Sierra High Route - Bear Lakes Basin - 1 0 days

“Spent the first 1.5 days hiking to where we left off in July when we couldn't cross the raging waters of French Canyon. Now the water is so low we had rocks to walk across. It was beautiful once we got off trail!

I'm in Mammoth on the laptop, using someones wireless internet connection, so I'll just post the pics before I get cut off. I was able to upload the first 3 days photos on webshots. Slow, and frustrating not having Roadrunner . . . :-(

This is a new webshots album, so be sure to bookmark http://community.webshots.com/user/3snownymph

Sept 13-15, 2005: http://community.webshots.com/album/459161226YqZNAv
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I'll add the photos as I get them up. Not sure if I'll get around to writing a trip report. I'll try to put it in the captions.

Sept 11,2005:
As a warmup, I dayclimbed Mt Patterson, a desert peak in the Sweetwater Range. It was interesting seeing ATVs drive up to the peak. I drove partway up the road, not seeing the sign that said "Road Closed". It was a little scary driving the Rubicon back down the steep narrow road.
Photos of Mt Patterson trip: http://community.webshots.com/album/449170618Nydnqe

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Sept 23, 2005:
After the 10 day trip, I still wanted another hike, so I tried Dunderberg Peak just north of Mono Lake. It was too windy, and I was getting blown all over. I drove to Lundy Canyon to check out Fall Colors . . . not many. I drove to Black Point north of Mono Lake . . . too windy and I was getting sandblasted so I went back to Mammoth.
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/459285808QAZkhJ


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a few notes:
- climbed 5 peaks, 3 empty registers, 2 didn't have anything
- climbed Mt Hilgard in a snowstorm, with whiteout, and missed the views from the top
- woke up 9/21 with snow all over
- all new terrain for us except the first and last day
- didn't talk to anyone from day 3 til the day we walked out
- our first trip without filtering water
- beautiful area, and we can't wait for the next section!


www.snow-nymph.com
last edited: 9/25/05 9:19:02 PM”

“Awesome pics!

This looked like a great trip with lots of solitude. Isn't it cool going back to complete something that you had to turn back from before?

Is that a Kelty White Cloud pack that Snowdude has?”

“NICE!!!”

“yeahh!!!
NICE”

“Nice pictures - keep them coming. Lasalle Lake looks like a good starting spot for Merriam/Royce/Feather. I didn't make it into that area like I was hoping to last week. I ended up in the White Mountains instead. Maybe next year.”

“Enjoying the albums. Thanks for sharing.”

“Sweetness! I'm eager for your remaining pics from this trip. I love Merriam Lake, it's one of my favorite places because it sits high up in a little-visited bowl with gorgeous mountains all around and has a really cool sandy beach. The golden trout there (and in the outlet creek) are very brilliantly colored.”

“Love it. I have a trip soon and fear missing the fall foliage if I don't get down on it! Things are still pretty green around here.”

“Love those evening views of Mt Humphreys.”

“SN..Welcome back!! :) I can just imagine it was hard getting back into civilization after being around those beautiful mountains for 10 days.
I was thinking of you during those days wondering how the weather was treating you & than the snow the mountains got. Beautiful pictures of everything! I love Merriam Lake..boy what a beautiful setting that is..I love that sandy beach! I know how bad that wind was you had on your Dunderberg peak hike....it was horribly windy that same day here in Tahoe & even blew part of our fence down.
SN, thank you for sharing your pictures..I will look forward on looking at the rest of them!
And Congratulations on those 5 PEAKS!!!!!!!!!!”

“Day 4: Dayclimb Royce (13,253')and Merriam (13,103') from LaSalle Lake (11,592')

Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/460092914VtHPVr

Webshots is giving me a hard time so these are a little out of order . . . :-(”

“That looks like an awesome trip! :) Can't wait for more photos!”

“Day 5: LaSalle Lake (11,592') to Feather Pass (12,375'). Dropped packs and dayclimbed Feather Peak (13,240'). Picked up packs, camped at Ursa Lake (11,500')

Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/462132388EXkuEj”

“Cool pics, snowy!! Loved the one of you crawling along the exposed ledge - yikes!”

“Adventurist: Yes that's a Kelty Cloud and he loves it! Not as white as it used to be, though.

Gemini: There's a peak named after you in these pics. We will climb it someday. Its on the ridge south of Seven Gables, which is the peak that the Sierra Club uses on their logo (I think)

WD: LaSalle is a great way to go up. We summitted Royce in 3 hrs. It was a nice loop trip.

Buck: we got pics of a few trout, and they were colorful!

Doug: We saw Humphreys 7 out of 10 days, all different angles! It’s a pretty impressive peak. We were looking at ways to go up it.

MiT: I should have driven to Tahoe for a Saturday hike. It was nice in Mammoth on Sat, not like Friday. Next time!

BM: That was a big YIKES! And a big OUCH! I freaked out for a second and tried to get my knee up too fast and banged it good on some rock. My knee was bothering me the rest of the trip. Wore my knee brace the last 4 days.”

“Day 6: Bear Lakes Basin layover day . . . we hiked to almost all the lakes in Bear Lakes Basin

Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/463560371VZtLAO”

“Aaack! How am I supposed to get anything done around here if you keep posting those damn pictures?!”

“kewl! Nice Trip!!!”

“Snow Nymph-

Absolutely stunning and beautiful areas. The SHR is most definitely a dream trip of a life time. It's so great that you get to do that and share it with all of us. Can't wait to see more.

Your photos are truly superb. And this trip has given you quite a collection.”

“Wonderful shots! Did the journal say what Mark Batt died from? I don't know why, but I'm curious since he was a photographer and backpacker and died so young.”

“2005 (19 Sept) Day 7 of the SHR (Black Bear Lk, White Bear Pass to Brown Bear Lk)

Day 7 was a short backpacking day so we took our time leaving Ursa Lake. We started up over a low pass to Black Bear Lake, higher to White Bear Lake, over White Bear Pass and down to Brown Bear and Teddy Bear Lakes.

Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/463646304lVCUUd



BM: more to keep you busy . . . heehee!

WW, you should go to that area if you can. I'm sure you can get better shots. No wildlife, though.

Thanks Exavius,
I think we got some good ones too! We're planning to enlarge some of these for our condo in Mammoth and my office at work (they'll pay).

Buck, we were curious too. The journal didn't say anything about his death. Sounded like he introduced this group to backpacking and they had only good things to say about him. He had hiked the whole JMT before he was 17. We looked up what we could on the internet to contact them, but couldn't find anything. I didn't want to post the entries without permission. He was respected and very loved. His wife (or g/f?) went as far as she could, before leaving it in the rocks where we found it. She really wanted to put it on Feather Peak, but clouds were coming in and the Cl 3/4 was getting to be too much for her knees. I think its better where it is. It probably won't disappear like a lot of registers lately.”

“2005 (20 Sept) Day 8 of the SHR (Mt Hilgard dayclimb in a storm)

Day 8 was cold at 6am, then it started snowing. Decided to go for it . . . light rain coming down. It started snowing at 12,000' around noon. We summitted at 1:20, and descended 10 min later since we didn’t have any views (storming). The sun came out ~4:30pm so we were able to dry everything out. Awesome day!

Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/464163290EtvKIe
last edited: 9/30/05 9:53:59 PM”

“Beautiful as always. Snow is good, let's have more snow!”