Tour Booked-Updated 1/8/2014-Back to Beaver Ponds

The tour to Canyon was booked today. I'm going to wait for the temperature to rise before deciding to snowshoe or not.

Updated 1/8/2014
When I said I was waiting for the temperature to rise, I meant that I was heading back to bed. I woke up around 11am and headed to the EDR for lunch.  After asking some people if they wanted to join me for a snowshoeing quest, they all responded with, "I'd love to but I have to work." But they all said good luck and can't wait to read about it. So for those that had to work, this is what you missed...

I started going up the Beaver Ponds Trail by the dorm and passed a man at the top as he was admiring my yard. I asked if he made it to the ponds and he said yes, the trail is all packed and ready. I thought to myself, is he talking about the trail we made to a pond or did someone in the last 24 hours blaze a new trail and make it to the actual ponds? I continued down our fresh trail from the day before and took this picture below.

I made it to the telephone poles without a problem and stopped and looked at this view. As I turned around, my snowshoe made a noise with the snow and to me it sounded like a bison was right behind me. I whipped my head around and saw nothing. My heart rate was going and my breath was gone. I waited for my heart rate to go back down but then a coyote or two howled in the distance. The picture below is about an hour away from Mammoth. I wasn't sure if the barks were coyotes, dogs, or wolves. I was freaking out just a little bit. I had two ski poles and figured if they did try to eat me, I'd have a pretty good chance. Also, I can climb a tree and wait it out if need be. But I thought to myself, "Okay, either I'm going to walk back and be a meal for something, or I can go to the ponds and be a meal there." So I continued my journey and looked behind me quite frequently.

I made it to my destination in just shy of an hour; 30 minutes earlier than the previous day. I stopped a couple times to take pictures and catch my breath on the steep hills, otherwise I imagine I could have made it there in 45 minutes. I was on top of the hill where the group shot was taken, and looked for snowshoe tracks that I could follow; it was fresh powder without a trace. The snow looked deep and tops of trees were at the top of the snow. This was unfamiliar ground for me and was scared to press on but I continued on pressing my limits. I carved my name, date and arrow in the snow pointing the way I was head as if someone had to look for me.

I walked down the ridge and snow went past my knees. I made it 20 feet before stopping and looking all around me. I kept thinking to myself it was a bad idea to do this alone but felt that I could do it anyway. I went down the steep hill and was in a gorge. I continued my way and turned around looking at my watch. People new I was out alone and said I would be back at five in the evening and it was 2PM. There was a long ridge north of the pond that was about 20 feet high and I couldn't help but wonder what was on the other side of the ridge.

I made the decision of going up on the ridge, walking it a ways and then I would head back to Mammoth. In order to get to the ridge, I had to walk down a steep but small hill and I found myself in a spot where Bison had nibbled on the grass and possibly spent the night. The ridge was the most steep of snowshoeing I had done all day but I walked up at a diagonal to counter the 60 degree slope. Finally I was on top of the ridge and found that the other side of the ridge was a long ways down and one false step to the north and I would be in trouble. The ridge was about three feet in width so it wasn't as bad as you may think. On top of the ride was a lone set of coyote prints. Below is a picture of the ridge line ending and flattening out with the prints in of the coyote in the snow. As I continue to look past the trees to the right of the picture, I could see that there was a large open area between the trees and the next hill; making me think that the other pond was just a short ways away.

None the less, time was not on my side and the clouds were passing by and overcast or a possible storm was coming in and I needed to head back. On the way back, nothing exciting happened except for one small error on my part. I kneed down in the snow to take a picture and my snowshoes one again made the sound of a bison. I once again whipped my head around to see nothing. I feel like I may get use to the sound but that can only result in a boy who cried wolf situation.

Once I got back to the top of Old Gardiner Road, I was lucky enough to have a view to end with. The sun pierced through the clouds and the rays lit up portions of the hot springs and steam creating such a wonderful ending to my hike.