The big day is here! Sooz planned this trip specifically for the opportunity to climb Seven Gables. Although I originally joined without any specific goals, staring at this peak for…
The main goal of this entire trip was to visit Bear Lakes Basin and climb Seven Gables. It is an area neither of us had seen and we really wanted to enjoy it, so we had two full days planned: one for the peak and one to freely explore the area. On this day, we decided to wander the Basin and scout the route for Seven Gables which we would climb the following day.
Bear Lakes Basin is only accessible via cross-country travel. No maintained trails go into the area which means there are very few people and the area has not been impacted by heavy hiker and stock use. The cross-country travel in this area is quite easy and fun. It is peaceful, incredibly scenic, and a perfect example of everything I love about being in the Sierra.
We had entered the basin the prior day via Dancing Bear Pass and saw no one while working our way down to Big Bear Lake via Black Bear and Ursa Lakes. However, as we started off this morning it wasn’t long before we ran into a group of three guys camped by Little Bear Lake. After a nice friendly chat that was only cut short by the need to escape mosquitoes, we continued down towards Vee Lake.
The wind had gusted all night, and at some point I put in ear plugs so I could get some sleep. When it started getting light out I popped them…
Things started off weird.
After a warm night of car camping at nearby Horton Creek, Sooz and I headed up to Pine Creek to start our planned nine day adventure. Although early, there were some light poofballs of clouds. So that forecast of ‘hot, clear, and stable for the next week’ already seemed shot. Nuts.
Pine Creek is one of the few trailheads I hadn’t yet used to access the high country so I was looking forward to the new scenery. I knew it was going to be a big climb – our goal for the day was to get into Granite Park (7 miles and about 4000 feet of climbing) – but since I wasn’t familiar with the trail I didn’t know how easy or hard the climb would be. I can hike uphill all day on a well graded trail, or even when I’m working my way through a pile of talus, but those ‘sierra steps’ built for stock break my pace and really wear me down.
Fortunately, the first couple of miles follow an old mine access road and are wonderfully graded. We chugged up the hill, watching the Pine Creek Tungsten mine drop away below us, and eventually reached some old mining tunnels/prospects dug in the wall towering above the trail. We kept hearing voices but no one was on the trail in front of us. Eventually we saw the climbers on the rock and it all made sense.
This year's big trip was not the John Muir Trail (again) or the High Sierra Trail (again), or any other big-mileage trip. Instead, I decided to join my friend Sooz…
Tioga Peak is a really nice little peak found near Tioga Pass just east of the Yosemite boundary. I climbed it on Friday, August 20th on my way out to…
The Sierra summer backpacking season is coming to a close which means I am home again and can focus on the thousands of photos taken, hundreds of miles hiked and…
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…
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.
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.