Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Bighorn Sheep Zoological Area Boundary?

Having a look at the map for an upcoming trip, it looks like any crossing of the Sierra crest from Tunnabora "north" to beyond Williamson would violate the bighorn sheep closure. Any comments?

Hey Richard,

I'd stay out till December 15th when it opens up again. The sheep need all the space they can get to gather enough calories to breed this Fall. This could be an even tougher year than usual for them with the meager snowfall last winter.

They're extremely skittish animals, and their survival is precarious at best.

Where ya heading north of Tunnabora? have a good trip, John

I've been reading a lot about the East Ridge of Carl Heller recently, and wanted to have a look. I was thinking about camping down at the lake near the start of the route, but when I looked at the map, I noticed that it's in the closure area.

I've been having trouble pinning down what the closure dates are. I do recall that you not allowed into the Williamson Bowl area after July 15th.

Since I don't think it's right to ignore the rule, I'll just put it off for another day. Besides, the "west" side of the mountain is supposed to be significantly easier.

Is it only the east side of the mountain, over the crest, off-limits? Wales Lake and Wallace Lake and the West face are exempt?

Well, we shot them indiscriminately, overran their territory, brought in diseases that decimated their remaining populations, and continually reneged on our promises of protection. Ah.. were we discussing sheep or indians? Oh, right, sheep reservations are only seasonally protected.

Dale B. Dalrymple
http://dbdimages.com

Richard,

I've been interested in Heller's E. Ridge since reading about it a year or so ago. If you do find out more detailed closure info for this area, please let me know.

Andy

I'm going to ask the FS people for the specifics on this tomorrow morning.

I've read a few TRs about the East Ridge that occurred during the closure. One of them was a Secor trip and you'd think he'd know the rules, since he's written/writing the bible on the Sierra.

As I understand it now, in crossing over to the east side (yes, the west side is OK), you are violating the closure.

My Harrison map doesn't show the Zoological boundary, but it is marked on this map http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2372274640048030872EMQJUy

looks like a sweet ridge--maybe I'll check it out on 12/15----look for some "hanging gardens" along GeorgeCk.

Here's some cool Sierra Bighorn links--
http://www.sierrabighorn.org/
http://www.amazon.com/Counting-Sheep/dp/B000BY00M8

I'm not affiliated with either, other than donating. The interagency station in L.P. also sells the dvd.

Thanks for bringing up this topic; reminded me to send some money.

I asked about the Bighorn Sheep area when I was at the Visitor's Center on Friday morning. I was shown a map that shows that the closure area does not extend all the way up to the crest.

The NG TOPO! map that I looked at is wrong about the boundary.

Does this mean you'll be able to camp on the other side of the crest, or to do your East Ridge of Carl Heller, after all?

When I looked at their map, I was specifically interested in whether camping near the lake below the east ridge would be OK. It would be.

Since I had no idea what would be involved in making it that far in one day, I listed Tulainyo as my overnight stops. I ended up doing something wildly different due to AMS symptoms (again).