The Team Sherpa Blog

Destination:  Above the California Smoke Clouds of June 2008

How do you plan on doing that?  Summit Mitchell Peak

Where?  Jennie Lakes Wilderness - tucked in around Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Forest.  Couple hours outside of Fresno, CA..

How long?  Easy.  2,000 foot ascent over 3.1 miles

Wanna see more pics?  Click here

Summertime 2008 was a mixed bag of spontaneous as well as planned adventures.  The last weekend of June a few buddies and I decided to squeeze a hike in before I was to leave for Sedona and then the Osa Penninsula.  At the time I was excited for the international trip that has since become known as the Great-Trip-Which-Wasn’t.  However, as of June 28, 2008, this bit of information was not so well known.  And so, feeling the need to get outdoors and stretch without risking undue strain, Clay, Mark and I headed into the Jennie Lakes Wilderness nestled between Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Forest.  Reaffirming what I’ve written before, the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Forest areas contain some of the best of the Sierras - near pristine lakes, meadows, forests and streams with a fraction of the people.  Apologies in advance, but most of the pictures peppering this blog were taken at the summit of Mitchell Peak; they may not correspond with the subject of each paragraph.

Wiki Jennie Lakes Wilderness and you will learn that it is a protected area of about nine square miles established when I was two.  Within this small protected area are six lakes - the largest being Jennie Lake at an elevation of 9,000 feet.  (Side note is that we hiked into Jennie lake at a later point in the summer.  An entry with accompanying photos will follow in a future installment of this blog.)  Us three guys in late June weren’t so interested in swimming in a lake.  We were interested in summitting the tallest peak in the 10,500 acre federally designated wilderness area. 

 At an elevation of 10,365 feet Mitchell peak offers commanding vistas and 360-degrees of unobstructed splendor.  In the distance Mount Whitney, the highest summit in the contiguous United States and on my hit-list for a future ascent, can be observed in all her forsaken ugliness. Honestly, it is not aesthetically the prettiest mountain.

Since this is an international blog many of the readers may not be aware of the hundreds of fires which plagued California in the summer of 2008.  (If you want to do some more reading on the fires, click here or here.)  To set context I will recite some of the stats that were impressive.  19,240 people did battle with more than 1,400 wildfires which burned over 379,000 acres and claimed 30 homes. Big numbers somehow tend to lose their meaning.  So, I’ll bring it down to an anecdote about one of the larger fires.  The Indians Fire raged in a local favorite spot of ours.  The Ventana Wilderness area of Los Padres National Forest in Monterey County lost over 57,000 acres, 9 firefighters were injured, 2 homes and 13 outbuildings were destroyed and over a thousand homes were threatened.  In addition, the Indians Fire curtailed our plans to hike Arroyo Seco not once, but twice this summer: first in June and then again when we decided to re-schedule in August.  We thought 6 weeks would be plenty of time for the fires to get under control.  So did the rangers.  Unfortunately, we were all wrong.  Hundreds more fires were going on at the same time throughout California in Napa, Solano, Butte, Mendocino and Monterey counties. 

Although firefighters came from out of state and Governer Schwarzenegger called in the National Guard, there were not enough firefighters to contend with the blazes.  Hence, the subtle distinction that 19,240 people fought the fires, not 19,240 firefighters.  Many everyday citizens found themselves banding together fighting to save their properties.  I recall hearing of merchants giving their inventory of shovels and gloves and other resources.  Proprietors of local restaraunts in Mendocino County, I recall hearing on NPR at the time, cooked and quenched the thirst of their community members, refusing to pass on the costs to the fatigued amateur and professional firefighters.   It was both a horrific and terrifying time, but also a time where the fundamental nature of man was revealed and we saw, contrary to Hollywood’s stereotypical egocentric amd self-aggandizing portrayal, Californians’ disposition to truly be their brother’s keeper. 

Well, not all Californians were so pious.  When the debilitating air quality caused by the smoke of the fires - which led to health warnings in Redding and Bakersfield -  spread to Santa Clara County, myself, Clay, and Mark decided to high-tail it out of town and seek refuge in the rocks over the clouds.  San Jose looked how my mom described Los Angeles in the 70s.  It wasn’t until we were beyond Squaw Valley when the road broke the smoke-barrier and we found ourselves gazing up at blue sky for the first time in days. 

Getting to the trailhead was a bit of a task in of itself.  Coming from the west coast, we went about an hour and a half past Fresno along highway 180 into Sequoia National Forest.  About 10 or 12 miles on Generals Highway and we hit Big Meadows Horse Corral road.  We stayed on the paved portion for a little ways until we hit the Marvin Pass cut-off dirt road.  All the while we were second-guessing whether we went too far or missed the turn-off, because there were some make-shift 4x4 trails that jetted off the paved road.  The marvin Pass cut-off road took us up and to the right as we hooked around a steep bend and followed the dirt road to the trailhead parking lot - kicking  up dust and rocking in our seats as the vehicle passed over the uneven terrain.

When we arrived at the parking lot we joined the ranks of a myriad of vehicle types:  SUVs, trucks, luxury sedans, roadsters, and econo-whatevers.  Despite the unpaved mile or two in, each found his way safely to Marvin’s Pass.  Having owned a couple of Civics, there’s a lot to be said for entry-angle despite low ground clearance when setting out for remote trailheads.  And you have to respect the guys who get out to the trails with nothing more than the tools at their disposal and their own personal drive.  Hit the trailhead on your moped, scooter, segue, econobox, monster truck, hand cycle, mountain bike, tri-cross, roller skates, your own two feet  - however you get there, once you’re past that trailhead no charriots are allowed.  Beautiful.. 

 Leaving Marvin Pass Trailhead the incline begins immediately and does not let up.  Mitchell peak is a straight-forward 2,000 foot ascent over the course of about 3 miles from the trailhead .  Such a relatively quick elevation gain makes this hike not the best option for a family outing with young’uns.  The three of us began the hike pushing ourselves a bit.  About an hour into the hike, we found a couple logs, rested our packs and opened a couple of snacks.  The drive and lack of food to that point had caught up to us.  We finished the ascent within the following hour.  In the shade of the spruce trees leading up to the barren, rock-ridden summit were patches of snow preserved from the winter past.  Wish I would have been able to capture on film the juxtaposition of the whiteness of solidified precipitation in the foreground with the murky pinkish haze of the ominous smoke clouds in the distant background to the northwest. 

 Returning our line of sight to the summit, our eyes met the healthy blue hue of unadulterated atmosphere.  We relaxed for a little while.  Some fellow hikers mentioned they heard we could see Whitney from there, however they were confused amongst themselves which one of the many peaks within view was Whitney - even to which general direction they should be focusing.  Mark, relying on his Marine Recon training as a navigator took on the task and was soon pointing us all towards a small peak across very distant lands.  Due to the illusion of size over distance, the peak looked on par or even shorter than other peaks - however it was noticeably further out than any comparable peak.

 Clay found himself enamored by the minefield of boulders going down the west of the summit.  Restless as he typically is we found ourselvs calling down to him.  Rather than have him scramble back up the summit, we decided to join him on a cross-country trek.  We knew where the car was having bread-crumbed our tracks using a trusty Garmin and figured we’d loop out west, down the side of Mitchel Peak and cut back up north to Marvin Pass.  The minefield of rock morphed into loose dirt and low foliage on a steep grade.  I found myself mock-skiing down the side of the mountain, sunk deep into the loose dirt as I engaged a controlled slide.  Luckily, the high-tops of the boots kept any dirt or pebbles from entering inside the boots. 

We came to a more level (and stable) section and began our trajectory north.  We were amongst Spruce trees and taller foliage.  The descent went considerably more quickly than the ascent.   We soon hooked back up with our original trail and made our way back to the car.  All said and done, including the leisurely stay at the summit and the impromptu descent, we were gone about 3.5 hours from the vehicle.