Wood and I had done snow camping before, but this was our first historical trek in winter conditions. We set out for three day trek in the Sierras. We were in an area that borders "Desolation Wilderness" (about 14 miles from Lake Tahoe). We hiked to a place called "Bassi Falls" and had a truly challenging, but rewarding time. We were hit by a mountain storm that dropped the temp at least 15 degrees, poured buckets for three hours, then hail and finally/thankfully- snow. We had to snowshoe up through about two feet, but it actually got thinner and more patchy as we reached the summit. We only got few inches up there and everything cleared by Sunday. We woke to glorious sunshine! I found an old snag that was leaning against another tree. Pulling off the underside bark, we got to good, termite ridden dry tinder wood. We found some branches caught under boulders and soon had enough of a fire to dry out some manzanita (serious hardwood). It wasn't long until we had a nice bed of coals. Our fire was centered within a group of boulders and we soon had kit drying, and enjoying breakfast. While the rest of our kit dried in the sun, we hiked down to the base of the 75-foot falls enjoying the sunshine and taking in the Lord's glorious works!
The hike out was great (nearly all down hill!). With fresh snow we were entertained by noting the various tracks and saw no less than the following: deer, rabbit, coyote, red fox, and yes...mountain lion!
We were admittedly puzzled by the red fox prints. Their prints are close together and almost completely in a straight line. I'd seen grey fox prints before, but had to check the books to actually figure out what we'd seen. Reading up, it seems their "excessively furry paws leave obscure prints that make it even more difficult to identify."
Anyhow, a challenging, but great/rewarding time! |
