Backpack Notes, Day 4

Rock Island Lake

Our fourth day of hiking took us from Arndt Lake to Snow Lake back via Kerrick Meadows. You can read about it in sparkling detail at Bill's blog.

Some notes:

This was a great hiking day for me. I felt great the whole day, the scenery was varied and interesting, and we got it all done before lunch. I always feel like hiking in the morning is easier and more enjoyable.

I'm uncomfortable hiking on snow, so the little climb that us guys took was stretching for me. Glissading back down helped me get a little more comfortable with the dynamic of the stuff. It wasn't exactly ice, so it's not difficult, but I still hope I'll feel a little easier on the medium in the future.

The views from the top were really superb. It was wonderful up there.

Fishing around Snow Lake wasn't very productive for fish, but it was great for birds! I think its location at a low point on the crest yielded a sort of migrant trap for latitudinal migrants, because there were more birds than anywhere else on the trip on the outlet side of Snow Lake. While bushwhacking through the area, I found Yellow-rumped Warblers, Orange-crowned Warblers, my first Wilson's Warblers of the trip, first Thick-billed Fox Sparrows of the trip, White-crowned Sparrows, and other birds I can't remember anymore. Unfortunately, I didn't have binoculars because it was a bit like stumbling into a vagrant trap, small birds were flitting all around me and I couldn't ID them all in the brief glimpses I could catch before they would drop into the willows and shrubby pines.

The big snow field, and green meadows watered by it near the lake, appeared ideal for White-tailed Ptarmigan, but we didn't find any. There was, however, a pair of American Pipits using the meadow and defending a territory half-way up the snow field. The Pipits were the first I've seen in the Sierras, though I've always been looking for them. I wonder if they're associated with late season snow pack in the Sierras like Ptarmigans are.

This was the evening I got to see the International Space Station (with the space shuttle attached!). I was sitting on the lake shore under the darkening purple and gold of the late evening sky, pumping water while bats and moths flitted around my head, when I noticed a brilliant star - Venus-like in its intensity - floating by to the north. I hollered for the rest of the family, but nobody heard me, so I just sat in wonder as it slipped behind the mountains' shoulders.

Since we were right near the pass, we all went up to it in the dark to watch the stars. That was fun. There wasn't any moon at the time, so you could see everything really clearly.

I have a cool panorama from the top of the hill I'd like to put up somehow in all of its glory (there's a very small version on Flickr), but I'm not sure how. Any suggestions?

Pictures are up at the normal place: Backpack Day 3.