Rock Creek, Ruby and Dade Lake

Don't step in the hole!

I should have had my ice axe out.

Heading up to Dade Lake

The views were amazing!

Yahoo for snow camping!

Our kitchen

May 1st and 2nd 

Over the weekend Cary and I went camping and climbing in the Eastern Sierras.  Friday afternoon Cary and I drove up to Rock Creek Lake, arriving around 10:30pm.  The snow level was around 8,000 feet, however, the road was paved all the way to Rock Creek Lake, 9,700 feet.  Friday night we spent the night in the bed of Cary's pick-up truck.  Saturday morning we got up and packed all our gear.  We headed out on snowshoes simply because we did not have any room in or on our packs to store them.  A little over 2 miles later we reached Heart Lake where we set up camp.  After setting up camp we hiked past treasure lakes to Dade lake.  The views were spectacular.  Snow was swirling off the mountain tops making for an amazing landscape.  

We returned to our camp around 6 and shortly after started dinner.  We dug out a little space to sit and a little table (see above pic) to make dinner.  The next morning we hoped to climb Mt. Starr.  We woke up around 5:15am, grabbed our gear and headed out.  Heading up we climbed a short class 3 section to get above the tree line.  Once over the tree line ridge we hiked up to Ruby Lake which is almost half way to the summit.  We scouted a nice shoot that looked inviting, however, Cary pointed out it was in an avalanche zone.  We saw trees were stripped of branches on the mountain side.  We decided to call it a day and hike back down to our camp.  Next time I climb I will probably go around to Mono Pass and climb up from the other side of Mt. Starr.  We returned to our camp around 10am and packed up and hiked back to the parking lot.

All and all it was a great trip, yeah we didn't summit, however, we did get a lot of info for next trip.  The views were amazing, the weather was alright (a little windy) and we only saw a handful of people each day.  Next time I would like to backcountry ski instead of snow shoe in.  Skiing would be much more enjoyable and faster on the descents, everyone we saw the whole weekend were on skis.  Great, one more toy I need to save up for:-)

For more pics click here

Notes:

• RCL to Heart Lake = 2 hours on  snow shoes
• Heart Lake to Dade Lake = 2.25 hours on snow shoes
• If climbing Mt. Dade, camp at Treasure Lakes
• Heart Lake to Ruby Lake = 2.25 hours with crampons
• RCL area is a great back country skiing area
• Temps:  Low 20's at night, 40's during the day

Orange is our climb up.  Purple is our descent.
View Rock Creek Snow Camp may 1st 2010.kmz in a larger map

Mt. Baldy 4-24-10

Last weekend Cary and I climbed Mt. Baldy. There was still plenty of snow above the ski hut (8,000 ft). For details about the route see last week's post.

View Baldy 4-24-10 in a larger map

Cerme Cave - Bantul, Indonesia

The Crew

Mini waterfall

Watch out for the bats!

Last Saturday I went “caving” or whatever you call walking through a long 1,200 meter cave.  I met up with a friend of a friend who was leading a group to Cerme Cave in Bantul, a town 40 minutes outside of Yogyakarta.  We all met up in Yogya and followed each other with our motorbikes.  Driving there, I past breathtaking scenery; lush rice fields, mountains and banana trees.  We arrived 45 minutes later at the village leader's house.  He was in charge of the small mountain village community where the cave is located.  We left our bikes with him and headed to the cave,  it was about a 15 minute walk to the cave entrance. 

Before entering the cave our guide handed us bike helmets.  Walking in the cave I was sporting a bike helmet with a flimsy visor and a headlamp.  Entering the 1,200 meter long cave, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  The water level on average was about 2 feet high.  At times we were crawling with the water level up to our shoulders.  In the two hours we were in the cave we saw a lot of bats, some sort of cricket creature and lots of cool mud/mineral deposit formations.  We even saw a low pressure waterfall.  I guess during the rainy season the water pressure is pretty intense. 

It was a great adventure, there was not technical experience or risk involved, as long as you are not claustrophobic!  You could walk through the cave in about an hour but we took our time.  The water was refreshing and relatively clean.  At times the cave was narrow and cramped, the helmet was a good call.  It wasn’t a necessity, but it let me focus more on keeping my camera out of the water rather than bumping my head. 

When we emerged from the cave (a different exit point than the entry point) we walked back to the village chief’s place and enjoyed  a nice lunch.  We had  rice, tempe, tofu, tea and fresh veggies.  I contributed sour cream Pringles J.

Mt. Bromo

Mel, Me, Nancy and Paul

Stairs leading up to the crater

Enjoying the sunrise

Me, Mel and Nancy with Bromo in the background

Last weekend Melis and I, along with our friends Paul and Nancy went to Mt. Bromo.  A bus picked us up from Jogjia around 8:30am on Friday and we endured an 11 hour bus ride to Bromo.  We stayed at Cafe Lava, which is a great little hotel that is right next door to the park entrance.  It has incredible views and fairly good food.  When we arrived we checked in and ate dinner, I enjoyed sate ayam and a Bintang.  Shortly after eating we all went to bed.  

The next morning at 3:30 am we got our wake up call from the hotel staff.  We got dressed and grabbed our packed bags.  We took an hour long jeep ride to a vista point over looking the steaming and very much still active Mt. Bromo.  We arrived at 5am, there were a lot of tourists there so I quickly set up my tripod in the front row in order to get a good view while the sun began to rise.  The view was one of the most spectacular mountainous views I have ever seen.  Bromo is in the middle of a caldera which traps in the morning fog.  Bromo and a few other mountains were jetting out of the fog while the sun began to light up the sky.  Breathtaking!

After an hour we took the jeep back down to the base of Bromo where we hiked up to the crater.  It was an easy 30 minute hike up the path/stairs to the top of the crater where steam was actively seeping out.  After enjoying the views from the top of the crater we returned to Cafe Lava and had a nice breakfast.  The rest of the day we relaxed in the small, hilly town of Bromo.  I was very surprised at how quite and peaceful it was there.  We took motos (see video below) to another hotel Yoschi's and had hot chocolate.  Motos are great, it's a great way to see the countryside.  That night we ate at a the Bromo hotel restaurant, where the food was fairly good but nothing special.  The rest of the night we relaxed and chatted it up over some tea and cookies.

The next morning I got up at 5am and went to a look out point near my hotel.  It was nice to shoot the view from a different angle.  This time I could see both above and below the fog.  The fog was cutting through the mountains like it was trying to divide it in half.  It was quite peaceful and I chatted it up with a few locals who were also taking in the view.  After breakfast, we started our long, long journey home.  I know it's hard to believe this but the 11 hour bus ride was well worth the wonderful weekend in Bromo.

I will soon have more photos posted on my Indo photo blog.

Mt. Lawu

Trailhead

The closest thing I could find to a map

In the beginning

Jimmy and Melanie

Jimmy

Merapi steaming

Melanie pondering life

Sunset

At camp drinking tea

Star trails over Mt. Lawu

Melis and Me at the summit

Me at the summit

Mountain shadow and Melis

Melis and me at camp, behind us is where we slept

This hut/area was made out of bottles and cans

This weekend Melanie, Jimmy, Melis and I set out to climb Mt. Lawu (10,712ft). Mt. Lawu is a spiritual mountain for Indonesians, many go to meditate at the summit. We left Jogja around 8am on Saturday.  We took a taxi to the train station, train to the town of Solo, taxi to a bus station, bus to Tawamanggu, then a local taxi/bus to the trailhead. In all it took us about 4 hours to get there. Once at the trailhead we ate some nasi goreng and noodles at a local eatery. 

With Jimmy leading the way, we started hiking around 1.  The climb was spread out into 5 check points, with the 5^th being the summit. This helped keep our pace and provided a good resting spot.  The trail was well worn and easy to follow, it was not as steep as Merapi, however it was longer.  We reached cloud level as the sun was beginning to set.  This made for spectacular views, we even saw Merapi poking through the clouds.  Five and a half hours later with our head lamps on, we reached our camp which is about 600 feet from the summit. 

Camp is a little hut with a metal sheeted roof.  A few locals live up here and provide a place to stay for climbers.  We had tea and nasi goring for dinner and enjoyed a nice fire.  Around 8 we all huddled on the floor to get some sleep.  It was EXTREMELY cold at night and we had no sleeping bags or pads.  We didn’t even have adequate clothing.  Locals said it was around 32 degrees out at night.  Fortunately, a local gave us a tarp to put over us.  It was so cold that all four us bundled up to share each other’s body heat.  Even our heads were under the tarp.  After tossing and turning until 5am we got up and hiked the 15 minute climb to the summit to watch the sunrise.  It was beautiful!  The mountain was creating a pyramid shadow. 

We hiked back down to camp where we ate eggs and noodles.  Around 8 we packed up and hiked down.  We made it back down in about 4 hours.  From there we ate at a local eatery and started our journey home.

Time to give props:

Jimmy – Thanks so much for taking us on this trip.  Jimmy guided us through Indo’s public transportation and on the hike! Oh, and he hiked it in sandals!

Melis- Way to go babes!  Hiking her first 10,000 peak and doing it in style (spandex pants and argyle socks).  The looks locals were giving her were priceless.

Melanie- Continuing to add to her adventure resume of Everest base camp and Machu Picchu.

 

Stats:

Elevation at trailhead: 6,400 feet

Summit: 10,712 feet

Time to summit:  5 hours and 45 minutes

Return time: 4 hours

**Sorry there have been no videos lately.  My point and shoot camera died:-(

San Jacinto & Newton Drury via Marion Mtn TH

It's crunch time. 2.5 weeks until Rainier!

In continuation for training for Rainier Cary, Katie and I climbed San Jacinto on Saturday. Katie, who lives in Colorado was in town for work and was able to climb with us. She is part of our Rainier team and is an exceptional climber. The 3 of us have climbed together before and we always have a blast. This climb was no different.

We got to Marion Mountain trailhead (near Idyllwild) around 8am. We wanted to get an earlier start but the trailhead is a good 2.5 hours from my place in Pasadena. As we started up the trail we encountered a ton of cut down trees along with a sign labeled "hard hat area". we are unsure what they were doing but we had to go around or climb over many trees. It took us about 4.5 hours to climb the 5 mile trail with 4,500 ft of elevation gain. The trail had just a few patches of snow, just enough for me to periodically hurl snowballs at my climbing partners. There was also enough snow to make the streams flow (enough to filter water at least).

We reached the summit around 12:30 along with a plethora of other people. I think most of them came from the Tram. We only saw a handful of people on our trail. Once on top we ate our pizza and talked with a guy hiking the Pacific Coast Trail. On our way down we decided to climb a neighboring peak, Newton Drury. There was no direct trail so we used our compasses to help navigate our cross country trek. This peak was more enjoyable to climb because there was bouldering and cross country navigation required. After a short time on top we headed back down and met up with the trail 20 minutes later.

Going back down was long and somewhat boring. It was getting pretty warm out so we dunked our hats in one of the running streams. To help us keep our minds from succumbing to boredom we gave each other trail names. Some long distance hikers (not ourselves) give themselves hiking names so we thought it would be fun to give each other names. Some names we gave each other I decline to share, however, here are some of them:

Cary = Sunshine

Katie = sooshka (Russian for pine cone)

Me = Fish (I drink and carry more water than needed)

We finally returned to our car at 5 pm. Then headed to In-n-Out, which is a tradition of ours after each climb.

*Thanks to Cary for taking the photos

Stats:

• Elevation start: 6,300 ft
  
• San Jacinto Pk: 10,800 ft
  
• Newton Drury Pk: 10,160ft
  
• Total Elevation Gain: 4,600 ft
  
• Start: 8am
  
• End: 5 pm
  
• Permit: Self assigned at the ranger station.
  

Weather: Sunny and warm 70's to 80's, cool and windy on top.

Trail conditions: Mostly dirt switch back trails, few snow patches (no snow gear necessary) and a few small running springs. Plenty of shade relief for most of the trail up. Bare on the summit.

Food I Consumed:

• 1 luna bar
  
• 1 Odwalla Bar
  
• 1 Power triple threat bar
  
• 1 bag of peanut m&m's
  
• 6 red vines (thanks Cary!)
  
• Handful of trail mix (with reese's pieces! good call Cary)
  
• Dijerno Pizza
  

View San Jacinto via Marion Mtn 5 16 09 in a larger map