscotch. Maybe it is something unique with California Ponderosas? Jeffery Pines are limited to California.
And I, too, voted for Biden
way2blue
@Yutsano: No. Those are smaller. This one, I think, is a Jeffrey pine—the kind whose bark gives off a whiff of vanilla.
way2blue
@JanieM: Yep. We backpacked in Kings Canyon years ago (my husband had spent a couple summers there, clearing trails). But his lower back is fragile now…
way2blue
@susanna: Things seemed fairly strict here. No campfires (duh), camp at least 100 ft from the lake, and horses & mules either loose or tied to a rope strung from the trees…