2006 6/23-7/5
 
Friday 6/23 – I had spent 2 days packing the truck – Carol came home from work, threw last minute things in the truck, I went in the house for “one last thing” with the truck idling in the driveway; came out to a cloud of smoke in the cab and in the air, Carol standing outside the truck, and the engine no longer running. Turns out fluid had blown out the back of the A/C compressor onto the valve cover and exhaust manifold (thus the cloud of smoke). No more A/C – not a problem for the beach, but a BIG problem for CA’s central valley and Lone Pine – our eventual goal. We decided to forego camping that night and see if we could get the truck fixed the next morning…
 
Sat 6/24 - No go – the outfit that had installed the compressor said the refrigerant was “contaminated” and they couldn’t work on it. I’m like – “but you did the work” – to no avail. We went home, packed the Honda for a day at the beach and took off. Had a great day with old friends – we’ve been doing the beach volleyball weekend so long (18 years) that the kids are now playing volleyball – in some cases better than us. Highlight of the day – friend Rick and I were playing doubles against this pair of German assignees (at IBM), and I hadn’t seen them play b4 – there’s a pass, a nice set, and the ball comes at my head so fast (I wasn’t ready…) that it whacks me in the head and breaks my (prescription) sunglasses. A little tape (thank goodness for Moms – always prepared) and I’m back in the game – but I did get to spend the entire week wearing a pair of taped sunglasses (there was no time to get them repaired) – geek-o-rama. Oh, well, it suits me. Went home early to try to figure out how to squeeze 3 people and backpacking gear for a week into the Honda – had to do some serious downsizing from the ¾ ton truck…
 
Sun 6/25 – We picked up Claire, our third party and headed for the Sierras. No particular drama today except having Claire drive – she treats speed limits like mild suggestions – I’m like, “shit, we’re going to die in the car and never get a chance to die on the mountain”. We camped near the Shepherd Pass trailhead…
 
Mon 6/26 – Up at the COD, off to the trailhead and hiking by 7 am. We get to the first saddle (2000 ft climb), Carol looks kind of pale, gets dizzy – turns out she hasn’t eaten. My bad, I wasn’t paying attention like a leader should. We get some food in her, a passing couple of guys give her some electrolytes, we get to continue. Made it to Anvil Camp – on the bad omen front, it’s sprinkling as we set up the tent. Claire hadn’t brought a tent – “It never rains in June, does it?” – turns out to be the memorable utterance of the trip. Luckily for Claire, one of the pair that passed us had a 2-man tent and Claire got to sleep inside.
 
Tues 6/27 – Up at a leisurely hour, off to get over Shepherd Pass. All goes well ‘till we’re climbing the 250’ snow field that leads to the top of the pass – overcast, windy, I’m putting on lots of clothes – thermal pants, thermal shirt, windbreaker, hat, gloves – and Claire and Carol are climbing in shorts / t-shirts. We all get to the top of the pass and Claire is now going hypothermic. Set up the tent, unpack sleeping bags, get us all inside and warmed up. I decide to put up the tarp over the tent just in case – a good decision, it turns out. In the tent by 7 PM, tomorrow’s peak day and we’re getting up at 5:30. Luckily for Claire, the same 2 guys are now at the pass and she gets to sleep in the 2-man tent again.
 
Wed 6/28 – “Peak Day” – at 1:15 am, we’re woken up by hail on the tent – got pics of ice on the ground etc. Got up and out to check things over – all is well, tighten one guy. 5:00 am – woken by hard rain; rains until about 5:45 then there’s a break. Climb out of the tent, let Claire know we’re no longer targeting leaving by 6 am. Will wait for a break. Break comes around 7 am. Get up and look out West – cell after cell queued up. Now starting to wonder about getting out. One of the other guys – Fritz – looks at the weather and says “It’s not coming this way” – since he has no supercomputer or meteorological model fed with current data, I disbelieve his analysis. Break camp and start down the pass by 9 am. Clouds chase us all day; we finally start getting rained on about 3 miles from the trailhead. Meanwhile, Fritz and Bill are attempting Mt Tyndall and getting hammered. We hit the trailhead, dry clothes, off to the obligatory après-hike meal with plenty of beer (we ordered glasses; the waiter says “a pitcher will be cheaper and have more beer” – turns out two pitchers have WAY more beer) – drowning our sorrows at having done all that work and not getting a peak attempt on Mt Williamson. Moteled it for the night - kudos to Carol for driving a couple of idiots (that think they’re really funny by now) around the Owens Valley looking for a place to stay.
 
http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/MtWilliamson
 
Thurs 6/29 – Off to Mojave to drop off Claire at the Amtrak stop for her trip home. Web site says “McDonald’s Amtrak”; we stop there and fortunately I go in and find out “It’s moved!”. Go find the actual spot (cursing Amtrak and it’s outdated website) and after a couple misfires, get Claire off to home. Carol and I head back, stop in Ridgecrest at the China Lake Naval Air Weapons station museum (too bad all that brainpower, energy and money has to be spent on things with no other purpose than blowing other things up). Find out that one of the biggest Petroglyph collections in N.A. http://tinyurl.com/lxht6 is there - but only by guided tour after passing all security requirements – so we have that queued up for the future.
 
Fri 6/30 – Bishop – breakfast at Jack’s; a little shopping at the outdoor gear store. We decide to abort on another attempt at Mt Williamson on this trip – my knee is feeling a little spongy. Head for Mammoth Lakes. Toured the visitor center, found a brochure describing a trip into Convict Canyon – lots of exposed geology. Convict Canyon contains Convict Creek, which feeds into Convict Lake, which is where our Mt Morrison peak bagging trips have started from. Never knew about the Convict Canyon trail so off we go. It turns out to be fabulous – adding to the list for Cousin Neil’s visit. Footsore and weary, we go looking for a place to stay for the night. In the meantime, half of California (seemingly) has arrived to play over the 4-day weekend – all campgrounds are full, hotels and motels are full – we finally get this crappy room in June Lake. No light in the hall, no smoke alarm, Carol turns on the ceiling fan and it starts to oscillate like it’s coming off the ceiling (“Turn it off! Turn it off!) – another memory in the bank.
 
http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/ConvictCanyon
 
Sat 7/1 – Breakfast in Lee Vining. Another visitor center tour where we find out about kayaking on Mono Lake. Turns out there are lots of restrictions – ospreys nesting on a tufa and apparently most of the population of California Seagulls nests on the islands in the lake (big surprise to us, Mono Lake is ~250 miles from the ocean on the east side of the Sierras), so can’t camp on the islands until fall. Now we know, at least. Head for home.
 
Sun 7/2 – Quiet day, getting groceries and run into a guy I used to work with – he and his family are back from a year and a half in Singapore, living in a hotel – “that’s not right” – so an impromptu barbeque is arranged at our house. Wind up with 13 people in our backyard.
 
Mon 7/3 – Went to Capitola for breakfast, Santa Cruz to watch the beach volleyball players. Met "Roland" who is fond of fresh figs.
 
Tues 7/4 – Picked all our apricots and pruned the apricot tree, picked what the birds had left of our white nectarines (they turn red when ripe which is like an alarm for the birds) and pruned the tree. Zoned out the rest of the day.
 
Wed 7/5 - we took the truck (remember the truck?) to the dealer to find out what’s up with the A/C. Compressor was bad, blah blah blah, had to replace it, but all seems well now.
 
Since then, I’ve been working around the house and sewing some new kit for backpacking – a one-person tarp and another, lighter quilt – finished the quilt last night and it weighs less than a quart bottle of Gatorade.
 
Carol pulled something in her calf last week at Volleyball and has been gimping around since – big pool of blood in her foot that’s turned a bunch of nice colors – hope she recovers quickly; we’re scheduled for another Sierra trip in late August.