Nelson HP & Middle Sister (CA)

Harlan W S & Jodie S
May 8 & 10, 2014

I hit Nelson on a cool day, when the wildflowers were pretty intense -- hence the trip was much more pleasant than I expected.

Nelson HP (Galena BM) I parked at the 2wd parking (which is now rather rough) and made it to the summit in 51 minutes without rushing, so there is no need to destroy your car for a small savings in walking distance.	Pink hop-sage?	globe mallow
lupine	phlox	strawberry hedgehog cactus?
Mariposa lily	4-o'clock	delphinium (possibly larkspur)-- sorry about focus, wind was blowing.
desert dandelion	Miners' cabin	View back at Inyos. on way up.
	View over Unehebe.	Inyos in back.
Telescope Peak (some snow) in back.

		Pincushions (white) with wooly daisy and fremont phacelia
	Fremont pahacelia	wooly daisys
Epidote covering a crack surface	Broad-flowered gilia.	View back at peak over phacelia.
paintbrush	the joshua trees are tall and often more than a foot in diameter at base.	Two days later, I joined LVMC for an exploratory route to Middle Sisiter in the Sweetwater Range S of Lake Tahoe in CA. The ascent route was a bit brushy; for descent, we should have gone one drainage N. But all's well that ends well.
Early on we managed to avoid most brush by following animal paths. As the route became convoluted, we opted to head N to a saddle.	View S. The route to the saddlewas full of loose gravel.	That red blob is a human!
Eric and Susan took another route; Jodie and I did micro-routefinding to avoid the dwarf mountain mahogany.	Jodie dances with elation.	View to South Sister.
S Sister at L, Middle Sister... in middle!		Jodie
	Me!	Jodie converses with Collin.
	On to the county highpoint.

Just below this gully, we hit a big dryfall, and had to go up and to the N to avoid another cliff.		I was worried we would hit another dryfall at that distant outcropping...
	...and we did! I found 3 ways around it, and we opted for the direct descent (Eric on cliffs opposite).
		This was when the snow started to get serious and blow sideways. Soon the mountain view was totally obscured.
Snow continued pretty had for the next few hours and we left for warmer climes. NWS still reported no precip for this area, even though slush collected up to 1" deep on the road.