I will be sending you a list of participants as soon as I confirm that everyone is OK with sharing contact information.

Francy and I were at Donner summit last month and there was still too much snow to scout the trails we plan to take. There was an inch of new snow last week.
I was at Lake Tahoe over the weekend. Attached is a picture of Mt. Tallac (9,735 ft) taken yesterday with some snow remaining, but it was melting fast and the areas we plan to hike in will be clear. We will not be hiking on anything as steep as Tallac, one of the most difficult hikes in the area, but as you can see this is not Kansas.

At this point in the game your conditioning and your boots are 2 important topics. You want to be comfortable hiking up to 7 miles wearing the boots that you will use on our trip. If you find that you are prone to develop hot spots (sore areas) on your feet, knee high support hose make a wonderful liner sock. They are very smooth and the wool hiking sock can just slide over it rather than rubbing your foot. The issue is that you want to figure out your system before you leave home!

Several people have asked about the altitude. It's not a big concern, since we will be taking it easy Monday and will have two nights sleeping at 7,000 ft before we do any serious hiking. This has always been enough for people to acclimatize.
Most airplanes are pressurized to the equivalent of about 7,000 ft, so if flying doesn't bother you, you should be OK.

You all have good exercise programs planned (I hope you're sticking to them). The main concern, as I mentioned in the first bulletin, is to get some experience going up hills (or stairs) with some weight.

Our web site is https://donsnotes.com/ctl/introtobackpacking

I'll be in California until Thursday June 14, so use my cell phone 848 203-4814 if you need to reach me then.

Don (732) 560-0369, mobile: 848 203-4814