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[Yosemite]

Cross Country - Slide Canyon/Piute Creek - Northeast Yosemit

Hiking, backpacking, running, biking, climbing, rafting, and other human-powered activities in Yosemite National Park

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Cross Country - Slide Canyon/Piute Creek - Northeast Yosemit

Postby richapple » Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:06 am

Though "Suicide Ridge" sounds a bit ominous, I've heard that one can cross-country (reasonable cross-country, nothing crazy) from upper Slide Canyon to Rock Island Lake to the west. But I never find any reference for just cross-countrying all the way down Slide Canyon until one reaches the PCT where it's going East/West between Kerrick and Matterhorn canyons.

Anyone know if there are any known routes through there, or anyone have more info on the Rock Island Lake cross-country from Slide Canyon?

Thanks,

Rich Apple
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Postby bill-e-g » Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:59 pm

Where do you really want to go?

Wifie and I xcountried from Rock Island Pass to Smedberg Lake earlier
this year. Great fun. Suicide Ridge only sounds ominous. You can
skirt around it near RI Lake outlet. There were a few "class 3" spots
here and there but not too bad IMO. I'm certain I could talk her
into doing it again.

On other trips I've also skipped Mule Pass trail and have gone straight up from
Slide Canyon. From Mule have also gone up to Slide Mtn.
It just depends on what you are comfortable with.
I very very highly recommend you go check out THE slide.
Wifie and I have walked thru it.... (1/2 mile of BIG boulders).
(and came back on the south side). I would think going up the
way we went down wouldn't be toooo bad (going up is usually
less dangerous...)

I do have some picts of the bird and whatnot from earlier this year here:
<PM me if you want to see them>

Unfortunately I didn't put the route we took in. I can put that if you like.
As far as going entirely down Piute Creek to Benson... not sure...
it could be pretty bush-wacky and hairy.
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Postby richapple » Tue Sep 01, 2009 2:21 pm

bill-e-g,

I did get a kick out of your picts of "the bird and whatnot" from when you first had the link there. Funny... I figured "the bird" was a typo for "the birds" and meant real birds. Some nice photos!

How did you get to Rock Island Lake before xcountrying to Smedberg? From Arndt? I guess your strolling through boulderland (the slide) was a different trip? I've got a friend to call who does say he went down the canyon, through the slide, and then up to Rock Island Lake...

If you did sketch what your route was down from Rock Island to Smedberg, I'd sure look at it!

Thanks, and hello to the bird.

Rich
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Postby bill-e-g » Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:39 pm

Here's the link again. I put 3 maps there.
http://picasaweb.google.com/dale.dekeyser/RockIsle
Those are the actual GPS tracks. I threw in the climbing thru THE SLIDE
tracks too...
We hiked to Snow Lake on Day 1. Tallulah on Day 2. Rodgers on Day 3...
Some of the route was changed due to snow.

Use the Zoom button in picasa and you'll get a clear pict.
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Postby richapple » Tue Sep 01, 2009 10:35 pm

Thanks very much! Wow, that Picasa is great for photos, and the GPS tracks... pretty cool technology. And in this case, very informative... And appreciated!

Looking forward to exploring there,

Rich
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Postby bill-e-g » Wed Sep 02, 2009 6:25 am

No problem.

If you've never seen THE Slide... like I said... check it out.

If you'd like to see a couple photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dale.dekeys ... 6047892482
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/dale.dekeys ... 6542158642

It's about 1/2 mile wide. Takes about 4 times as long to hike THRU as
around (it's easily bypassed by going south of the slide).

Have fun
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slide canyon

Postby exyosar » Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:56 pm

Slide canyon is a moderate hike from just above the slide all the way down Piute Creek, coming out on the PCT near the Benson Lake turn off.

It can easily be done in one day, but 2 would make it more enjoyable. I have hiked it several times, once even with snow coming down in Oct. The last 2 miles or so you are bush wacking in Manzanita brush. It just gets rough for a while, only class 2 hiking in the brush, but very managable with a good size pack on. You will find that this is one of least visited canyons of the entire park. I have never seen anybody else when I have been there. Thompson and Stubblefield are just as deserted, but they are much harder to access.
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Slide Canyon

Postby richapple » Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:20 am

Exyosar - Thanks for the info, which serves more to prod me into a quick update of this thread (and another thanks to bill-e-g) that we had a great trip. I hope to get some photos/film clips somewhere and will update later with that, but to just quickly describe this wonderful trip we formulated and had spectacular weather for throughout:

camps:

Crown Lake

Upper Piute Creek (just down a freckle from the trail that heads up the canyon towards Burro Pass/Matterhorn

Bottom of easy part of Slide Canyon just before the Piute plummets down past where you'd turn to go up Crazy Mule Gulch, etc. (2 night camp with Day Hike to investigate direct route to Doe Lake and up the inlet to Doe, returned via Camp Creek.)

Doe Lake (with great day hike up to Tallulah Lake)

Sister Lake (2 night camp with Day Hike to Surprise Lake, returning close to Smedberg and up Sister outlet/Smedberg inlet)

Rogers Lake

Benson Lake

Arndt Lake (2 night camp with "day off" type day hike just up beautiful creek that runs close at one point to trail going up to Rock Island Pass - further hiking could have got us to Rock Island via roundabout swing from the north, but we took it easy and just enjoyed that creek area and made it back to Arndt for more time off)

Peeler Lake


mentions:

Swam in every lake except Doe, as well as the Piute pools at that camp. Sweet. Refreshing. Clean!

Went two 72 hour periods during trip seeing ZERO humans. Julie ("trail wife") saw one bear when I was standing right there in the Rancheria Creek making a little video of what may have been a small stick rather than a small fish. Pity I didn't hear her and turn to photograph/film the bear.

On our way in someone at Barney Lake said to watch for an otter (river otter) that was hanging out at the outlet of Crown. Still not sure if the North American River Otter would ever be up there - but suspecting that "watch for an otter" in the High Sierras just might be the backpacking equivalent of "snipe hunting" (kids trick other kids into walking around some woods carrying a stick and a brown paper bag calling out "Here snipe, here snipe!").

Heard from some of the very few people we ever saw on the trail that Benson Lake was the "Riviera of the Sierras". And it was way different. Down to somewhere in the mid 7000 ft elevation, and a huge beach, a very tropical Aspen type area, it was somewhat of a San Tropez of the Sierras! And the lake is big enough that I think with enough wind one could bring a board and surf!

We, not really being avid and skilled cross-country-ers, found what we planned and did to be pretty reasonable. And what a payoff! I have never backpacked that many days and found so little trash to pick up and pack out. The net total on that kind of got skewed, though, since Julie found a horrible mess of the stupid freeze/dried bullshit backpacking food packaging under some rock at Arndt and cleaning that up was A) gross, B) a huge hassle, and C) quite a bit to pack out - but at least near the end of our trip. It's sad that such despicable idiots do get "out there" and would do such a thing.

Peeler Lake sure was a delightful surprise for a last camp. Worth it to get to the east side. It and Benson were the only lakes where there was anyone else camped, and in both cases neither party would even know the other was there.

Sister has a nice little rock pile to the south where we camped out of view. A trail crew member or two (one we saw, the other only footprints) from Smedberg did stroll along in the distance there.

Geesh - sorry to babble on and on so. It was a great trip! And hopefully I'll get some images out there somewhere to share soon.

Thanks for pre-trip info, and as for the latest post about hiking all the way down the Piute and coming out near Benson. Rad! (A friend here in Santa Cruz also had advice that he had gone from our camp down the Piute up and out Crazy Mule Gorge to get to Rock Island Lake and then the trail to the pass. Just looking at that Crazy Mule Gorge from various angles, we've renamed it to "Crazy Dave Gorge".)

Oh, and did I not mention the slide? Toss another "rad" in for that! Holy Cow! Impressive from all angles - and yes we hiked over its south/east side where it had tumbled up the other side if the canyon. Pretty much a trail right along the edge. I guess it happened in 1739 or 1740 it's thought, and my guess is it made a lot of racket!

Rich
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Postby bill-e-g » Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:45 am

Rich,
Cool! Pretty much the same trip the wife and I did earlier this year
except we went by Rock Island Lake.
We camped these places:
- Snow Lake
- Tallulah Lake
- Rodgers Lake
- Benson Lake
- Arndt Lake
6 days - saw grand total of 2 people from Crown area to Peeler.
I'd do the same route again in a heartbeat.
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Postby richapple » Tue Oct 06, 2009 12:21 pm

Snow Lake and Rock Island Pass/Lake all on my list for next time!

It always takes longer for me to get photos together, which I will post, but in the meantime, how about some audio of coyotes heard in Kerrick Canyon from Arndt Lake?

http://www.richapple.com/kerrick/coyotes.wav
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