Original intention was to head up the Whitney Main Trail on a recon mission, but preferring to remain a hermit, the better choice was a trip back up to Horseshoe Meadow.



HM and Trail Peak. Thought I might be able to make an ascent, but the snow was tough work...



It was fairly windy all day and started out cloudy, but the views cleared up...



Back down at the meadow...

Rest of the few photos: https://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New-1/Trail-Pass---December-26--2020/



Some of the highlights of the ride up...

- Flushed a covey of Quail after the turn to the second switchback.

- Saw 3 coyote up at around 9k. (I had to look up whether there a Grey Wolves in CA because these coyotes were a striking color of grey. Can't recall ever calling coyotes gorgeous, but these were some beautiful, big, dogs...)

Love hiking in off season when you know there is no one else out there. Different feeling.

Summer of 2019 - alone in western edge of Siberian Outpost. Been fooling around in the area for 3 days (hadn't seen another human being in 6 days). Each day a BIG Coyote came down to the creek in the same general area. Always checked me out and slowly circled around my camp. Second day he stopped and crapped - I guess just to show me it was his territory. Like you, I thought he might be a Grey Wolf, he was so big.

The last few years we hear of wolf activity, I always thought coyote Until That night coming home from some misguided adventure (loss again) I was near the log area below Lone Pine Lake a deer ran across the trail very near me , I stopped and seconds later 3 of those things ran after the deer much larger than a coyote and all the same grey color and size, my thoughts they were drug dogs someone had let go. A mix of wolf and dog,
More recently we have had hikers that say yes I know what a wolf looks like and say they saw a wolf.

If you are lucky some pitch black night you may get to hear the screaming from a cougar ! that keeps you a bouncing down the road. I liken the sound to the painting by Goya " a pagan ripping the head off his son" .Lower section of the Prado

Out in the area where I go precision shooting, I have a specific spot where I take a leek, so I don't go prone in my own...

One morning, I walk over, and like you saw, there was a pile of Coyote poop... I guess s/he didn't like that I was marking their turf... unfortunately, Coyotes off base in the Ridgecrest area don't live a long life... too many of us eliminate them as varmints who like to kill domestic animals.


After reading Doug's post, I may have to go back up there on foot and see if I can't get some photos. Feel sorry for the deer if there are wolves... my understanding is they are much better hunters than Coyote. (Although 3 in a pack could explain why (if they were Coyotes) they looked so healthy.)

Well, look at that...

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Gray-Wolf#560052453-what-do-gray-wolves-eat

Maybe they are a bit farther south than CDFW biologists think...

Oops, they are claiming they saw one in Kern County...