My pack is a Mariposa, from Gossamergear.com http://www.gossamergear.com/cgi-bin/gossamergear/Mariposa_Plus.html
Saturday, 11 July 2009. In Ben Lomond before the trip. I (Doug) have my lip balm, flashlight, and combo compass-thermometer. Chance (red headband) and Ben (lost his sleeves) are both 14.
Dardanelles Cone (just right of center) and the Dardanelles (further to the right)
On the drive up, we stopped at a viewpoint and took a short walk to see the view.
Donnell Lake, on the middle fork of the Stanislaus River. Looking just about straight down.
Chance and Ben, looking at Donnell Lake
Donnells Dam and Lake, Stanislaus River middle fork
Unnamed (?) volcanic peaks west of the Dardanelles Cone
The Dardanelles
Dardanelles Cone
First views of the high country, on the way up to Sonora Pass
Chance and Ben climbed rocks to improve the view
East of Sonora Pass -- Sardine Falls (I think)
First night's camp was at Leavitt Meadows. Right next to Highway 108. Saturday night, mid-July, and there were several sites available there.
Tower Peak, at the upper end of Leavitt Meadows' canyon.
Cows and moon
Cows and Peaks (north side of Sawtooth Ridge)
Closer view of the north side of the Sawtooth Ridge, from highway 395 near Bridgeport. Matterhorn, Dragtooth, and the Doodad can be seen
Chance and Ben and the lower Twin Lake
Started walking Sunday afternoon, 12 July. The directions we got from the kiosk were vague, and we ended up walking off-trail through open pine forest until we finally found the trail again. Later, we passed through some Aspen groves.
The thick forest in Robinson Canyon opens out to a series of sage-covered rolling hills.
Jagged mountaintops flank Robinson Canyon
Ben shows us how to relax thoroughly
Looking south, up Little Slide Canyon
Looking back at the upper Twin Lake
As we climb toward Barney Lake, the relatively lush streamside vegetation includes some paintbrush
Chance at Barney Lake, with Crown Point rising behind, and (higher but farther) Slide Mountain to the left of it
Ben, skipping some rocks
The trail past Barney Lakes climbs up above its (north-) western side
Ben tried some fishing in Barney Lake
Left to right: ridge, cloud, Slide Mountain, Crown Point
The trail climbs high into the talus-covered slope as we leave Barney Lake
The meadow/swamp upstream (south) of Barney Lake is very wet, and the trail doesn't get anywhere near it
There is a series of way too many switchbacks before the Peeler Lake turnoff. At least there were some Pennyroyal mint plants to entertain us.
After the Peeler Lake trail peels off, you hit a brief stretch where you're walking downstream. This beautiful lakelet is one of the Robinson Lakes
Jagged ridge and peaks (?Kettle Peak?) east of the trail
Side view of Crown Point, I think
Chance and I were (as usual) somewhat behind Ben, as we arrived at the pale green Robinson Lakelet
Ben crossing the small isthmus between the two main Robinson Lakes
Creek crossing just below Crown Lake -- Chance dropped his hiking pole into the stream, and we had a bit of a scramble to prevent it from going all the way back down to the main Robinson Lake.
The main Robinson Lake
Ben taking a break at the main Robinson Lake
(Ben's) self portrait, with lake
Corn lilies?
More of what I think were corn lilies
Our trail's first snowfield
Just a little below Crown Lake
Same snowfield from farther back
Chance, looking about as blurry as he and I felt at the end of this first day
Finally, arrived at Crown Lake. Won't be light very much longer.
Lots of snow on the north-facing slopes across Crown Lake
Snow frag
From our campsite
First hiking night's camp (Sunday). It was a bit breezy so my tarp is rigged low. Check out the clothesline behind Ben and Chance's tent.
Nice crack in the granite, near camp, Monday morning
Slide Mountain, with a lot of snow on its northern slopes
From this angle, you can see what I dubbed the "Doigt de dieu" near the top of Crown Point
I saw a rock in Cassis 18 months ago, named "Le doigt de dieu" (see http://www.panoramio.com/photo/12293535 ). I thought this rock on Crown Point deserved the name at least as much.
Looking north, down-canyon, at Crown Lake
Slide Mountain, snow, and Crown Lake
Breaking camp on Monday morning
Ben on the lakeside trail
The meadow/swamp above Crown Lake was even wetter than the one above Barney Lake
It was fed by just-melting snowfields
Chance and Ben, heading up another set of switchbacks
A faint echo of the famous photos of Precipice Lake (near the Kaweah peaks) taken by Ansel Adams and Vern Clevenger (http://www.vernclevenger.com/galleries/85-9.html ). I need a polarizing filter ...
Nature's color combo: orange paintbrush and purple (penstemon?), tan rock and green
The mosquitoes were pretty fierce, even at our mid-morning breakfast stop high above Crown Lake.
Packs, sand, and breakfasters avoiding (or trying to ignore) mosquitoes
Another easy snowfield
This looked like chicken tracks to me -- from Slide Mountain's Giant Monster Chicken!
The last flat part before the snowy climb to Mule Pass
Turnoff to Rock Isand Pass and Snow Lake. We go left here.
The first big challenging snowfield. Farther away, larger, and steeper than it looks.
Disappearing trail. We crossed to the rocks in the middle, and then climbed partly on the rocks, partly on the snow. Steep and scary, but safely scaled.
Chance and I lagged behind a bit, while Ben was scouting the snowfield
Kettle Mountain, I think.
The snowmelt gurgling down these large rock stairs made a friendly sound (View the HQ video -- it's only four seconds)
Chance and Doug, halfway up the big snowfield. Ben took this while scouting the best route up from here.
Here you can see better how steep the lower half of this snowfield is. Chance and Doug can still be seen, but we're smaller now.
Sharp edges above us, on Slide Mountain's spiky shoulder
Lots of snowmelt
How low can you limbo?
The large, pretty tarn about a third of a mile below Mule Pass
The trail will cross that meadow, and then climb a final set of switchbacks to the left, taking us to the pass
Looking back at that last lake/tarn
Meadow with small rivulets, surprisingly deep in spots
Looking back at the top of Crown Point, much more boring from this angle than from Barney Lake. Le Doigt is still visible.
Closest shoulder of Slide Mountain's ridge
Maybe some kind of tiny alpine lupine?
Mule Pass is flat and sandy. In the distance, our first glimpse of the (west end of the) south side of the Sawtooth Ridge.
More sawtooths :-) ... more snow :-(
Chance was a bit disappointed by how much more snow we still had to descend, even though this was the south-facing side of Mule Pass
Sawtooth Ridge (Matterhorn near the right end; region of Burro Pass; Finger Peaks at the right edge; and uppermost Piute Canyon spread out below. Our next several hours are almost all visible from here.
I went to heywhatsthat.com and made a panorama centered near this point (look for "Near Mule Pass, Northern Yosemite"). It says that the rightmost peak visible here is Whorl Mountain.
The trail descends to the north, and crosses a few more snowfields despite their southern exposure
Ben's photo ... the stream flows out of that vertical slot in the rock to the right of the trees. There was a loud small waterfall inside the slot.
Finally, we descend in earnest, towards upper Piute Creek
I guess Ben and I (Doug) both noticed the same loud waterfall
One of the main reasons I wanted to do this hike was to see the slide for which Slide Mountain is named. This is the part of the slide that crossed the canyon and started up the other side!
Must have been bitten by the Giant Chicken of Slide Mountain
Nice lunch break, middle of upper Piute Canyon
Meadow, with one of the Finger Peaks above it
Nice cascade on Piute Creek
The Finger Peaks
Part of Sawtooth Ridge (I don't know the peaks' names)
Sawtooth Ridge and Matterhorn Peak, looking more like Matterlump Hill
Zoomed-in shot of the top of Slide Mountain's rockslide
Plenty of water in Piute Creek
Lots of Sawteeth, one shadow
Yes, there was exactly one cloud in the sky
Shadowed sawteeth
A waterwheely cascade
Like a miniature Waterwheel Falls
A Finger Peak
Though you can only see this rivulet's water at the very end (as it flows into Piute Creek), you can hear it from way up the ridge
We crossed a still-mosquito-ey meadow below this small waterfall
Closer to Sawtooth Ridge
Last meadow for a while
The Doodad
Uppermost Piute Creek: lush, snow-fed, gentle grassy climb up to very near Burro Pass
Smiling Ben, near Burro Pass
Chance, not quite out of the picture
Finger Peaks
Sunny today, with Chance of flowers
Chance and Doug in the distance, as Ben climbs the Burro Pass snowfield
Farther to the left, this bench contains a couple of nice-sized lakes
Snow, hand, stick, rock, bush
Pika make burrows when it's snowy, and pack the dirt up into the bottom edge of the snow. After the snow melts, these burrow-ridges are left for a few months.
Icy footprint?
Partially-collapsed pika burrow
Suncups in the snow
My favorite sequence: I took a shot of Ben, most of the way up the steep part of Burro Pass
At about the same time, Ben took a shot of me taking a picture of him
I zoomed in for this shot just a few seconds after the previous one; my time manipulation to match the two cameras chronologically seems to have been pretty accurate!
The Finger Peaks and one of the small lakes on the bench below them
Our (i.e., Ben's) first view down (and south) into Matterhorn Canyon. Quarry Peak and Dogtooth Peak will dominate our views for the next evening and morning
Last views of the Sawtooth Ridge
Closest view of the Doodad
Whorl Mountain?
Descending into Matterhorn Canyon
The view south into Matterhorn Canyon: Quarry Peak to the left (west), and Doghead Peak is the little snag on the right
Paintbrush
Tributary
A hint of Alpenglow
Still seeing a bit of the Sawtooth Ridge
Monday night's camp (end of 2nd day).
A hint of sunset colors, in the clouds
Ben's extra hair ties.
This fallen tree had pulled up several chunks of stone, still held tight by the dead roots.
Tuesday morning in Matterhorn Canyon
The trail gets a ways above the creek for a bit
Lots of tributaries along the way
A corner of Quarry Mountain's foothills, with snowfields
Shiny granite on the canyon's east side
We didn't really see very much wildlife on this trip. A couple days later, talking with a couple on their 11th day of a hike from Truckee to Tuolomne Meadows, they said they too had seen very little wildlife.
Matterhorn Creek sheeting along the granite slabs
Corn lilies
Resting after another creek crossing
After a tricky crossing or two, I just started removing the shoes for them. Refreshing.
Wet bandanas helped keep us cool.
Nice overhang / partial arch.
Chance's boots needed to dry for a while.
Yow, still eleven miles? Will we make it today? There's 1400 feet of climbing, and then 2600 feet of descending involved.
A stick hit Ben near the eye.
Lush, mossy rocks, partway up Wilson Creek
Tree looks like a creature from Who-ville.
Creek on flattish granite, as we climb up towards Benson Pass
View north from near Benson Pass. I think the dramatically-shadowed sharp ridge is one of the southern shoulders of Doghead Peak
Zoom in on Virginia Peak, looking northeast from Benson Pass
I think this is Virginia Peak in the distance northeast of us, two or three canyons over.
Atop Benson Pass, Volunteer Peak shows up southwest of us. We'll head just to the right of it.
Me at Benson Pass. Since Turly and I were here 9 years ago, the sign at the pass has been removed. Note the reuse of the liter-size Smart Water bottle. They're sturdier than most.
Ben was already down in the next meadow
Chance, about to disappear out onto the meadow of the previous picture, illustrates how far he and Ben are ahead of me.
Trail or riverbed?
Smedberg Lake
Muddy trail near Smedberg Lake.
Distance zoom of waterfall on the stream that flows down from Smedberg Lake to Benson Lake
Higher up Smedberg Lake's outlet stream -- could be fun to explore that steep cascade close up, if we had more time.
Ben and Chance got to this stream crossing while it was still light. I didn't.
Teeny tinge of Alpenglow. We hiked into the night; made it to within a mile or so of Benson Lake. I had to do the last two or three creek crossings in the fading light.
We had the great Benson Lake Riviera to ourselves all of Wednesday morning -- we didn't really start hiking until around noon.
THE RIVIERA at Benson Lake
This section of the PCT saw many of its distinctive "T"-shaped blazes.
Mule's Ears
Small lake near Seavey Pass. At this point, we know the major climb is nearly over.
Ben got a great shot of a damsel fly. Still gotta look up how they differ from dragonflies.
I saw moths like these at Yosemite just a few months ago (will put a link here, later)
Pennyroyal Mint was a frequent discovery all along this trip. You don't even have to brush it or step on it to smell its spicy fragrance nearby.
Rocks under the clear water of one of the highest lakes near Seavey Pass
Click the magnifier, and look near the top of the rock in the distance. It's Someone Else! We had a lot of solitude on this trip.
Zoomed-in view of Someone Else, from pretty far away. They were camped very close to Seavey Pass. When we did get close, we saw only their tent.
Someone Else's hiking/camping companion.
After Seavey Pass, it looks like Rancheria Creek is gonna be a long descent.
I get the feeling that Ben's enjoying this.
Flat granite, cool water, tired hikers, just above the canyon-y part of Kerrick Canyon, and below the Meadowy part.
The start of the flat, meadowy part of Kerrick Canyon/Meadow
Civilization still exists!
Our trail through Kerrick Canyon and Meadow consists of flat meadowy sections, separated by low moraines, climbing north, upstream, next to Rancheria Creek. Wednesday night's camp was around a mile or so up from the low point.
Ben's decorative ropework and duct tape storage pole.
This was probably the steepest rocky stretch we climbed in this part of the trip
Ah, flat trail and meadow :-)
Ben, fending off mosquitoes while waiting for Chance and me
The deer like this trail, too
In this wide, not-quite-dry streambed, we saw two young chicks running around, and no corresponding adult birds. This one's just left of the center of the picture. Use the little magnifier-widget to see it better.
It was these chicks, and my recollection of Ben and me both having taken pix of them at around the same time, that allowed me to get the photos time-synchronized.
Wide-open Kerrick Meadow, almost up to Peeler Lake now. Cirque Mountain (just right of center) is just past Peeler.
Inventory of Ben's pockets
Ben fishing in Peeler Lake, with yet another angle on Crown Point, reflecting in it
Our trail will climb the rocks to the left, and traverses the north side of Peeler Lake
Northwest side of Crown Point; Peeler Lake
Orange Paintbrush, among a purplish flower that I haven't identified.
One end of Peeler Lake has some light sand under it
Precarious
Both Ben and I took a picture of this snowbank. I thought it looked like the eyes and nose-line of some kind of giant rodent.
Starting down some of those switchbacks
Next to some cliffs
Mariposa Lily
Chance and Ben, way below me on one of the sets of switchbacks
The majorest set of switchbacks. Ben and Chance are both visible in this shot, but only in the magnified view, and even then you have to search to find them.
It was kinda hot that day, nice to cool off with the bandana and creek water. Took a long break by this creek crossing.
Paintbrush, below Barney Lake
One teeny cloudlet in the sky
Woo hoo! We can see the upper Twin Lake!
I think this juniper had enough berries on it to make a bathtub full of gin
Almost back to the campground. Silly fire hydrant.
Back in the car, near Bridgeport. Lots of cows.
More cows.
