Friday, June 25, 2010

Yo Yo Yosemite!

Will have to be brief with this entry, unfortunately. I've made it through the high Sierras in the high snow year. Was in the first wave of no more than twenty people to make the long snowy trail-less traverse over the high passes of the Sierras. I'm staying with Billy and Virgia, former Yellowstoners, now working in Yosemite. The past couple days, while they have been at work I've been doing some amazing day hikes around and up Yosemite Valley. Tomorrow thte Bryans will take me as far as Lee Vining on their day off. From there, I'll be hitching the rest of the 140 miles to the Reno, Nevada airport to fly home, Georgia, for my sister's wedding. Wedding bells ring July 2nd and I'm back to Reno on the 4th of July and hitching back to Tuolumne Meadows in northern Yosemite to continue hiking to Canada. I've left the trail at mile 942. But with side trips and other days hikes and walks to town, I've done right around 1000 miles since April 13th! Will update more on the Sierras and it crazy stories when i have more time back home. For now, I'm enjoying the company of great friends, Billy and Virgia. Being in their house, is almost like being back in Yellowstone. They had been in the park for over ten years and have brought a good bit back to their new home in California and the other YNP park. Can't wait for some wedding cake and some Grandma's cooking when i get home to Georgia! Happy trails!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Back on the move

Zac is on the move again. He hiked some 21 miles according to the spots I have received. Last nigh he amped on Virginia Lake.(37.51,-118.93) Tonight he is just east of Mill City (37.603,-119.067) There is a chance he will reach Toulume Meadows tomorrow. I do not know if he is hiking alone or with a group. I am looking for a phone call from him any day now. I will relay any information I receive. There is a good chance he will reach Toulume Meadows tomorrow. I have added a few new videos to the blog. I have put them in as close to the date that they actually occurred. You may have to search in the older post to find them.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Working man

Today I received a very brief call from Zac. He is going to stay at the Vermilion Valley Resort a little longer. He took a zero miles day today and will take another tomorrow. He is working at the resort for these two days doing odd jobs and grounds maintenance in exchange for a place to stay and three good meals. The group he was with moved on this morning. Zac said he was feeling great and was comfortable taking a short break from the trail before his push to Reno. He plans to be at Tuolumne Meadows by this weekend. He will pick up any mail and supplies there. I will keep the blog posted with any new information.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Vermilion Valley Resort

Slim Jim and company took a hike a mile off the trail to Vermilion Valley Resort. His last spot was(37.37574,-119.01258) The resort is on Lake Thomas Edison. Still no phone service so I can only hope that showers and laundry are in the plans during the stay. I went to this website and found some information. http://www.edisonlake.com/ There is a campground,store,restaurant and if you stand in the right spot on the dam, you might get limited phone service. If he figures this out, I might get a call. If I do I will pass it on.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Devil's Punchbowl

Evolution Creek 850 miles


Today Zac crossed Evolution Creek at mile marker 850. (37.19574,-118.7951) The elevation there is about 8600 feet. Creek crossings may be rough because of snow melts. Tomorrow the group should make it to Sallie Keys Lake.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

King's Canyon National Park/Woods Creek

Zac has been out of phone contact for the past 6 days. I am using information I receive from his GPS devise that sends me latitude and longitude of his location. The last 2 spots I received today were almost in the exact same spots. This is his code to me that he is done hiking for the day and will camp there for the night. His last spot was (36.87361,-118.43775) It looks like he is near Woods Creek in King's Canyon National Park. The elevation there is about 8500 feet. Today he passed the 800 mile mark of his journey. I am going to be adding new videos to the blog after receiving a couple of video cards in the mail from Zac. Thank you again for following Zac and keeping him in your prayers.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Mt. Whitney

Chicken Springs Lake

Base camp at Crabtree Meadows


Zac will be out of any phone service for a while so the blogs will be brief. I will still try to give as much information as I can, location and elevation etc. Today he hiked north from Chicken Springs Lake to Crabtree Meadows. He is going to leave his gear there and do a day hike to the peak of Mt. Whitney tomorrow. He is into mile 766 from the Mexican boarder and having the time of his life. I should have some new videos to post soon.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Lone Pine

On Thursday Zac left camp on his own. He got into his first big mosquito swarm while hiking along Cow Creek. The bugs were thick and the hike was uphill and very strenuous. If you stopped to rest for more than 30 seconds, the mosquitoes would be all over you. Once he got past that obstacle he could enjoy some very beautiful scenery in the higher elevations. He caught up with four other hikers he knew later that day. He spent the rest of the day hiking with Little Engine, Half Slice, Sunseeker, and Slim. At 10,000 feet they had to cross some snow fields. At the highest point of the day, 10,700 feet, they could look down on the town of Lone Pine.
During the hike, they encountered at least three cinnamon brown bears. That night one came within a stone's throw to their camp. Everyone hung their food up in the trees but Zac buried his in the ground inside a bear canister. A few nights earlier one of the hikers in the group had his tent ripped up by a bear. Zac decided to cowboy camp so he could be more aware of what was around him during the night. Morning came with no bear drama during the night.
Zac got an early start Friday morning in hopes of getting to Lone Pine with enough time to get everything done he needed to do. He hiked to a nearby public campground hoping to hitch a ride into town which was some 22 miles away. Finally after waiting for an hour without seeing a soul, a pickup truck came by and offered him a ride. In the cab was Half Slice and Little Engine and in the back bed were the three Israeli Gears and Zorro. They had all caught the same ride into town.
In the town of Lone Pine, Zac got some things done. He went to the P.O. and bought stamps to mail some postcards. He bought a new compass, spoon, socks,and a piece of sheet metal to use a a wind shield for when he cooks on his stove. He also went by the library to check his E mail. He had phone service so he made a few phone calls to Alex Parker, Bill Ellison, and Corey at Lake Hotel. Alex is well in Boise, Idaho. Bill is enjoying some fishing in Florida, and Corey is cooking up some good food in Yellowstone.
Tonight he is sharing a room with a few hikers at a hostile. After a well deserved and no doubt needed shower, they went to the all you eat Chinese buffet. What a sight that must have been. I hope they sat at the tables and not at the buffet line this time. I'm sure they were stuffed when they left. After dinner, they got together and went over maps and plans for the next few days. They were going to be in remote wilderness for the next 8 to 9 days and preperation was important.
On Saturday he plans to hike 8 miles to Chicken Spring Lake, 11,200 feet. Camp there for the night and then hike to Crabtree Meadows, 10,300 feet, the next day. Then on Monday he plans to hike up Mt Whitney, 14,400 feet, the highest point on the continental United States. This will be a return trip for Zac. He hiked it a few years back. I should be getting some new videos soon and will post them as soon as I can.
Update: While in Kennedy Meadows, Zac was helping the owner of the general store sort and stack boxes that were mailed there for the PCT hikers to pick up when they came through. Zac mentioned how much he liked a certain hat that was hanging up in the store. He asked her how much she wanted for it. She said," Brush the dust off of it and it is yours." He said he really liked that hat. "It is different," he said. As soon as I get pictures of it I will definitely post. I can only imagine what it must look like.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

CHOPPER!

The pancakes this morning were delicious. The Israeli Gear group cooked up about 90 pancakes feeding myself, Digger, Smokey the Beard, Lost and Found, Joker, Golden Child, Mike, Andrew, Slim, Zorro, and Smilies and trail angel Tom. I spent most of the day after pancakes, in an outdoor shower, organizing my pack with new gear(ice axe, crampons, bear canister, down vest), laundry(washer only, air dry on clothes line) and discussing plans for resupply throughout the remote Sierras with all the other hikers here at Kennedy Meadows.
Yesterday I woke up on a nose of mountain looking over Fox Mill Meadows, where I left most of the other hikers for the night. I wanted to camp alone that night. Anywho, by the time I had broken camp and started moving up the trail, Smiles had already passed me and Mike was not too far behind. Had lunch on the banks of the South Fork Kern River where I encountered a large rattlesnake. The rattler was angry, but not aggressive or a problem.
Wasn't three miles from there after lunch I was hiking through a sage flat with loose sand and a few junipers and small pines. I had been listening to a low flying helicopter for the past half hour slowly getting closer and closer to me. Afterwhile the helicopter came into view, close enough to see sheriff on the belly of the chopper and two fully armed search and rescue crew members on the deck with legs dangling. I gave a friendly wave up, and within three minutes the chopper and circled around me and started to land in meadow I was hiking through. The chopper was blowing sand across the trail and into my face and tumbleweed rolling by.
Turns out the search and rescue had received an emergency signal from a device from a hiker in the area. A similar device that I have been carrying. They thought I was the hiker they were looking for. "I had NOT hit the 911 button on my SPOT", I told them. I told the men my name. They pulled out their notes on the person they were searching for. The name they had was for a Zack Lee. What a coincidence that I'm Zac Finley. Sounds very similar. Apparently their dispatch was talking to my dad on the phone with more info on the hiker they were looking for. Their notes showed a hiker with a grey sweater on. I looked at my grey long sleeve shirt I was wearing. GREAT! Maybe I had accidentally hit the 911 button on my SPOT....but there's no way I would have hit it twice, which is what the S&R crew had noted. The phone number they had didn;t match mine, and neither did the missing hiker's itinerary. The whole scene was very odd and confusing for myself and the S&R team. Either way, I was obviously fine and did not need rescue. They took my information down and asked if I was OK, if I knew where I was, and if I needed anything. They didn't think it was too funny when I said I could use a cold beer and a pizza. We did share a few laughs anyways in the remote sage field and then they were off.
A couple hours later after walking and worrying that my parents had been freaking out about whatever it was that was calling for a search and rescue for me, I reached Kennedy Meadows where I could use a phone. Called Mom and she had no panic or worried tone to her voice,and no idea of a any search and rescue! Turns out my dad had not talked to any search and rescue, and the whole thing in the sage flats with the helicopter was not for me afterall. I was relieved that no one was worrying and that I had not accidentally hit the wrong the button. Hopefully Zack Lee is OK and the S&R do find HIM.

Here at Tom's place in Kennedy Meadows things are much more relaxing. A perfect place for a zero day before heading into the cold snow covered high Sierras. Tom's place is just a minute's walk from the small general store. There isn't much more to Kennedy Meadows than Tom's and the store. Tom's mini trailer park sits on a sandy dirt hill coming down from the road on about 2 acres. His front yard is home to a large shady Jeffery Pine tree with hikers floating in hammocks. Several picnic tables and couches are also occupied with tired hikers outside on the deck of Tom's Cyber Cafe. The Cyber Cafe is where I'm typing from now. It is a roomy silver airstream trailer with four computers with Internet and a land line phone. Along with trailer there are many other small campers and pop-up trailers in Tom's backyard for us hikers to stay in overnight. Each with anywhere's from one to three beds. Tom also has a outdoor kitchen, or food shack where we all enjoyed spaghetti with meat sauce last night and pancakes this morning. All that Tom offers at his place is free for us hikers with donations accepted. Extremely nice and easy going trail angel.
Tomorrow I will leave Kennedy Meadows and head for the high Sierras. By tomorrow I will be back at 9000 feet above sea level, hopefully with just small patches of snow to traverse. By Thursday I will be hiking over 10,000 feet above sea level, possibly utilizing the crampons and ice axe. By Thursday evening or Friday morning I will hike off trail to the small community of Lone Pine to get a few supplies I can not get here at the even smaller community of Kennedy Meadow. Back on the trail by Friday evening or Saturday morning, I will spend the most of the next hundred miles above 10000 feet, which will surely be covered in snow. By next week I will hopefully peaked Mount Whitney, an off trail detour to the highest peak in the contiguous United States(14500 feet) and traverse the highest point on the trail(Forester Pass: 13180 feet). Should be a tough climbing, cold nights, wet shoes, amazing views and epic adventures to be had in the high Sierras in the next few weeks. I should be in good company leaving Kennedy Meadows with Mike, the Israeli Gears, Mango, Golden Child, Andrew, Digger, Smokey the Bear, Lost and Found, and Zorro. I am very excited and eager to tackle the snow. Thanks for all your support and prayers. It will be much needed and appreciated when traversing the high slopes of the Sierra Nevada.
My next certain mail stop, where I would love mail of any kind from you, will be in Tuolumne Meadows at mile 941. I should be arriving there if travels go as planned in two weeks give or take a couple days. My parents will have a better idea of my ETA there after receiving my SPOTs. Here's the address:
Zac Finley PCT Hiker
General Delivery
Tuolumne Meadows, California 95389

Happy Trails!
I reached the 700 mile mark on the trail yesterday afternoon. Besides having reached 700 miles, it was a very interesting and eventful afternoon, including rattlesnakes, a helicopter, and spagatti! I am taking a full zero today, June(correction)1st, here at Kennedy Meadows at mile 702.8. It will be my first zero day since Idyllwild back at mile 178. I'll be back on here to give everyone more detailed info on yesterday, some other good stories, and plans for the snowy high Sierras just fourty miles ahead. For now though, I'm going to grub on more pancakes here at T.A.s Tom's place and allow other hikers to utilize the computer. Happy trails!