DataJunkie
climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Jan 28, 2016 - 02:41am PT
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He saw Matt slide down side of mountain on rocks (rocks that would allow one to slide) on his backside, feet first. He came to rest at the bottom of the hill and behind Matt was a large rock or boulder that was made of some sort of blue crystal.
This thread has been very interesting. I had not read it before. I hiked to Sky Meadows this past summer, which is one approach to Blue Crag. I followed a bad map and ended up climbing a rocky chute and getting stuck on a ridge near Blue Crag. It was a frightening experience. I did not even know it was called Blue Crag until I started doing some research because the rock formation really caught my eye. It is unmistakable.
The quote above struck me.
There are two talus fields coming off of the crest in this region. One, which I was stuck above, was a slew of large boulders. The other, coming directly down from Blue Crag looks like very small rocks and it is a smooth slope from the crag down to the bottom. There is a random tiny lake down there too. I could see someone sliding down this slope.
Mammoth Crest Trail is also the Crystal Lake Trail for the first mile or two. This is a very congested trail. I would imagine someone would have seen him, especially a local because locals seem to notice everything. Then, it forks off to the crest and Deer Lakes. From Deer Lakes, the trail is unmaintained. I *think* it is possible to get to Blue Crag from this trail (rather than via Sky Meadows), by cross country hiking. If you continue along the ridge, you would end up at Duck Pass. From there, you could descend past Skelton Lake and Arrowhead Lake.
A meadow, waist-high grass, dry, straw-like; a few trees, maybe Oak. I thought of snakes in the meadow grass here, hard to see them... remembering Wendy's “Snake” River... might he have been bitten by a snake?
A stream nearby or running through or at the edge, of the meadow, maybe near the trees. Is that stream called "Snake" something? Is this the same stream where I saw the red vehicle trying to cross? The dirt road dips down to the creek bed and crosses it. The wheels of the vehicles roll through the water of the stream to cross.
Sky Meadows is at the base of Blue Crag and is accessed from the trail to Emerald Lake. The grass in the meadow is very deep as the trail is lightly traveled. It is one of the few places I've hiked in Mammoth where the grass was knee deep and it was a brush/strawlike type of grass that made me very concerned about ticks. If I were in Southern California, I definitely would have been fearful of snakes in there but we don't have them up here. There is a stream or two that runs through the meadow and it is near the brush and trees. As you ascend towards the crag, there are no trees or plants. There were some trees that stood out because they were not pine trees but something else more flatland-like. There were also very big bushes that looked like trees.
What is interesting about the trails in the lakes basin area is that there are few stream crossings. Forest Service has done a good job of building bridges or placing stepping stones or logs for crossing. This was one of the few places where I had to jump across the stream.
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