Pics of Balloon Dome

[kenteroo]

Am I reading this correctly?

Forest Order No. 05-15-00-16-01 - Sierra National Forest Wilderness Permit Restriction

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd502415.pdf

Pursuant to 16 USC 551 and 36 CFR 261.50(a), and to provide for public safety and protect natural resources, the following act is prohibited within the Sierra National Forest. This Order is effective from May 19, 2016, through May 19, 2018.

     1. Camping in the John Muir, Ansel Adams, Dinkey Lakes, and Monarch Wilderness.

is this a joke or do they mean to indicate that camping without a WP is illegal (always has been...). I loath bureaucrats.

[John]

Imagine how pissed you would be if you learned this by getting a stupid ticket for doing what you assumed was OK, camping in the outdoors. Ironically, with said permit, you could still have a fire in August in wilderness while everybody else couldn't during the fire ban....go figure.

[mungeclimber]

Am I reading this correctly?

Forest Order No. 05-15-00-16-01 - Sierra National Forest Wilderness Permit Restriction

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd502415.pdf

Pursuant to 16 USC 551 and 36 CFR 261.50(a), and to provide for public safety and protect natural resources, the following act is prohibited within the Sierra National Forest. This Order is effective from May 19, 2016, through May 19, 2018.

     1. Camping in the John Muir, Ansel Adams, Dinkey Lakes, and Monarch Wilderness.

is this a joke or do they mean to indicate that camping without a WP is illegal (always has been...). I loath bureaucrats.

The exemption language under that language in the Order clearly identifies that wilderness permit holders and other official functions are not subject to the camping restriction in the Wilderness. Permits are lawfully allowed under the cited USC

[kenteroo]

OK, I feel dumb. It's there in black and white.

Still, applying basic Aristotelian logic to this document is impossible.

1) Spending the night in the wilderness without a permit is illegal. It has been for a long time, here are the reasons historically.
2) It's still illegal even though there is no reason whatsoever to think that it might not be any more.
Therefor
There's absolutely no reason for this Forest Order whatsoever.

Here's a bunch more characters for some reason no one can explain. Never mind that everyone knows this. It's the equivalent to "The Forest Service has determined that the sky is blue." A bunch or characters. "It's still blue".

Your tax dollars at work...

Sigh. Trip report. I pulled the plug. I drove from Sunnyvale to Clover Meadow Campground. Made good time. I left at 10am and arrived at 3:15pm.

Never in all my years of backcountry travel has my Spider Sense screamed so loudly. It was too hot, humid, no birds whatsoever, still tons of nasty insects. Lots of male Tarantulas looking for dates. I saw three Rattlesnakes. Super quiet in a really bad way. I tried to shake it. No dice. I drove out to the trailhead hoping to get the scent. Nope.

I can't really explain it. Normally I would be chomping at the bit in a setting like that, wanting to see what's around the corner. Not today. Yes, I may be nutty but if I've learned one thing in life so far it's "listen to your gut."

Maybe when it gets cooler up there and the clouds finally give it up.

Lovely day...

[mungeclimber]

yeah, I can't think of any wilderness that doesn't have a permit system for overnights.



sounds like the spidey sense was working just fine. got to go with it, right?

[bcprince]

hi all, i've lurked quite a bit here so thought i'd share some pics of balloon dome. and to let anyone who might go up there know that the summit register, while very solid and secure looking, was full of water. not sure what to do about it but maybe a ziplock or two at the very least would be good. anyway, climbed the beckey pillar plus brandon's free dike route last weekend. approached from kaiser pass logging roads, down and across the south fork. doing it in a day this way was very doable.

[John]

Nice job!!
That's really great that you approached successfully from where I think you started out. That crossing of the South Fork of the SJ looked way iffy when we did a recon. That's starting from the end of Stump Spring Road? How long to the base?

[bcprince]

I can't recall the name of the specific road, but here's a map. Google maps worked to take us out there. Blue line is actually the way in and orange the way out. It went surprisingly well. We were able to avoid most all bush and cliff. As you can see, from where we were able to drive to, it was under 3 miles to the base. I think it took us 3 hours each way. As we were talking about in the other thread, the hail made getting out a little more interesting. One minute we were swimming and relaxing on the sandy beaches at the river, the next we were negotiating mossy slabs running with ice water to get back to the car. At least it didn't come while we were on the dome I suppose...



Also, speaking of Fuller Butte in the other one, is there any chance you can email me some beta? i have some from Jerry and have climbed Walking with Walt. But walking the base, there are a ton of routes on those things. Would love to know about/climb more of them.

[mungeclimber]

For some reason I thought Dingus said he and Angus crossed a bridge when they went in there? Anyone recall that?

If there's no bridge, how is/was the crossing? Is that the wet mossy slab part? 

and lest I ferget, well done!!!!!!!! Some good adventure there! 

[bcprince]

There is a bridge if you come from the north. And that way is mostly all on a trail. But.... it's about 10 miles one way. This way was a gamble at only 3 miles but all off trail. But it paid off. The crossing was chill. Finding a way down to the river and up the other side that didn't cliff out was a little tricky, but not bad. This time of year at least...

[mungeclimber]

Ok thx. Yeah I’m getting stories crossed then.

I cross posted your pic to sph forum to understand my failed priorities in life. Lol

[susan]

So glad you posted up those great photos and info on accessibility.

I thought Stump Springs Rd was going to be closed this year from road damage from the winter before last. Seems Minarets has only been repaired in a couple spots yet. Anyways amazing views on that side of the river, huh?

How was that stretch of climbing on the pinnacle? Looks beautiful - all those cracks!

[John]

Wow, 3 hrs each way sounds reasonable if it is less strenuous than the Western approach. I would guess they are similar in difficulty since they have about the same elevation drop and subsequent gain? If there was no poison oak or rappels you are already in better shape.

[daniel banquo merrick]

Excellent trip. I've known the approach from the Kaiser Peak side would work for a few years. I once hiked solo down to the south fork to the same point where you crossed. This is the time of year to do it and get across the river without much trouble. During deer migration, some of the gates are locked and the hike can be pretty long. I did see a tree across the river that might have been usable when the river was higher. I no longer see the log on Google satellite so it may be gone now.



We replaced the original summit register because it had been wet for several years. Too bad the new one is wet. When we found it, the canister was not upright and it looked easy for water to get in. I suspect the snow gets very deep up there and in the spring, everything is wet. How many people have signed it?

[bcprince]

Oh I see what stump springs road is. It's the alternative to the route we took that leads to the same spot:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Huntington+Lake,+California/37.4229628,-119.2134122/@37.3022546,-119.2708475,31309m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x8095c5c54ee0b0a3:0x96858a241f74cae5!2m2!1d-119.1826718!2d37.2422827!1m0!3e0

The way we took was in great condition, fine with my little 2wd hatchback. Except on the way back when the roads were all iced up of course...

Yeah those cracks were super awesome, hard to choose! The one we took was really good, mostly cruiser hands. There was some very new looking bail gear halfway up that pitch..

If, by the western approach, you mean not the cassity bridge trail, but the cross country route that folks take to get to baffoon dome and the very base of balloon dome, then this way is much better for accessing only the upper dome.

Yeah too bad about the register, we could hardly read the latest entries. Even though the cap was on so tight we barely managed to get it off, still was wet inside.. The latest entry I saw was by Kenny Rose and it looks like they did a new east face route, listed as 5.10 A2. There were a good few others since you placed it in 2013 I think it said?