2008 High Sierra Backpacking trip with Pete and Dave

During Spring Break 2008 our friends Pete and Mary joined us.  They have wanted to do Spring Break with our group for years and this year they finally made it.  We showed them around to all our favorite places.  That story is here.  Towards the end of our trip, as we were driving home on HWY 395, Pete pointed at the Sierra Mountains near Mammoth, CA and mentioned he would like to take me up there and show me his favorite places!!

Thus was born the idea of me backpacking in the High Sierra.  Yes, Me!!

During the five months after Spring Break I wavered and waffled on the concept.

Would I like to do it?  YES!

Could I actually do it?  Mmmm, er, ah, well, maybe.

I kept doing my morning walks "WalkingFortBragg.com" and then I started walking around with my old Kelty backpack loaded with some books and other weighty items bringing the weight up to around 30~35 pounds.  I visited a shoe store and bought some better shoes and socks.  Then Pete told me we needed to take "bear canisters" along for our food.  That news caused me grave concern because the bloody canisters weigh four pounds each with nothing in them!!!

Gradually the plan firmed up.  Pete, his brother Dave and.... I .... would go. We would meet at the McGee trailhead early the 2nd of September and return on the 10th.  I opted to go several days early so I could do day hikes and try to get acclimatized to the altitude.

I started my "conditioning" by soaking in the hot spring "Tub" north of Lake Crowley and gazing at the destination!

And then, for several days I did "day hikes" along Rock Creek

 going as far as the Gem Lakes.

I decided I would hike up the McGee trail as far as Big McGee Lake.  According to my map I should arrive in six or seven miles.

Well, by 3:30 in the afternoon I was thoroughly whipped with no Big McGee Lake in sight.  Every time I climbed another steep section of the trail I expected to see the lake but no, just another steep section of trail would appear.  When I reached these "stairs", well above the 10,000 foot elevation sign, I decided I had had enough (and this was without my backpack)!!  It was time to head down ahead of the approaching darkness.  Concern about being able to do this backpacking trip foremost in my mind.  Talk about discouragement!!

Each evening I would return to my spot by a Juniper Tree, wash down some Ibuprofen and called it a day.

*******

But, as with all things, the time had arrived.  In the morning I would drive to the Mammoth Ranger Station and pick up our "Back Country Permits".

September 2, 2008

After getting the permit I camped at the McGee trailhead.  Pete and Dave drove over from the coast September 1st and spent the night in a motel in Mammoth.  They arrived at the trailhead at 6:30 AM.  We wanted an early start to beat the heat.  I told them my good news; "The ranger told me we do not need bear canisters for the areas we will be visiting"!!!  Woo Hoo!  Some quick repacking of our gear and we are on our way!

The first three miles to Big McGee Lake are gradual and no steeper than a road.  In fact there used to be a road to a Tungsten Mine.

Walking with Pete and Dave got my mind off my worries and the miles flowed by.

Occasional breaks and snackage really helped.

And finally, Big McGee Lake!
That wasn't so bad.  Maybe I can do this after all!!

Clear skies, no need for the tent.  We arranged our bedroom and settled in for the night.

September 3, 2008

Oh Mamma!  28 degrees when we wake in the morning!!  Frost on the sleeping bags!  I am so glad I borrowed a down jacket from my friend Roger!

Time for Breakfast and Tea!
Chores have settled into me doing breakfast.  Pete, lunch (snacks) and Dave is the evening cook.

Breakfast over, packs packed.  Time to take on McGee Pass!

And in only a couple of hours we are standing on top!!  But I must admit the last seven switchback about broke my heart!  My biggest trouble was mental.  I kept thinking "we must be almost to the top" and then another switchback would appear.  And then another!  I finally realized it was best not to look up to where we were heading.  Much better to look down and concentrate on taking just the next step!!  As I told Pete and Dave, "If I look up at the pass I think, 'Oh No!" but if I look down at my feet and think, 'Yes, Yes, Yes" with each step, by golly, I can do it!!

As we were resting at the top of the pass a pack string came up and over the pass.  We think they were going in to pack out a crew that had been working on various trails for two months.

McGee Pass behind us it is now down, down, down.  Into the Fish Creek area towards Tully Lake.

Deciding to take it easy we divert off the trail in search of our campsite for the night.

 

Perfect!
At least..., Good Enough!

***

Up in the morning and back to work.  Down across Fish Creek and up, up, up to Cotton Lake.  Various un-named lakes along the way.

Cotton Lake.
Pete filling the water container for cooking and washing dishes. The arrow points to the McGee Pass "saddle" we came over the day before!!  There is a whitish mountain behind McGee Pass making the actual pass hard to see.

We are going to spend three nights here near Cotton Lake so we set up camp, hang up the food bags as rodent deterrent and get some sock washing done.

We even do some swimming in an un-named lake below and north of Cotton Lake.  Water temperature, 60 degrees!

Book reading, rest and relaxation.  Perfect!

After a fine dinner of Lentil Soup, or was it Corn Meal Mush?, Pete does the dishes.

Another round of morning tea.  But the age old question, what to do with the tea bags?

Lo and behold....  Tea-tanque!!
It is sort of like Petanque but different!
Just place a rock "Pig" on a granite boulder.  Agree to a "launch" location a suitable distance away and Volia!  Toss the tea bag! One point for whoever gets closest.  We decided to play to a total score of Three per game because the tea bags didn't hold together much beyond three tosses!

I won the first game.  Pete won the second and Dave won the third; played over the course of three mornings.  On the fourth morning we played the "rubber" and here is Dave making the winning toss 3-0-0!!

Dave became quite unbearable at that point, holding the winning tea bag aloft and giving the Victory sign!  And to think Pete and I had to teach him how to play!  Just plain disgusting!

And then we set off on an eight hour, round trip, day hike to visit the resting place of Pete and Dave's father's ashes.

Along the way we spotted this Mountain Bluebird.

And a Pika.

After more up, and up, I successfully bagged another pass!!  I'm getting the hang of this mountain stuff!!

We entered another whole drainage, this one favoring the west side of the Sierra.

By the time we got back to camp I was more than ready for a nap!

Dave the magic chef prepares Basil Pesto with chopped whole garlic clove for enhancement!  Add fresh air and it was spectacular!

***

The Silver Divide.

Another day, another hike.  We have decided to pack and move to Pete and Mary's favorite lake for two days.

Down we go to cross Fish Creek again.  The lower elevations have a different microclimate and flowers that are done at higher elevations are still in full bloom down here.

Long-eared Chipmunk?

Yellow Bellied Marmot.

Some sort of mushroom.

And then, our campsite for a two night stay.

An amazing location.  We put the tent up thinking it was going to continue clouding up but by evening the clouds had dissipated and we slept under the stars again!

Abe Lincoln's nose! (rotate the photo counter-clockwise in your mind)

Nice.

****

Hey mom!  iPood!

Yes, that is a Golden Trout with its shadow just below!  This is a hand-held telephoto shot from a high granite ledge over one hundred feet away!  That fish had to be fourteen inches long!!  None of us are fishermen, we just sat there and enjoyed watching it swim back and forth along the shoreline.

Later in the day I did this pastel pencil sketch of the lake and the Silver Divide for Mary.

But like all good things, our trip was winding down.  Time for the two day hike out to the trailhead.

In one area the trail went up the very location a glacier used to come down.

Break time!

Over McGee and down the eastern side.

Another break beside the trail!!

Our final night out and another sock washing!  The wind and clouds started forming so we set up the tent and actually used it this time.  All other nights we slept under the stars with Pete guiding me through the visible galaxies.  I learned the Big Triangle (Vega, Altair and Deneb), Scorpio, Corona Borealis, Lyra, and Cygnus plus we saw up to five satellites and four meteors every night!!  The Milky Way was "Right there"!!  Each night Pete would check with his binoculars to see where the moons of Jupiter were located.  Beautiful.

The final push.  More clouds showing up.  We had hit the weather just perfect!

Good bye O beautiful place.  As near heaven as can be!

Down, down the steps.  Absolute killers on the way up.

Across McGee Creek.  Pete and Dave said you had to take your boots off and wade across, years past.

I was so happy to have survived the trip in fine style I burst into song during the final miles.  I sang the song my Grandfather taught me when I was a wee shaver.  It is called "Alfalfa Hay" and it goes like this:

"Alfalfa Hay
Alfalfa Hay
We feed our cows
Alfalfa Hay"

Second verse...

"Alfalfa Hay
Alfalfa Hay
We feed our cows
Alfalfa Hay"

Third verse...

"Alfalfa Hay
Alfalfa Hay
We feed our cows
Alfalfa Hay"

Etc. etc.

I was just starting in on verse seven when Pete and Dave turned in their tracks and came after me with their walking sticks!  I couldn't believe it.  Everything had been going so swell!

Anyway, I survived.

The final stretch.  It was sprinkling in the valley!!

Eight days backpacking in the High Sierra.  Who-ed a Thunk it!
With the encouragement and support of Pete and Dave I did it!
Most Excellent!!!
Thank you guys!