Carson Pass Sno Park
When: 2017-01-14 to 2017-01-15
Day 1
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View of snow covered trees and hills along the roadside. |
Upon entering the park, we were forced to break trail. Given this scenery, I had to ask the group to pause so that I could capture the environment.
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Francisco and Rama breaking trail. |
Continuing toward our eventual campsite, we head into the snowy scene.
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Rama and Francisco breaking trail through the trees. |
After some arbitrary amount of time, we found a good hill to setup camp near the trees.
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Francisco pausing as we decide upon a campsite. |
Rama made a beeline for the trees in order to setup his hammock while Francisco and I trampled snow to in our respective areas to setup our bivies. There was a lone tree which I used to prop up a 10x10 (ft.) tarp to keep any flurries out, while Francisco decided to go without any cover. After the initial trampling, Francisco went straight to creating a snow kitchen with his snow saw and shovel.
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Francisco taking a break in the middle of creating a snow kitchen. |
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Rama in the middle of what turned out to be an intricate hammock and tarp setup. |
After our own areas were setup and the snow kitchen setup, we brought our closed cell foam (CCF) pads and had lunch. To begin, though, we started with melting snow for additional water. Afterwards, the real food was brought out.
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Francisco and Rama melting snow. |
Because we arrived at our campsite earlier than expected and lunch out of the way, we found a hill in order to test out different snow anchoring techniques. We started with using a snow picket and moved on to a snow bollard as we gained confidence.
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Francisco weighting a snow bollard. |
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Francisco simulating falls on snow anchors. |
After the snow anchor tests, we went back to finalize our camp setup. That basically involved transfering the sleeping quilts into the bivies.
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My sleepng setup. |
Overnight
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Timelapse of the night sky, illuminated by the moon. |
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A single frame from the timelapse. |
Day 2
After breakfast, we started to pack up our camp back into our backpacks so that we could retrieve them easily after the day hike.
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Francisco packing up camp. |
With our packs ready, we kept them at the campsite and headed to Elephant Back with our snowshoes and avalanche gear. While there was little to no risk for an avalanche, we brought the gear as another exercise. Francisco went and hid his own beacon and shovel in order to simulate the searching process. After that fun, we cached the gear in the snow and continued on to Elephant Back.
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Francisco breaking trail on the way to Elephant Back. |
Once we got to base of Elephant Back, we decided to head back in order to beat the traffic. Before that, though, Francisco started off writing his name in the snow for future visitors to read. That is, until he realized that he would run out of space. So we have FRANK, instead.
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'FRANK' written at the base of Elephant Back. |
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Snow, found along the way to Elephant Back. |
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Rama, on the way to Elephant Back. |
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A peak, as seen from the base of Elephant Back. |
From the base of Elephant Back, we went back to pickup our backpacks and headed out. Both Francisco and Rama lost me as they turned a corner somewhere during the exit. After I found my way to the edge of the Sno Park where it meets the road, I was able to communicate with Francisco once more. From there, we took our own paths back to the entry point that was used yesterday.
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Rama, as he crosses the meadow toward the exit. |
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Francisco and Rama, as they cross the meadow toward the exit. |