inyo national forest Archives - Page 4 of 7

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…

Mount Conness – 12,590ft

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:October 18, 2010
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:9 Comments

Mount Conness has been on the top of my 'mountain bucket list' for a while now. There is no particular reason this peak is on this list, other than that…

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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Granite Park to Big Bear Lake (with Mt Julius Caesar): Bear Lakes Loop Day 2

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:October 4, 2010
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:3 Comments

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…

Granite Park

Pine Creek to Granite Park: Bear Lakes Loop Day 1

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:October 3, 2010
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:7 Comments

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.

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Bear Lakes Basin Loop from Pine Creek

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:October 2, 2010
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:1 Comment

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 Summit Register

Tioga Peak: 11,526 ft

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:September 21, 2010
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:5 Comments

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…

Cottonwood Lakes Basin Overnight Backpack

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:July 28, 2010
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:5 Comments

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.

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