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Post by plaidman on May 3, 2017 13:58:22 GMT -8
Hi. I’m from Northern California (the SF Bay Area) and have been rambling the Sierra and the Rockies since I was a kid. I loved backpacking as a young man and had some great trips. Actually “great” doesn’t begin to capture what they meant to me. Then life happened and I didn’t shoulder anything more than whopping mortgage and a weekend daypack for decades. Now in my mid-‘50s, I have a 15 y/o son who loves everything in and about the mountains, especially backpacking, so I have been granted a second youth. I’m also fortunate that my wife likes to pack, and has joined us on our longer trips. We’ve done the northern half of the JMT the last two summers along with a bunch of shorter trips to more obscure (but no less beautiful) places, mostly on Ebbetts Pass and the Carson Iceberg Wilderness. I’m looking forward to learning here and hope that I contribute something, too.
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Post by cuzimthedad on May 3, 2017 16:38:47 GMT -8
Welcome from the Sonoma Valley plaidman!
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balzaccom
Trail Wise!
Waiting for spring...
Posts: 4,551 
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Post by balzaccom on May 3, 2017 16:46:46 GMT -8
Welcome! As your wine country neighbor, it's nice to have a few more of us on these boards. And if you add in Emigrant Wilderness, you're hiking in our sweet spot as well...
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Post by trinity on May 3, 2017 18:17:06 GMT -8
Welcome, from central Texas. How great that you're able to get back out there after all these years, and with your wife and son at that!
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Post by plaidman on May 3, 2017 19:18:04 GMT -8
Thanks for the warm welcomes! I am so lucky that my family likes to pack, too. Our son really wants to bag peaks, which can be a bit of a stretch for me. Well, a big stretch, but I'm still game as long as it's not technical and he lets me rest up long enough to acclimate. The times we have together on these trips are so wonderful.
I've dipped into the Emigrant Wilderness from the east side of the Sierra a few times, and also from Leavitt Lake. What gorgeous country! I like to fish, too, so there's plenty of tantalizing water I'd like to try out. Not this year, though, with all the snow. We have permits for the Evolution Valley loop over the 4th of July week, but I need a Plan B. The trouble is that almost everywhere in the West has so much snow. I'm still a working stiff but can take a couple of weeks and don't mind travel to the trailhead. I'd be grateful for suggestions.
Thanks again.
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Post by Lamebeaver on May 4, 2017 4:00:43 GMT -8
Howdy!
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rebeccad
Trail Wise!
Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on May 4, 2017 8:03:45 GMT -8
Hi! I'm in the Bay Area too. And also looking at the snow pack in the Sierra and planning on finding some other mountains for the summer hikes (we can go later than July 4, but still need to be done by the 1st week in August). At this point, we are looking at the PNW, since I want to go to Seattle anyway. Snowpack there sounds a little more normal, which should mean decent access by mid-July.
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Post by plaidman on May 4, 2017 9:58:42 GMT -8
Thanks. Maybe North Cascades? I've always wanted to go to Stehekin and do a trip out of there. With this warm weather, I'm getting all of the gear out this weekend to get things ready. We have a trip planned with friends right after school gets out on June 9th. The plan is to do an out-and-back up a canyon on the east side of the Sierra that's around 7,000'--if the roads are open. That picture of the snow bank on the road to Virginia Lakes is really impressive!
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rebeccad
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Writing like a maniac
Posts: 12,709
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Post by rebeccad on May 4, 2017 16:21:58 GMT -8
the snow bank on the road to Virginia Lakes is really impressive! The Virginia Lakes road is high. I think 7000' should be fine. In the regional section for CA, there is a thread on Sierra roads. You might check in there. |
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toejam
Trail Wise!
Hiking to raise awareness
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Post by toejam on May 5, 2017 5:07:36 GMT -8
Never understood how SF Bay is northern California when it's basically the middle of the state. Just seems disrespectful to the people who really live in northern California. No wonder they want their own state.
Welcome. See ya on the trail some time.
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whistlepunk
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I was an award winning honor student once. I have no idea what happened...
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Post by whistlepunk on May 5, 2017 8:02:47 GMT -8
True. Everyone knows the boundary between norcal and socal is Chico. Everything south of that is basically an L.A. suburb.  |
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rebeccad
Trail Wise!
Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on May 5, 2017 8:08:09 GMT -8
Everyone knows the boundary between norcal and socal is Chico. Everything south of that is basically an L.A. suburb.  Hisss. I somehow doubt LA would want to claim SF. Frankly, the Bay Area is it's own region, not norcal or socal, but just the Bay Area. Really, the guy who wants to break the state into 6 states has a point (not a practical plan, but a point) about the different regions being pretty alien to each other. |
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Post by plaidman on May 5, 2017 10:01:06 GMT -8
"The Virginia Lakes road is high. I think 7000' should be fine. In the regional section for CA, there is a thread on Sierra roads. You might check in there." Thanks for the pointer, Rebeccad. I'll check out the roads site. Out and back looks like the ticket for June in the Sierra. I'm sorry to have brought up the NorCal vs. SoCal thing. I just couldn't bring myself to type "Silicon Valley" into my profile. I don't really identify as North or South anyway. One side of the family's from Siskiyou and Plumas County (Dorris and LaPorte); the other is from Bakersfield. They all came from points east before that. I was born and raised in the the South Bay, but "there is no there [here]" anymore.  My heart's in the mountains, in any case. If there was a state of Marmot, I would retire there. |
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toejam
Trail Wise!
Hiking to raise awareness
Posts: 1,795
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Post by toejam on May 5, 2017 11:19:52 GMT -8
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whistlepunk
Trail Wise!
I was an award winning honor student once. I have no idea what happened...
Posts: 1,446
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Post by whistlepunk on May 5, 2017 12:45:34 GMT -8
Part of California used to be Utah. When the original Utah Territory was laid out it ran west all the way to the California state line. At that time the California boundary was not officially surveyed, and the general assumption was the state line followed the crest of the Sierra. So the part of California east of the Sierra and north of Tahoe (Hwy 395 north of Reno, Susanville, Alturas) was part of the Utah Territory. When the Nevada Territory was split off from Utah, that part of California was called Roop County, Nevada. Isaac Roop, a settler and resident of the Honey Lake Valley in California, was elected governor of Nevada.
The confusion worked in favor of the Honey Lake Valley residents. Plumas County, California ran east to the Nevada state line, including what is now Susanville. When the Plumas County tax collectors came over the hill to collect taxes the residents claimed they were part of Nevada and owed no taxes to Plumas County. When Nevada tax collectors came the residents claimed they were in California. So they paid no taxes to either state.
Eventually, the state line was officially and properly surveyed and found the legally defined border of California did not follow the Sierra Crest. The portion of Roop County Nevada that was lopped off by the revised state line was added to Washoe County, Nevada as a long narrow strip along the state line north of Reno. So if you look at a county map of Nevada and wondered where that long strip came from...
Plumas County was eventually split into Plumas and Lassen Counties, California. Some locals want to rejoin Nevada.
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My heart's in the mountains, in any case. If there was a state of Marmot, I would retire there.