john muir wilderness Archives - Page 2 of 5

Kearsarge Pass to Vidette Meadow: Summer Sierra Trip Report Part 1

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:August 30, 2013
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:1 Comment

After missing my week in the Sierra last year due to injury, I couldn’t wait to get on the trail this year! The plan was to hike in over Kearsarge Pass and head south along the John Muir Trail, then off-trail to explore Wright Lakes Basin and the 14ers of the Shepherd Pass region (Tyndall and Williamson).
We drove out on Friday night and met up with Pavla at Whoa Nellie. Then we headed south to a decent campsite about a mile off of 395 that would get us some sleep above 7k to help with acclimation. In the morning we headed south to Bishop to fuel up at Jack’s with a big breakfast, then picked up our permit after the White Mountain Ranger District office opened at 8 am.
A couple more stops delayed us a bit, most important was Pavla’s search for packets of spam singles. They weren’t at her normal spot but the Bishop K-Mart delivered! David also picked up a pair of socks at Wilsons. Finally we were on our way to the trailhead at Onion Valley.
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Mount Morgan (13,748′) and a few Fall Colors

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:October 20, 2012
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:1 Comment

Two weeks ago we headed out to the east side for a casual, relaxing fall colors weekend. Of course, at the last minute, Sooz and I decided to climb Mt Morgan, a really fun and easy nearly-14k peak. It wasn’t necessarily so easy for us since we weren’t prepared or acclimated, but the terrain and route finding was straightforward enough that the acclimation was really our only enemy. I explain the route in the captions in my images in my Smugmug album, so if you’re interested head over there for a peek. Here are a few shots of the climb – definitely a worthwhile summit!

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Mt Tom (13,652 ft) from Horton Lake

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:September 12, 2012
Post Category:Trip Reports
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The shadow of Mt Tom covering Bishop at Sunset After Sunday's successful climb of Basin I was a bit worried about how sore I'd feel upon waking up Monday morning.…

Basin Mountain (13,240 ft) from Horton Lake

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:September 9, 2012
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:4 Comments

When you drive along 395 through the Bishop area there are a few prominent peaks that define the skyline. The biggest, most impressive summit is Mount Tom. Tom has always…

Coyote Flat, Vagabond Peak (aka Cloudripper Jr.) (13,374′) and The Hunchback (12,311′)

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:June 25, 2012
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:4 Comments

Another summer weekend, another whirlwind trip to the Eastern Sierra. This time my destination was the peaks of the Inconsolable Range, a sharp ridge on the eastern edge of the…

A Stormy Sierra Weekend: One Summit, Buckets of Rain, One Fish, and a Mosquito Invasion

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:August 4, 2011
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:5 Comments

With our longer Sierra trip coming up soon, we wanted to head out last weekend and get in some hiking and sleeping at altitude. I always feel better when I get some time above 10k before hauling a heavy pack up there. Our intended trip was to head out to Laurel Lakes (just south of Mammoth), climb Laurel and Bloody Mountains, followed by camping and fishing at Laurel Lakes. Sunday would be another ~10k peak with a short hike. It sounded perfect, at least until we looked at the weather forecast.
The thing about the Eastern Sierra is that even if your original plans fall through there is always something else equally fun to do. So we headed out despite the forecast, figuring that we’d find something to do no matter what.
As we drove out on Friday night we watched the enormous storm clouds hovering over the mountains. They were beautiful as the sun set and they glowed bright pink. By the time we made it through the mountains the clouds had cleared and we pulled into a dispersed campsite outside of June Lake where we slept under the stars in the back of the truck.
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Lake Loop: North Fork Big Pine Creek

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:October 19, 2010
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:1 Comment

The day after we climbed Mt Conness we wanted to do something a bit easier on the knees. At least I did - mine were still a bit sore from…

Steelhead Lake to Pine Creek Trailhead: Bear Lakes Loop Day 8

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:October 10, 2010
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:6 Comments

The sun was up and I poked my face out of my tent, still wrapped up in my warm sleeping bag like a burrito. My water bottle was frozen. Hm, that was a first for this trip.

Our original plan was to have an easy day down to Honeymoon or Upper Pine Lake where we would have a relaxing last night on the trail before exiting and driving home on Sunday. Instead, we decided to cover the final 10 miles (2 cross-country, 8 on trail) and almost 5000 feet of descent in one day. After a successful trip with every summit on the list bagged, I certainly didn’t feel like we were cheating or bailing on our plans by exiting a day earlier than planned. Anyways, I only had one packet of Starbucks Via coffee left and we’d polished off the end of my bourbon the night before. The real world has coffee and beer. I was ready for the real world.

After packing up we took off cross-country towards French Lake. It was a really pretty little area with nice meadows and some campsites tucked away along a lightly flowing creek. At French Lake we dropped our packs for a quick snack and some photos. There are some relaxing looking beaches along the shore of this lake, but they didn’t look too tempting on this cold and windy morning. It wasn’t warming up like the previous days. There was an autumn-like chill in the air.

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Four Gables 12,720 feet: Bear Lakes Loop Day 7

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:October 9, 2010
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:1 Comment

Steelhead Lake shore - well follow the green ramp on the left — Steelhead Lake shore – we’ll follow the green ramp on the left and avoid the talus (for now). The chute we’ll take to the summit plateau is visible as well.

It was really cold when we woke up at Steelhead Lake on the morning of day 7. We had this high and exposed lake to ourselves though, and that was worth the cold morning. Although we had passed several people around the lakes along the trail, a short distance of cross-country travel seemed to discourage anyone from reaching Steelhead Lake other than us.

While sucking down my next-to-last packet of Starbucks Via I wandered to the top of the hill behind our camp and found some other nice campsites, and although the views were better than from our measly little spot, the exposure to the wind kept me from wanting to move my stuff. The view across French Canyon to Feather, Royce, and Merriam Peaks was clear and impressive. It may have been a bit colder this morning, but the crisp clear sky was encouraging. Time to bag another peak!

We had vague descriptions about two class 2 routes up Four Gables from Steelhead Lake, and both started with us needing to get ourselves to the far end of the lake, so along the shore we went. There was a bit of rock hopping and lots of stopping for photos. It’s a beautiful deep blue lake. It would be even more amazing on a still day, but today the wind was kicking up some waves.

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