The missing blog items continued

OK, more stuff from the disjointed presentation in September.

This probably seems a little disjointed as well. OK, it is. But I will pull all of these items together in a single posting a few days from now. Then you can read them together.

For now, this was the beginning of our Mendel trek. It was a travel day from Fresno to North Lake on the Eastern Sierra. Read this item first, then read the next item, and you'll have pretty good flavor of our trip.

There is one other missing blog item, which I will have to reconstruct from memory and notes. It is for Sept. 8. For now, this is Sept. 6 and part of Sept. 7.




6:07 p.m., Sept. 6, 2008: We just passed over the edge of Long Valley Caldera. It's a massive hole -- we're talking nearly 20 miles wide -- where the Earth opened up and spewed magma all over the place.
The eastern Sierra is a vast volcanic panorama, one of my favorite places. The caldera is a great example. The explosive eruption took place 700,000 years ago. Volcanic ash from the blast has been found as far away as Nebraska.

There are bubbling hot tubs hidden in the vast countryside. I've been here when it was 29 degrees outside and snow on the ground, yet there is still steam coming out of the rocks.

We're in Bishop now. And we're here for the granite and ice. Mount Mendel couldn't be more than 15 miles west of here. So our thoughts are turning to the plane crash and the missing victims.

But for a while, it has been a real pleasure to think about the volcanic past of the eastern Sierra.

6:05 a.m., Sept. 7, 2008, 42 degrees, at 9,300 feet at North Lake campground -- I skipped the tent, slept out under the stars. So did Mark Crosse. It was a beautiful glittering show overhead all night long. The temperature was still 50 degrees at 3:45 a.m. It didn't feel very cold to me. I imagine it will be a lot colder farther up. We'll make Lamarck Lake today, in a few hours, maybe less. That's good news. But you can't have a fire above 10,400 feet: No firewood.

2 p.m., Sept. 7, 2008: It's about 2 p.m, and we are at about 11,600 feet.

We decided to change directions and follow Peter Stekel and his climbing partner Michele Hinatsu up to Lamarck Col. We were scheduled to stop at Upper Lamarck Lake -- we've continued on.