Bulletin 1

June 23, 2010

Hello all Hiking Enthusiasts!

We are a month and a bit away from our adventures. All fit and eager? So here are some initial details.

I have the permit reservations and all the paperwork in hand: We base camp at Vermilliopn Meadows, Lake Thomas Edison, on Tuesday, August 3rd and set out on the trail on the 4th.

Jym, Leslie and I will precede everyone by a day to practice lounging at the lake on Monday, 2nd. We may take a day hike to the Devil's Bathtub a few miles away.

The route is approximately as follows:

Day 1. Upper Graveyard Meadow or Creek, depending on the availability of campsites. We may have to branch to the Graveyard Lakes to find flat landscape.

Day 2. Tully Hole or nearby, again we may be space limited.

Day 3. Tully Lake or a tarn nearby if the lake is still frozen

Day 4. Day hikes in this region: Red and White Mountain, Sheep Pass or something like it

Day 5. Across Pace Col into the Mono Creek Drainage

Day 6. To quail Meadow

Day 7. Catch the boat to Vermillion Meadows and head home via the Woolgrowers' Hotel in Los Banos.

Now this plan sounds good on paper, but there is a awful lot of snow in the passes at this moment (see attached). We may have to change our plans once we consulted the experts at the Ranger Station in Prather where I will pick up the permits.

I'll leave the other details such as equipment, food and cooking for the next bulletin once I get your input. Cooking and food for 9 will require a bit more planning than we usually do.

Cheers.

Steve The Saint

Maps: for orientation, "Mono Divide High Country", Tom Harrison Maps; for hiking, USGS "Mount Abbot " 7 minute quad. This is short of a bit of the trail from Tully Hole to Fish Creek, but unless the landscape is totally snowed in, cannot be missed (ha!). There is also an old Sierra Wilderness Press guide for this region, No 2, Mount Abbot.