Martin and Mike's Continuing Adventures with Dana - Dana to Mt. Dana 15 July 2016

It seems that I typically start these posts with an acknowledgement of my appreciation for the blessings in my life; that is not a bad thing, right?  What I often realize when telling these stories is that I am not here today, the person that I am and the life that I enjoy, without all of the great family and friends that have been in, and are in, my life and the loving and compassionate lessons they have helped me learn along the way; narcissism here would be highly arrogant.  Thank you all for guiding me into the person I am today.

On Friday 15 July, 2016, Michael and I took our loved friend, Dana C. Durgin, who passed from our existence on 22 May, on a little adventure into the Sierra Nevadas.  We felt it only fitting to put a small piece of Dana in the mountains he roamed and enjoyed throughout his life.  We felt it more fitting to do this on Mt. Dana [ 37.899901553N, 119.2210926W ] at the Northeast boarder of Yosemite National Park.

Now life never allows a schedule that is easy and both Mike and I are in the middle of some very intense “adventure” planning but we knew that we had to do this before he departed for Iceland/Greenland and I for Bermuda so back in June when we did our Memorial Abalone Trip in Dana’s honor, we put on the calendar, 15 July, to go visit Mt. Dana, take D on an adventure and lay some of his ashes to rest.  

We departed my home in Reno at 3pm on 14 July and returned at 6pm on 15 July in what again turned out to be a marathon expedition; 27 hours door to door.  We did not make it far before he had to make our first stop.  Dairy Queen in Minden, NV only about 75 miles south of Reno.  It was however an important stop preparing our bodies for the effort that lied ahead.  Once back on the road, we effortlessly cruised into Lee Vining, CA around 6pm and stopped at Nicely’s Restauraunt for a dinner in honor of Dana. 

Now I digress...plus it provides an excellent opportunity for a new paragraph.  Back in 1990, through my SCUBA diving business, I began organizing an annual lobster hunting trip to SoCal.  In October of every year, we departed Reno for a 4 day adventure aboard the dive boat Spectre.  Every year we drove down highway 395; every year we stopped at Nicely’s for breakfast; every year Dana was there.  So it was very relevant to this excursion south, for the reasons intended, that we stop for a meal.

 

After gorging ourselves with chicken fried steak (a Dana favorite) we headed up California highway 120 toward Yosemite’s north entrance at Tioga Pass.  We just wanted to get a visual of our summit target for the following morning and find a place to camp for the night.  We parked just outside the entrance gate and walked to the trail head and got a great view as the sun set of Mt. Dana.  This was going to be a workout.  Straight up 3500 feet from where we stood in 2.625 miles distance.  We got back in the truck, found a pull-out, set-up camp (the back of the Dodge…glad Kim bot a long-bed) and went to sleep – approximate time?  10pm. 

Waking about 6am, we scurried around, organizing day packs, putting on boots, sunblock (not), filling water bottles, etc. and then departed for breakfast at the Tioga Pass Resort just about 5 minutes up the road toward the trailhead.  Being greeted by Tasia at the café, with a smile I might add, was a great start.  The food was good and the portions were filling.  Back in the truck and up the road another 5, parked and by 8am we were on our way up to Mt. Dana. 

As we hit the trail, the first thing that became apparent was that the mosquitoes were relentless and massive in population!  But of course, we continued.  We had no choice.  We were on a mission and had 3500 feet to ascend.  The first half mile or so was in the forest and along some nice reflecting pools.  Shady and cool but then it went straight up.  Once we exited the lower flat area, the GPS said we had about 2 miles to go and a bit over 3000 feet of elevation to surmount; steep!  We continued and after 1 hour we took a 20-minute break. 

Looking SW into Yosemite at our first break - Dana resting
 peacefully and enjoying the adventure... I am carrying him!

The beauty of this area is indescribable so the photos below will tell much of the story but we continued our ascent for another hour, took 20 and then another 30 minutes of climbing and we were at the top.

Dana at the summit marker of Mt. Dana

Things were pretty interesting at the top.  We set Dana down on the summit marker and talked with the other 8 or so hikers and then looking east we saw something incredible in the clouds…a sun dog.  Now these are rare, usually not seen in the middle of the day and in all our hikes over the years, we have never seen one.  The reason we were treated today?  Dana was there saying hello.  Just like Dana was there when we went abalone diving in June.  He is making his presence known, his happiness of our 35-40 years of friendship and his approval of us handling his memory; doing the adventures that we always have done; once with him and now with his memory.

Sundog - A rainbow in the clouds!!!  Very rare...only one reason it happened!

After spending an hour on top, taking photos and videos, spreading his ashes, we hit the trail down.  Definitely a quadriceps buster.  Returning to the truck at 2:30 it took us 2 hours to walk down.  The total hike was 5.25 miles with an actual walking time of 4 hours 18 minutes.  Time from truck to truck was 6.5 hours so we spent 2 hours (one on top) resting along the way up and taking photos.  It was truly a blessed day.  Light breeze, 58f on top, 84f at the trail head. 

Thanks D for a great day.  

Photos of the Day - "Our story continued."

Our Route up Mt. Dana - Not as flat is it looks!

A panoramic shot at our second break - 12,500 feet looking west - Yes...that is Dana's hat!

This way to Mt. Dana!
We have a job to do...lets go!

A little video clip of Dana becoming a part of the Sierra Nevadas on 

Mt. Dana: Elevation 13,061 ft.

Two Tips East, Truckee Range, January 31, 2015 - [39°42'44.77"N] [119°10'13.53"W] - Elevation 7076'

As the end of January approached, my hiking buddy, Steve K. and I realized that if we were going to improve upon 2014's adventures, we had better get going.  About two weeks ago, we picked a local peak, not big by any means, Two Tips East at an elevation of 7075 feet and only about a 60 minute drive from Reno; the 943rd highest peak in Nevada and the 14,089th highest in the USA.  We really did not have any "peak" expectations but rather a 4-5 hour walk in the desert to stretch our legs;  our last outing was August 14 when we traversed from the Mt. Rose summit trail head across the ridge from Mt. Rose to Snowflower Peak and then down into Thomas Creek Canyon: a 14 mile day.

Summit photo with what looks like rolling hills to the top but that was far from the case - very steep valleys lie on the other side of every rise you see. 

With a "walk in the desert" goal, Two Tips East was a great target and was supported by a utility access road servicing the power lines traveling north.  The plan (which as you know never, never executes as planned) was to drive basically up that utility road to within about 4 miles of the summit and go for a walk.

We took exit 48 off I80, the last Fernley exit and headed north under the freeway past the now history, Truck Inn and the new Terribles Truck Stop; last chance for water and supplies.  We then drove about 2 miles up the dirt road and found that we would have to park well short of our intended location.  The road was simply torn up and just 1 mile further up the road from where we parked, the road was completely washed out by about a 15' wide, 10 foot deep wash.  We were on the utility road so what the heck, we will just walk a bit further but on a dirt road.

We got out of the Runner, now lifted 4 inches to better handle the extremes we put it through and began our "walk" at 815am; fueled by a great breakfast at the Wigwam Restaurant, Casino and Indian Museum in the heart of Fernley.  A planned 10 mile winter warm up hike.

As we began, it certainly did not look that far but about 2 miles up the road, it simply became the most inhospitable dirt road I have ever experienced and the walking became difficult on the loose rock and steep road grade.  As we approached the first rise, we knew our plan was in jeopardy.  This utility road was built to provide ease of access for the working trucks to build these power towers and as such they followed a very gradual elevation line along the steep canyons that it circumvented.  For us that meant that the distance in getting to the base of Two Tips East was much further than expected.  In fact, we climbed and walked along this road for over 4 miles before we even turned off to begin the climb to the top; as I said, the road was 30 plus years old and its smoothness was gone years ago making the walking very difficult and mental.

So about 90 minutes into our trek, we assessed our path up this mountain in the Truckee River Range and felt it to still be doable so we continued but now, with no trail.  As we proceeded, the landscape became very rocky.  Rocks that looked like they were ejected from a volcano long since dormant.

This is the terrain typical from our two hour break all the way to the summit - Steve is on the ridge if you look closely.

So the difficulty in walking continued.  At our two hour break, we were across the rocky meadow and ready to begin the climb up; elevation 5400 feet. Here is where it got real interesting.  As we climbed, the terrain became more unstable and steep.  Thinking we were going to simply rise to rolling landscape leading to the top we were surprised by another steep valley.  Our assessment led us again, parallel to the peak and up but not closer to the peak.  After about another hour or so, we got to our high point at about 6300' and still a mile from the summit over continuing difficult terrain.  With time passing and both of us having evening commitments, we turned and what what expected to be a 10 mile hike turned into 12 and we still fell short of this summit by 1 mile and 3 hours of time.

Once back at the 4Runner, we had in fact covered 12 miles in about 6 hours of hiking.  A great day!

SOME ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

From our high-point we could see Pyramid Lake to the northwest...

...I-80 to the east and...

...the Sierras to the west!

Martin and Kimble's Trek to the Druid Arch, Canyonlands National Park, Utah - December 27, 2014

Entering the Canyonlands National Park

I have written many adventure reports but the Druid Arch, Needles District, Canyonlands National Park, Utah now holds special meaning for me.  Most of those that I share these reports with know that my hiking pals typically do not include my wife; this time we broke the status quo!  On our way to a family event in Grand Junction Colorado, Kim and I decided to plan our trip with a couple of days of mental refreshment by visiting the Moab area and staying on the Colorado River at the Red Cliffs Guest Ranch.    Obviously being in this area, we had to visit the Canyonlands.  Prior to our departure one of our very adventurous friends enthusiastically recommended we visit the Druid Arch.  So we did!

Trail Map (highlighted in red) Elephant Hill to the Druid Arch

Now those of you that know Kim are very familiar that she has a huge dislike for cold and has little interest in the monster hikes that I usually enjoy.  But…I was able to convince her that regarding her first issue, if the sun is out and we start after 10:00, we would easily mitigate the cold.  Regarding the second, its only a 11 mile hike through fairly flat and incredible terrain…distance will pass like time during deep sleep... I know what you are all thinking but remember with me it is about the adventure and the memory it will create so I had to do my best to sell this one! You also know... she did not buy any of my BS but supported my excitement in this adventure and geared up anyway.  I love her for that!  

So the plan after listening to the locals, which outside the local outfitters, have little time for providing  hike planning information, and leave our base camp, 14 miles east of Moab, at 08:00 and drive the 90 minutes, as we were told, to the Elephant Hill trail-head (image above), hike the 5.4 miles to the Druid Arch, have lunch, shoot photos, return to trail-head and be back in Moab for dinner.  So…here is how it went!

Kim outside Prius, gearing up at Elephant Hill Trail Head

Kim on trail, first quarter mile, early on in hike

It had recently snowed and down in the deep canyons the snow was still present on Utah 211 so it took us 2.5 hours to get to the trail-head; not to mention we got a 20 minute late start; departing at 08:20.  In all we lost 80 minutes of our daylight.  By the time we geared up with multiple layers (Kim…multiple, multiple layers) and hit the well-marked trail, it was 11:00; this gave us 6 hours to do this hike that is said to take 5 in perfect conditions.  As we took our first steps toward our destination, I knew that this time frame was going to be difficult due to the 3 inches of snow present on the top of the 5 miles of slickrock terrain that lied ahead…I said nothing but knew, 14:00 was our turn time.

The first quarter mile was up on a north facing slope but once we got up about 300-400 feet of elevation, the sun was shining on this beautiful day and there became obvious signs of snow melt.  We were now on a plateau surrounded by tall spires of red rock immensity!  This was the pattern for most of the first 3.5 miles.  We traversed the flats and then traveled through “cracks” in these

Traversing the "cracks". 

immense walls of towering spires only to enter another flat surrounded by amazing red rock pinnacles.  The trail was well marked and we had a fairly decent map but we still had to navigate 4 intersections in and out (see map above).  As we passed through the first intersection we traversed our last flat area.  We then began a small descent, still surrounded by massive red rock walls, into a maze of deep canyons but each juncture within the canyons was well marked.  Just like cave diving, both Kim and I confirmed each direction change.  The views and awe inspiring feeling of being deep down in these dry “river beds”, with towering walls above is indescribable; the thought of how easily one could get lost kept us very alert and situationally aware. 

After 3.4 miles and a ticking clock, we arrived at the mouth of Elephant Canyon, the final junction, a straight shot 2 miles south to the Druid Arch; it was 12:15; 105 minutes left to get to our destination.  

It was 13:35 when we arrived at the base of the Druid Arch.  We wanted to climb up to the viewing point so we could see the arch head on but in order to do so, we had to climb a metal ladder up onto a snow and ice covered boulder and Kim made the decision that it was simply to unsafe for her to continue.  I, was able to make it over the boulder but only went another 100 feet or so, realizing the trail was not getting any better, more obstacles ahead and time running out, I turned back to the ladder where Kim was, she helped me navigate down and with time out, we made the call to turn and head back, it was 13:50, but not before photos.  

Kim with Druid Arch Above

Martin with Druid Arch above

I think it important to know that this snow and ice covered boulder was not the first obstacle that we had to overcome.   Prior to this, we had to ascend two steep rock walls, no safety needed but no safety available, and a very steep, snow covered slickrock ravine that ascended at about a 45 degree incline.  We made it up all three of these very concerning obstacles but knew at the “turn”  that we would also have to navigate down them, a bit more complicated, upon our return and a stupid decision at this point, like trying to climb the boulder and continue or violate our turn time, would make the initial three obstacles that much more perilous during exit, so Kim’s decision was the absolute correct one!

Our Chariot parked deep in the Canyonlands - What a great ride!

At 13:45 we began our trek back, eating our sandwich along the way as we simply did not have time to stop and sit.  We arrived back at the “Silver Bullet” our chariot that would transport us back to civilization at 16:15, safely parked at the trail-head. We had covered 11 miles, walked for 5 hours and 15 minutes without a break under beautiful blue skies that never warmed above 30 degrees and throughout it all, Kim was always on pace, strong, a great team-mate, never a complaint and did it all in Sorrel’s!  What a fantastic hiking partner.  

It turned out to be a 98.5 mile drive to the trail-head, not 76 like we were told.  It was 12 degrees as we drove to the park entrance, 19 when we left the trail-head and it never got above 32 the entire day. The sun went down fast and by 17:30 it was dark so again, our decision to turn was the correct one; many think that the hike is getting to the destination...they could not be more misinformed...getting down/back safely is "the hike" and we will always adhere to that rule.  By our calculations, we had about an hour to spare but had there been any problems, that could have been the difference between this great story and disaster.  

We finally got back into Moab at 18:15 and decided to skip a restaurant meal and opted for burgers to go, a quick trip back to our lodge, made it in a record 18 minutes, and a nice soak in their hot tub; the first time this day we were truly warm.  

We will be coming back someday.  We have many adventures ahead but in the future, we want to spend two nights backpacking this area, getting to the Druid Arch viewpoint and spending some time in the Chesler Park area but... when it is much warmer.  We felt that a late September, early October visit would be perfect so stay tuned as there is much more to see in this incredible National Park.  

More Photos for you to enjoy...

The incredible red rock spires as we look up from the deep canyon below.

An exiting view from the top of Elephant Canyon

Us with the La Sal Mountains (my left elbow) to the NE

The incredible red rock walls that surround the flat areas

A weary, and rightfully so, hiker at the end of a long and COLD day!
She did this 11 mile hike in Sorrel boots without a blister or sprain...incredible!

King Lear Peak [34], Jackson Range, Nevada - 25/26 July, 2014 [ 41°12'7.10"N - 118°33'17.44"W ]

This is the view we woke too at 5:30am on Saturday July 26th...

... an immense monolithic rock peak, with a slope averaging 45 degrees (eastern slope) that would lead us to the summit. It should be a great day.  

The Hike to King Lear Peak - 8934'

It started for Steve and I at 1pm on Friday, the 25th.  The" plan", and yes, we still make plans for all our peak hikes even though they usually become severely modified during the execution, was to travel out to the Jackson's, a very small range in terms of Nevada standards, drive to the end of the indicated "road" (I will come back to this shortly),  hike for about 2-3 hours, camp overnight somewhere between 7000' and 8000', rise early on Saturday and summit.  Again, this is not a high peak but just like all Nevada peaks, you are going to work just as hard for this 8900 foot peak as you would for any fourteen thousand footer.   

As far as plans go, in Nevada, first of all, getting to some of the ranges and peaks can be quite tricky and a challenge in navigation (route finding) in and of itself.  Getting to the Jackson's and King Lear (not the high point but the most majestic and the second highest) would be no different. Would we be able to obtain the "end of the road" as indicated on Google Earth or our other topo-maps.  As I mentioned earlier, "roads"... you see on 3 different topo maps, we saw a maze of roads and as is the status quo for Nevada, some of them are there, but not navigable, some are not there any more and some are there and navigable but not where they are supposed to be.  The latter was our reality.  Finally after about a 3.5 hour drive from Reno, we found "our" road, heading west.  This road was off a northern spur. about 3 miles north from where this spur took off from Bottle Creek Road (yes at times some of these dirt roads have names).  We were expecting it to be per our GPS, only 2 miles north but it matters not, we found it.  Now the slow going began.  The road, as you see below, would take us about 4 miles into the range and about 1.75 miles ATCF (As the Crow Flies) from King Lear Peak.  

After about 45 minutes on this road, the "plan" was coming together.  We were able to park about 2 miles from the peak ATCF at and elevation of 5500'.  Awesome!  

Another aspect of our plan was to come out on Friday evening and hike, as I mentioned earlier, a couple hours but there was a method to this madness.  It is July, projected temperatures at 4000' were expected to be in the 100's at midday.  This is an eastern facing slope so trying to start the hike at say 6a from 5500' would put us hiking the face of King Lear in direct sunlight. high heat and approaching the summit at mid day: not my choice of combinations.  So, we departed our parking spot at 5:10pm and headed up.  So far so good!  

At 7:30pm, we got to a great spot for bunking down; just above a rocky nob at 7300' on a natural flat area that would be perfect for sleep.  We dropped our packs, found a couple of prime sleeping spots, put down our sleeping pads, threw down our sleeping bags on top of the pads and were ready for the night.  After some food and drink, we hit the sack.  It was 8pm: not much else to do.  A side note here...I woke about 10pm and what a treat.  No moon and stars like you could not believe.  I got out my binoculars and stargazed for about 1 hour.  It was incredible...indescribable.  

We woke Saturday morning and you  have already seen the view that greeted us.  We lightened up our packs, choked down some protein drinks and breakfast bars and headed up.  After about 1 hour of hiking, we found ourselves at about 8100' and decided to hydrate and take a break as for the past hour we had been hiking a slope of extreme steepness;  my estimation is a 45% or greater grade and it was hard work even in the early morning hours; the temp was about 65f.  In stopping and looking back, here is a photo of what we saw from our "1st Break" and where our truck and camp were located in relation to our present position:

  
Our next leg up was the base of the monolithic rock that was King Lear Peak - top arrow in photo below:

To this point, we could clearly see our route up to the base. Once at the base, then we would have to decide, left or right. To the right we could clearly see a sloping route which we named the "spiral staircase" as it wound around the peak. But this direction looked to be a box canyon at the top and we were not prepared to climb class rated rock walls.  

After a liter of water and some more energy food, we continued upward and at 8:20am we got to the base of the peak.  We  approached the base from the right side of the above image in the green areas above the lower arrow and in doing so, we could clearly see a route and a saddle to the left.  Again, we did about 50 minutes of hiking up this steep terrain to this point so this was a great place for a break and an assessment of our next move. 

The decision was made to hydrate and get a snack, then leave the packs and take the "left" path to the summit (not our named spiral staircase to the right).  At this point, looking at the GPS, we were only 450 feet away from the peak (ATCF) with only about 400 feet of elevation remaining.  We would take the GPS, gloves and our walking stick, and venture up.  After about 15 minutes of still steep, but not as steep as the face, walking, we crested and were standing upon the saddle.  Here is our view to the west into the Black Rock Desert:

From here, we simply had 200 feet of distance remaining and about 200 feet of elevation over the terrain you see below with Steve in the picture:

 

At 8:50am, we were on the summit!  Incredible!  We took some photos but our traditional team photo on top was not possible as our camera battery malfunctioned and we could not take a timed exposure.  Oh well...below is a great shot of Steve and a "selfie" of me!  Good enough.

 

Steve on top of King Lear Peak
 



Martin on top of King Lear Peak

 

After about 40 minutes on top, we began our descent.  We decided to see what the "spiral staircase" was all about and descend via this route.  At first there were a couple of rock gullies we had to navigate but nothing over 10 feet high and not sheer.  Once below these, we hit the dirt, scree and foliage covered slope.  However, our decision to go left at the base was correct!  This slope, albeit certainly a way to successfully summit King Lear, was much steeper than the leftward route and much longer.  The "spiral staircase" took us 30 minutes simply to navigate back down to our packs.  So for those of you who find yourself wanting to climb this peak, definitely go left and come down right (directions as you face the peak upon ascent). 

Once back to the packs, it was uneventful, only 3000 feet of vertical to descend in about 2 miles.  We hiked back down to our camp at 7300 feet, picked up our cashed equipment and supplies, and were back to the truck by noon.  We were 4.5 hours of hiking up (per plan) and 3 hours of hiking down (per plan).  It was a real fun adventure.  Peak number 34 for Steve and myself.  Looking forward as always to our next peak.  Stay tuned.....

More Photos




Looking East from the Summit (The Jackson's High point upper left mountain area)



Intense vertical rock walls all around (looking southeast toward Star Peak (#1)
 

The western edge of the Jackson's and King Lear Peak from the "roads end"

 

Below is the route as captured on Google Earth.  4.75 miles round trip, 3400 feet of vertical elevation.  4.5 hours up and 3 hours down.