Third Day, June 8, 2002, Volunteer Trail Crew
Map of the third and fourth day's hiking. From Rosemarie Meadow to the San Joaquin River and then to Florence Lake.
(day3_4_small.jpg)
Third day, Ron and Ed on way to Seldon Pass.
(19_75.jpg, photograph by Eric)
After breakfast at Rosemarie Meadow, we went back to the PCT and crossed
over Marie Creek on a log. Shortly after crossing we started running into
snow. Actually it wasn't snow, it was ice. Hard and slippery ice. The
only way that I made it up the hill was by using my wonderful shovel.
(When I got back from the trip, I went out and bought my own good quality
shovel!) We started out in the shade, so the sun hadn't had a chance to
melt the surface of the ice/snow yet.
We gave up on trying to follow the PCT as it was under snow and ice and
in general could not be found. So we went up the hill by any convenient
method we could. When we got to the top we could at last see Marie Lake
and Seldon Pass.
On the way up the hill there were several places where we could hear
water under foot, even though we were on snow/ice. It didn't take too
much thinking to know that none of us wanted to break through the crust
and go "post holing" into these icy creeks. (When water runs under snow
it forms a little cavern, the top of which may be several feet above the
water and quite thin. Getting someone out a mess like this wouldn't be
fun. Fortunately, no one post holed through and into an icy creek.)
All the way up to Seldon Pass, we alternated between post holing in snow
that was in the sun, slipping on ice when the snow was in the shade, and
just difficult going on the sloping side of the hill.
General view north on the way to Seldon Pass.
(20_75.jpg, photograph by Eric)
General view south on the way to Seldon Pass.
(21_75.jpg, photograph by Eric)
That little dip on the right of Mt. Seneger is Seldon Pass. And look at
all those nice boulders to walk on! Nice hiking for a few hundred yards.
View of Mt Seneger on the way to Seldon Pass.
(22_75.jpg, photograph by Eric)
Ed on way to Seldon Pass with Marie Lake (frozen) in background.
(23_75.jpg, photograph by Eric)
If you look carefully one of those spots on the picture is one of us! (I
have forgotten who. Sorry but I only had a wide angle lens with me.)
North view toward Marie Lake from the way up to Seldon Pass.
(25_75.jpg, photograph by Eric)
At the top of Seldon Pass, Eric (off the picture to the left), Steve, Ed, Dolly/Shackelton and Ron.
(26_75.jpg, photograph by Eric's camera)
Well, we finally got there! We turned the Seldon Pass sign around so that
it would appear well in this picture. This is the other place where we
had a disagreement and that was when almost every one else said that I
would be out of the picture and I didn't believe them. Well, it looks
like I really showed them! (That's me about 1/2 inch off to the left of
the picture!)
Ron, Ed, Ray, Dolly at Seldon Pass.
(27_75.jpg, photograph by Eric)
Notice that most of us are warmly dressed. Even though it is June, it is
also cold and windy up there. We all had and wore dark glasses to help
with the snow glare. If you notice Steve he is always fully covered to
protect from the sun. (I used a sun blocking spray.)
Steve at Seldon Pass.
(28_75.jpg, photograph by Eric)
Yes it was cold and windy up there!
Heading south after crossing Seldon Pass.
(29_75.jpg, photograph by Eric)
Looking towards the San Joaquin river (which is out of sight at the
bottom of a canyon that we will be going down later on today.) Heart Lake
is in the distance.
Heart Lake in Late Summer, from a different trip
(020_20.jpg, photographer unknown)
This is a nice little lake when there is no snow anywhere near.
Ron pumping water about half way between Seldon Pass and Heart Lake.
(30_75.jpg, photograph by Eric)
One of our party started having signs of altitude sickness and we had to
stop here for awhile. There are only two "cures" for altitude sickness:
one is to acclimate for several days before attempting hard work at
altitude, and the other is to get back to a lower altitude! Fortunately
we had already planned to drop down to around 7,000 feet from the current
10,000 foot altitude, for the night, so we were "covered", or soon would
be, for this medical problem.
Later on we got to Sallie Keyes Lakes where we had lunch. Our altitude
sick companion couldn't keep any solid food down so we tried to make some
hot soup for him out of the flavor packets that came with our Top Ramin
noodles. It seemed to work, but we all knew the only thing that would
really help was getting him back down to a lower elevation.
We left Sallie Keyes Lakes by crossing over Sallie Keyes Creek.
Conveniently enough there was a nice large log here to use. I do not have
a good "sense of balance" and it took me awhile to get across. The log
didn't even slow the others down.
Heading down to the San Joaquin River (Ray and Ron).
(31_75.jpg, photograph by Eric)
One of our problems on this hike is that it was the first trip through
the hills after winter. And so we had no idea of how much work was ahead
of us. Sallie Keyes Lakes have several nice campsites, but we continued
on. Most of this was to get to a lower altitude and part of it was so
that we would have enough time to remove any dead fall from the trail.
This is at the start of a hill side that was to take us down to the
bottom of the San Joaquin Valley. The loss in altitude was about 2,000
feet and made breathing easier.
At the bottom of the hill, we left the PCT and turned right down Forest
Service trail 30E01 which we followed down to our campsite for the night.
That night we camped on the banks of the San Joaquin River. When we got
into camp, all but our "altitude guy" had dinner and went to sleep early.
It had been a long day. Our "altitude guy" went to sleep immediately.
Getting up the next day we were all well and everyone helped to eat all
of our remaining food. We knew that we would be back at Edison Lake for
some "real food" and couldn't see carrying any "extra" food.
The next morning we continued on down the trail to Florence Lake.
End of the third day