Eastern Sierra 2023

[MojaveGeek]

The recent slew of non-DV TRs got me inspired to post.   Earlier this summer we spent 2 1/2 weeks in Montana hiking out of Bozeman as a base.   I love that area but did not say anything about it.   Just got back from 2 1/2 weeks in the Eastern Sierra.   We based out of June Lake, from which it is a 30 minute commute to Tioga Pass, at just under 10k feet, the paved entrance to Yosemite.  The Sierra rise from west to east so many of the higher peaks are found on the east side, before the plunge to the Owens Valley.

While out there we met up with Kauri and her Mom - that was a real treat!  She's not just a desert rat, but a mountain pika also

First, something interesting for y'all.   I use caltopo online for most of my trip planning.  It has for some time had a feature called "simulated view".   You click on a point, it figures out what is visible.   You can also turn on satellite image texture mapping and get some good idea of what you could see from that spot.   Of course it does not know about trees - you have to look at the sat images from overhead yourself to try to sort out if they will be in the way.

Here is a winning example.   I love Mt. Ritter/Banner and the nearby Minarets.   I wanted to get a good view.   I was looking at an area that was 4.5 miles and 3300 feet on trail, then maybe  half a mile and another few hundred feet off trail, to peek over the NW corner of Carson.   I got this simulated view, and I wanted to see it.


Ritter is the notched one, Minarets to the left in the image.

After some work, almost giving up at a partial view in a meadow, I broke through a line of trees and saw this:



I think you'll agree that it looks better with the snow but...  that's a pretty good match.  The simulated viewpoint was actually a few hundred yards to my right (as I took the pix).   Getting this view, knowing it was out there if I could find a way to get to a spot clear of the trees, was almost as exciting as getting to a summit or finding a hidden petro one hunts for all day.    And this works great in DV, btw, because of the absence of the trees.

What to say, the Sierra are beautiful and this was a smoke-free year.  I am getting to know the area pretty well, and most days involved a good off trail portion.  Some new spots, some old friends.

Kuna Crest from Mt. Gibbs.   This is an incredible snow load for mid August, I've never see it at all like this!   And the streams were running real high.  Wanted to climb Mammoth right across the valley, but the stream was just too big and wild to ford.



The hurricane which flooded DV kept us off high peaks for a couple of days, so we wandered around Mono Lake.   Many here have probably seen the famous tufa - mostly calcium carbonate columns which formed when warm ground water rose into the colder lake and precipitated.   But they don't tell you about the good stuff - you have to go find it.  There were two radio equipped game cams watching the area with these "sand tufa" formations, presumably to fight vandalism.



After the  hurricane, the air got drier and we no longer had as much threat of PM thunderstorms (which had started as early as noon in the first week) so we could venture further on high ridges with safety.  This is looking north across Saddlebag Lake, with Conness on the right, I have failed to summit it 2x.   Did not try this year, as we would have had to slog through those snow fields.



That view was from the Tioga Crest.   A long open ridge, all views all the time, with a faint old miners trail (love miner trails!) to follow along the ridge to that broad plateau below.



And, for your viewing pleasure, some Dog Vomit Slime Mold.   Really!



This is a view from Polly Dome.   Kathy thought it would not be enough of a challenge but it took us 2 hr 50 min to get up 1400 feet and 2.5 miles because of first going through a lot of downed trees and then spending a lot of time probing, backtracking, and trying again in a maze of broken granite.   It's a lot of fun to try to work your way through such, get cliffed out, find hidden ponds, work out weaknesses in cracks, and zig-zag up staggered ramps.  The granite has real high friction, so the limit is usually ones fear rather than actual danger.   This view is looking across to iconic Cathedral Peak.   We climbed it on a different day.   Not the the technical climb to the highest spire, but a high class 2 climber descent track to the broad flat bench near the top.   It is quite a thrill to get up there.



On any trip, there end up being one or two hyper memorable days.  This trip did not dissappoint!