Warren on summit of Tyndall
High camp under Tyndall at 12, 500 feet
Warren on top of Shepherd Pass entering Sequoia
Mt. Williamson from Symmes Saddle
Bill at the beginning, not knowing what he is in for. Here we go. Part one.
We got to Independence in time on Thursday night to watch the Lakers beat the Celtics in game 7 for the NBA championship. The lie was that we were going to hike some that night after the game, but we knew that would never happen when we sat down to watch the game. Friday morning we started out about 8 AM or so. Not too hot, and once in the canyon, quite nice actually. This being my 4th or 5th time up the trail, it was old stuff to me. But for Warren it was new territory. We made decent time up to Symmes Saddle, where you get the first view of Williamson's North face. We were caught at the saddle by 2 guys from the Bay area, Mike (from Scotland) and Scott. Once they took off up the trail ahead of us, we only saw them one more time the entire trip, coming back down off of Williamson near our tent the second night out. We did the downhill drop off the saddle and headed up to Mahogany Flats. I will admit to being totally blown out by the time we got there. We hemmed and hawed over whether to spend the night there or head up to Anval. which eventually won out. What a mistake that was. Carrying all that weight up almost 5,000 feet in the non condition I was in almost killed me. I did the last hour staggering like I was drunk and felt that way too. Have not been that blown out since the ending of the Shasta climb almost exactly one year earlier. Anyway, we made Anval and spent a nice, fairly warm night there. Left for the Pass about 10:30 Saturday morning. Looking back, the first of two late starts we made that we shouldn't have, both my fault. Saturday. after leaving Anvl, the trail was snow covered almost immediately. We did good by staying way to the left of where the trail went under the snow. All in all, Warren did a good job of playing Indian guide for us. Got to the base of the pass and put the crampons on. Not sure they were going to be needed, but did not want to fuck with them half way up the pass. About 2/3 rds of the way up the pass, warren in front, he decided to see if I was paying attention and dislodged a nice size boulder down at me. Saw it coming and got out of the way in time, but almost got a cramp in my calf moving so fast. Had a couple of times on this trip where I almost got full blown cramps in the legs. They started but never fully developed. Made the top of the pass without much adew, and had an easy walk over to where we finally pitched the tent. Never did find any open or running water. Gas, having enough to melt snow, was on our minds but was never a problem. Had dinner and took some pics before turning in for the evening. Was a lot colder for only being 2,000 feet higher than the night before. End part one.
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