Calipidder

August is prime Sierra season so I’ve spent more time in the mountains than on my computer lately (yay!). And I’m turning around and heading back out to do a few peaks over Labor Day weekend. In other words, it’s gonna be a long wait for more trip reports and photos. BUT, I did take some fun videos on our recent outings and wanted to share them here. One is a video panorama of Columbine Lake (over Sawtooth Pass out of Mineral King), and the others are from the longer trip I just got back from where we bagged several peaks and visited Bear Lakes Basin. I have a panorama from the summit of Mt Julius Caesar and another from the summit of Seven Gables. Enjoy!

Columbine Lake at Sunset

Continue reading Summit and other videos!

I just got back from a four day trip out of Mineral King. It took us over Timber Gap, then Black Rock Pass, past Little and Big Five Lakes, up Lost Canyon, by Columbine Lake, and then out over Sawtooth Pass. I’ll write up a proper trip report later since I am heading out the door for another trip (I love August). But in the meantime, here are the (partially captioned) pictures.

Slate Creek

I usually spend most of August on the trail in the Sierra, but I had a random unplanned weekend and decided to save some driving time and catch up on work at home. Well, I should have used it to catch up on busywork at home, but this cool summer day sure seemed like a nice time to hike in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

It is summer so I wanted to find a nice shaded place to hike. Naturally, any redwood park would qualify. Never one to choose the easy route, I decided to access the redwoods of Portola State Park from above, starting at the LR01 gate in Long Ridge Open Space preserve. The hike feels like a lot of downhill on the way in, but there are some stretches of climbing mixed in.

Once down at Slate Creek camp I turned down the Bear Creek Trail Loop, signed as ‘7 Miles round trip and very strenuous’. My GPS odometer had 4.25 miles at that point. When I got back to the sign the odometer was at 9.5 miles. So seven miles it is not. But strenuousness is a relative term. Compared to a lot of the hiking I do I found it pretty easy. However, the trail had recently been trimmed and it looks like it could get quite overgrown quite quickly - I bet by next spring it will be overgrown with poison oak and brambles again. Also, the last mile into the grove is a steep descent. Nothing unusual, but it would most definitely be a challenge for someone not used to that kind of trail.

>There is a nice loop through a redwood grove at the bottom - I soaked in the views while soaking my feet in the creek. I also found some beautiful late season wildflowers, including leopard lilies as big as my fist. I don’t usually hike this terrain in August, so there are a couple of flowers I found that I don’t know - I have some identification to do in my future.

The climb back from Portola to Long Ridge was long and hot, which I am not a fan of. Still, this was an excellent hike. I only saw people in the first and last mile at Long Ridge (mountain bikers) and a couple of people on the Bear Creek Trail loop. The scenery included views towards Monterey Bay from the ridge and deep first-growth redwood forest. I’m always looking for good strenuous dayhikes within a short drive of home, and this one is a great option. 15 miles with 4000 ft of gain - a great match for what I’m usually looking for.

• Photos: Long Ridge to Portola
• Track

Cottonwood Basin

Lone Pine is a long drive for us. LONG DRIVE. Like, 7+ hours. But as John Muir once said, “The mountains are calling and I must go,” and this past weekend it was Cottonwood Basin that was calling. The trail to Cottonwood starts from the Horseshoe Meadows area out of Lone Pine.

We took off  Thursday night and drove out towards Yosemite. We were hoping to snag a campsite at one of the higher campgrounds near Tioga Pass but everything was full. Even Lee Vining Canyon was packed - we finally found a spot in the Lower Lee Vining campground around 12:30 am in between two RVs. The following morning we hiked Gaylor Peak (trip report) and then headed into the Mono Visitor Center to pick up a permit for Cottonwood Lakes trailhead for Saturday. This was followed by fish tacos at the Whoa Nellie Deli. My first of the season and they were as good as always.

Cottonwood Lake #6

Having had a productive morning (1 peak, 1 permit, and 2 fish tacos), we headed south along 395 and took some time to fish along the way. We were completely unsuccessful at both Rush Creek and Rock Creek. Plus the mosquitoes were out. By evening we had reached Lone Pine and after dinner in town we headed out to camp at Tuttle Creek. It was hot so we enjoyed some cold beer and nighttime photography before heading to bed.

We met up with Sooz, Robin, and Rachel at 7:30 near the trailhead. After dropping our cooler in a bear box, we went back to the Old trail and started off towards Cottonwood Lakes. I was feeling good and hardly noticed the altitude. It helps that the trail climbs gently. Eventually, we reached the junction to Muir Lake and headed towards our intended campsite.

Continue reading Cottonwood Lakes Basin Overnight Backpack

View from Gaylor Peak

We spent last Friday through Sunday in the Sierra. There was an overnight backpack in Cottonwood Basin scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, so on Friday morning we decided to do a short acclimation hike somewhere near Tioga Pass (around 10k feet). It was the perfect opportunity to get up a peak I’d been wanting to climb for some time - Gaylor Peak.

Gaylor Peak is a short hike (~1 mile one way) with about 1000 feet of gain. It begins at the Gaylor Lakes trailhead right next to the Tioga Pass entry station for Yosemite National Park. There is trail for half of the approach, and the second half is easy class 1 cross-country from the saddle above Gaylor Lakes. The summit is a nice rocky ridge with plenty of room for people, though we were the only ones up there on Friday morning.

The best part of this hike is the views. The payoff to effort ratio is great - a mere hour’s hike will get you the kind of views that you’d expect from the bigger peaks in the park. The views into the Gaylor and Granite Lakes basin below is expansive and there is a 360 degree view of the peaks of the Yosemite sub-ranges.

Use this hike as a short stretch of the legs when passing through Tioga, or as a warm up hike for one of the bigger peaks like Dana, Conness, or Lyell. It’s so easy I’m surprised there aren’t more people who hike this one. Don’t miss it!

Links

• Pictures from Gaylor Peak
• Summitpost entry for Gaylor Peak
• Track and map from our hike