A Dog's Weekend in the Eastern Sierra, June 13-14, 2009

[Tony Crocker]

I have rarely taken my dog Samantha to Mammoth. I'm skiing most of the time, and most of my spring hikes have been in Yosemite National Park, where dogs are not allowed on trails. But on the Memorial weekend Rock Creek hike with Andrew there were lots of dogs, and I knew that would be ideal for her. Samantha is 13 years old this month, and within the last few months has lost the ability to climb some of the steeper trails above my house in the Verdugo mountains. Rock Creek is a gradual trail starting at 10,300 feet, and it has a series of lakes and creeks. So I only skied Saturday morning of the Mammoth closing weekend.

With the cloudy and occasionally stormy weather Saturday afternoon I took Samantha to lower elevation Mono Lake (6,390) and the June Lake loop (7,500).

Edge of Mono Lake with calcium carbonate tufa towers. These were exposed after LADWP started taking water from the Mono Basin in 1941.

The white island at distance is used for nesting by over half of California's seagulls. They were threatened by predators if a land bridge was exposed by the declining water level.

Some of the tufa is completely out of the water now. Continued draining of the lake prompted environmental lawsuits in the 1980's. It turned out that there was a 19th century law forbidding drying up natural trout streams, so the suits were settled in 1994 and the lake will be allowed to rise to a compromise level. It has risen about half of the required ~20 feet so far.

Seagulls taking flight

As the lake receded it left behind these smaller sand tufa formations

Weather was about 60F with occasional drizzle, probably 20 degrees below normal for June. There's much more rain east of Mono Lake Saturday afternoon.

Surprising there was more sun by the June Lake loop closer to the Sierra. Samantha gets a drink from Grant Lake.

Silver Lake

Samantha has some commentary at the June Lake marina.

Another stop near June Lake

Kiteboarder on June lake about 6PM

 

[Tony Crocker]

Sunday the weather cleared some, so we went up to Rock Creek. It was still cool, about 50F, so I wore a windbreaker. This was probably ideal weather for Samantha. For the last 3 years or so I've noticed she's heat sensitive, so SoCal summer hikes have to be early in the morning or when we have a marine layer of overcast.

The trail immediately climbs about 300 feet and overlooks Mack Lake after half a mile or so.

As the trail dropped gradually toward a meadow, Samantha found a couple of friends to play with.

One of several creeks flowing through the meadow to Heart Lake.

We stopped for lunch at Heart Lake, which is also popular with fishermen.

Some more social activity for Samantha

She runs along Heart Lake for awhile before rejoining me on the trail.

View from far end of Heart Lake

Overlooking Box Lake

Headed back, Samantha walks in one of the creeks for awhile.

Past Heart Lake there's a short detour trail to Marsh Lake.

We climbed a short rock outcropping for a better view. The people below us had a dog who climbed up for a quick visit with Samantha.

Samantha slept very soundly for the 5 hour drive home.

 

[EMSC]

Gotta ask. The fixed pocket camera or the new G10.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Dumb question: what is the consistency of those tufa sand formations... are they like stone?

 

[rfarren]

Gotta ask. The fixed pocket camera or the new G10.

I noticed it isn't as green. Could this be a coincidence? Bueatiful dog btw. It must have been a real treat for her to do a hike like that!

 

[Tony Crocker]

Fixed pocket camera. I will post a few pics from the new SX10, mainly for you basketball fans. :wink:

The sand tufa looks pretty fragile. I'm not sure I would have let Samantha off leash next to them in her youth.

Even the regular tufa can break off with pressure. They do not want you climbing on them at all.

 

[hayduke]

thanks for the dog stoke.

my setter just turned 13 also, and although he is very healthy at sea-level, he does have weaker hamstrings now,and more trouble with long flights of steps. i was wondering if the altitude will affect him this ski season at 8000 ft. did you notice any respiratory affects while hiking with your dog at altitude, or do you think the difficulties with steep trails were muscular weakness?

 

[Tony Crocker]

did you notice any respiratory affects while hiking with your dog at altitude, or do you think the difficulties with steep trails were muscular weakness?
thanks for the dog stoke.

Entirely muscle weakness IMHO. On this hike viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8066 I drove from my house at ~700 feet to a trailhead at 7,900, then climbed through the woods to a peak at 9,100. She looked better up there than on the steeper trails a block from my house. But the most important factor is heat. She started to "hunt shade" on sunny hikes 2 years ago, long before the weaker hamstrings became evident at the beginning of this year. I also took Samantha to the Huntington Dog Beach a month ago. She loved running around with the other dogs and splashing at the water's edge. But any strong wave surge will knock her over now, and with the weaker hamstrings she no longer can get through the surf line to retrieve a ball in the ocean.

If the Angeles Crest reopens I hope to take Samantha for a couple more hikes up there to check out the fire boundary at Mt. Waterman and survey some of the damage lower down.