9/9/16 - Bennett Juniper (Ben) & Telescope Peak

Visited Ben (estimated to be over 3,000 years old) at 8,400 ft. with Corky and heard great stories from Ken, the caretaker who developed the site and lives at his camp there from late June into October. He has a couple tents, cooking & radio equipment.





Traveled the dirt road with great vistas of the Three Chimneys to the South on our way to Telescope Peak.



We parked on a forest road at the base of Telescope Peak (not on the map, around 9,000 ft). It was a steep climb scrambling up the dry litter on the forest floor, crossing deer paths and trying to keep up with Corky. Elevation even slowed him down a bit with all of us pausing to catch our breath. Finally crested the peak with a 360 degree overlook of the Emigrant Wilderness and Carson-Iceberg Wilderness. Corky laid out his Stanislaus National Forest Map on the ground and set a nickle down on Telescope Peak, orienting it to our position like he did with his students. He gave us a panoramic tour naming the mountain peaks - Sonora, Pyramid, Nightcap, Eagle, Three Chimneys.







Enjoyed a lunch of avocado sandwiches with Tillamook sharp cheddar. As we were eating, Corky found the 2 letter jars tucked in their circle of stones. Inside were notes from climbers before us with comments of their hikes.





He opened one of the jars and handed us the note sitting on top and said these were fun to read through. We started reading and noticed it was from Ross's climb in October 2014 -- and what a treat it was to pull out this message from family who had been there before us!