I spent fifteen minutes with two social American Martens on the summit of Mt. Whitney! We were the only ones up on the summit at a half an hour before sunset. It was one cool wildlife experience.
Staring contest with an American Marten playing in the boulders on the roof of the lower 48. Sierra Nevada, CA.
I spent the weekend camping on Sunset Beach near Santa Cruz. The sea was full of life. There was an explosion of sand crabs, lots of baby dungeness, living sand dollars, large numbers of birds, a few pods of harbor porposes, jumping sea lions and a very cute and very hungry sea otter. I don’t think I’d ever seen live sand dollars.
On the way home we stopped at the MAH, Santa Cruz’s outdoor shops and a park in San Jose.
I like this picture.
I frequently hear about people leaving food caches in the backcountry. A few times, I’ve even found caches. That bucket of nails, drink mix, tape, bullets and other survivalist stuff is now sitting in a dump in the central valley.
It is illegal to leave caches on most (all?) public lands in the lower 48.
This cache was confiscated on the west side of Kearsarge Pass. PITA for all parties. They’ll also confiscate caches left in wilderness bear boxes.
Foxtail Pine skeletons point towards Twany Point, a worthy detour from the Bighorn Plateau.
I walked the John Muir Trail a few weeks ago. I’m not sure if there is anything to say about it that hasn’t been said before. It was just a really pleasant and enjoyable hike.
I was doing ~25 miles per day and still had time for long conversation breaks, swimming and lounging in cool places.
I camped with a father and son who only had onion soup and a small amount of potato flakes to eat with three days to go. Don’t rely on your ability to fish.
You have to be able to fit all of your food in your canister. Don’t carry a tiny canister because “it’s required to have a canister.” It’s actually required to protect all of your food in the canister. Just having one doesn’t fit the spirit or the letter of the law. The idea is that you protect the bears from your food. Not your food from the bears. Save the bears.
Follow permit rules. The quotas prevent overcrowding. Crowds stink. The JMT is crowded and it’s at least partially the fault of people who cheat.
I didn’t treat any of my water.
Resupplying at Muir Trail Ranch was very convenient. You could resupply from the hiker boxes without a problem.
The trees of the Sierra are dying. I confirm this every time I go out.
Greyhound has problems. There is no guarantee that there will be space on the bus, even if you bought a ticket weeks ago. There were 40+ people waiting for the bus that had 3 seats. There were 60+ people waiting for the bus that came 3 hours later.
I’m going to ask you to look at my photos.
Head on over to my Facebook to see my best JMT ’12 Photos.
I’m mentioned in Natomas Unified Celebrates Youth, School & Teachers for my work in getting a group of teens connected to nature. I’ve been hanging out with this group for a few months. We went camping back in July. An article I wrote about it is in the last issue of the PCT Communicator.
I'm Jack Haskel 