'No Canister Required' Tour - Day 1 Taboose Pass Trailhead

(Click on any photo to enlarge) Its a pretty ominous feeling when you've just been dropped off in the middle of nowhere, the sun has just set behind the mountains and your friends are driving away down a lonely dirt road. Then add the realization that you have to walk 120 miles to your car! That is just how we felt on Sunday night when our friends Kent and Debra drove us to the infamous Taboose Pass Trailhead. This Eastern Sierra access point is notorious for its difficulty and unrelenting gradient. Of course I picked this as our entry point for the 'No Canister Required' Tour that the three of us embarked on Aug 10. A little background on this years trip- For the last couple of years, our big trip was the JMT North to South. Classic route, bear canisters, no deviations, 16-22 miles a day, just get up and knock out the mileage. That's all fine and dandy but this year I wanted something different. We only had 9 days off so a 200+ mile trip was out. I studied the maps and came up with a route that didn't require us to carry bear canisters, fit into our time schedule, but still allowed us to see our favorite places on the JMT. This years route also had the added benefit of including trails and areas that none of us had ever visited! (Imagine that, in the Sierras??) So with the Wilderness Permits obtained, food drops mailed and several 2-3 day trips to get the gear sorted and processes refined, we finally found ourselves at the Trailhead with just our packs and the Goodale Divide staring at us almost daring us to enter into its inhospitable coven. So at 7:20pm on Sunday Aug. 10 we set out on our journey. We had originally intended on sleeping at the Trailhead. Well........ Taboose Pass Trailhead is just that- a 'trail head'. No parking, no water, no trash cans, no nuthin'. So we set off up the trail in hope of finding a spot to camp since we were all tired from a long travel day. Christi had been up since 1:30am! The trail was dry, sandy and started climbing immediately. After 2 hours of hiking we finally found a primitive spot and collapsed after setting up the tents. To say we slept heavily is an understatement.