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September 13 - 18,
2002
Photography by Bernie
Text adapted from
Mike McMahon's Report
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The hikers for this adventure
were: Bernie (N6FN), Stan (W9FQN), Scott, Colleen, Karen, and Mike
(KG6JMP).
Trip Organizer: Bernie
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Friday 9/13/02,
Escondido to Bishop
My alarm sounded at 3:15 AM to allow enough time to get ready and drive from Carlsbad to Escondido, where Bernie lives. We left his house shortly
after 5 AM. Arriving in Bishop at 11:30 AM we picked up the
wilderness permits and grabbed some lunch. We then headed to the
Middle Gorge area of the Owens River, in the high-desert near Bishop, for some fly-fishing.
Parking at the control gate, we walked down the road a few hundred yards
and dropped down the steep side of the Gorge. The temperature was
hot, probably in the 90s. We fished for wild brown trout for several
hours. Being more experienced and familiar with the area Bernie
easily caught many fish. I was rusty but managed a few nice
ones.
Back in Bishop, we joined Scott, Colleen, and Stan for dinner at Jack’s. Scott
had driven in from Fallon, NV and Colleen had flown herself and Stan into
Bishop via private plane…pretty cool.
After dinner, we headed up the road to The Forks Campground and set up for
the night. Temp’s were dropping into the 40s. Karen arrived
around 9:00 PM, after dark.
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Overlooking
Lake Sabrina towards our destination near the distant peaks. |
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Saturday 9/14/02, Lake Sabrina to
Dingleberry Lake
After parking the cars below the trailhead, we stepped
off on our adventure
at 9:30 AM. The trail begins near the dam of Lake Sabrina (9,128
ft.). The
sky was absolutely clear and we feasted our eyes on the beauty of the
Sierras. An unexpected treat was the changing colors of the Aspen
trees. It
was hard not to stop every few minutes to take more pictures.
Bernie set a reasonable pace and all of the hikers were able to enjoy the
ascent. The first mile was a gradual climb past the lake with the
next 2
miles being a bit more aggressive as we climbed to Blue Lake. We
enjoyed a
leisurely lunch, including some fly fishing by Colleen. We basked in
the
sunshine with temps in the high 70s...perfect.
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By 2:30 PM, we had arrived
at our campsite near a beautiful stream, slightly beyond Dingleberry Lake
(10,489 ft.). Our hiking distance for the day was around 6 miles.
Fishing and brief hikes occupied the afternoon. Mike spent quite a
bit of time working out the proper balance of hanging food bags to
discourage the (non-existent) bears. He used duct tape to fasten an
extra tent stake to the end of Bernie’s hiking staff…this became a
popular tool for Mike and Scott (both used the two-bag balancing
technique). Bernie used a bear canister and others tied off their
single bag to a tree trunk.
Everyone used a tent…evening temps were probably in the high 30s.
Most folks were in bed by 9:00 PM.
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Stan
Setting Up Camp |
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| Colleen
and Scott at Midnight Lake |
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Midnight
Lake |
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Sunday 9/15/02
Dayhike to Surrounding Lakes
After breakfast, the day’s hiking began about 9:30 AM.
Before leaving we bid farewell to Karen who decided to explore a few more areas as she
worked her way back to the trailhead. Her second graders expected
her back in the classroom on Monday morning so she reluctantly had to get back to San Diego.
We first hiked to Midnight Lake (10,988 ft.) where we faced a blustery
wind, making it tough casting for the fly fisherman. Mike wasn't
affected as much since he was using a
spinning reel.
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Stan on ridge overlooking
Midnight Lake |
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Photo Above: Mt. Darwin,
13,830 ft., the far right peak.
After lunch, we left the trail
and climbed up and over a notch in a ridge to the west of Midnight
Lake. This shortcut saved some mileage as we dropped down into the Sailor and
Hungry Packer Lakes drainage.
Photo to the left: View
south-west from top of the ridge. |
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Near: Sailor Lake, Far:
Moonlight Lake. Note the glacial moraine above Moonlight
Lake. |
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| Descending the ridge,
we hiked up the trail to Hungry Packer Lake (11,071 ft.). There the
fishing really picked up! Mike started taking fish with a gold-bladed
spinner and the fly fishing heated up, too.
Colleen and Mike each kept their largest
fish…Scott
cooked ‘em up for dinner. We met a woman (a real estate agent from
Mammoth) and her dog at the north end of the lake…her significant other
was climbing to the top of Picture Peak (elevation ~13,400?), a class 3
climb. More amazing was that he/they accomplished all of this in a
single day…that's about 20 miles to and from the trail head at Lake
Sabrina, plus a 2,300+
ascent to the peak from the lake. |
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Outlet at Hungry Packer Lake
and Picture Peak |
Mike's Beautiful Brookie |
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Outlet Stream from Hungry
Packer to Sailor Lake |
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After fishing Hungry
Packer, we back tracked to
Sailor Lake…While Mike fished Sailor Lake, Bernie and Stan hiked up to Moonlight Lake for a quick look
at a lake tinted turquoise by glacier runoff. Yes, there were
several active glaciers on the slopes above us…quite a sight. |
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Moonlight Lake |
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Bernie and Mike took their
time getting back to camp. Borrowing Bernie's fly rod and a
Parachute Adams fly, Mike took several small trout in the waters below
Sailor Lake.
The waterfall below Sailor was
a beautiful sight.
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Waterfall Below Sailor Lake |
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Stan and Mike used their
portable HAM radios in simplex mode to keep tabs on
the various hiking parties as folks split off on different routes and
timetables for returning to camp. During the course of the trip, we
were not able to raise any
repeaters, even from the highest elevations.
We were back in camp by 4:00 PM. Cooking and water-pumping chores
kept us
busy. The group enjoyed some great conversation over dinner,
although we
missed Colleen who had retired early due to altitude sickness.
The evening felt colder than the previous night. We were feeling the
effect
of a small weather front moving through…windy but no rain, thankfully. |
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Monday 9/16/02, Day hike to a pocket
lake near camp and return to Blue Lake
We awoke to a cold morning. Ice had
formed in the shallow puddles near the
stream. As the sun broke over the peaks, we all spread out on a
great slab of
granite to enjoy breakfast together. A lively conversation ensued
covering
topics from fly fishing to missile tracking radar to stock options…quite
a
variety of thoughts at 11,000 ft.!
Colleen, Scott, and Stan said their good-byes and began their return hike
to the
cars about 10:45 AM, since Scott & Colleen had to return early.
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Bernie and Mike
decided to explore the pocket lake just up the north slope from camp.
After a steep but short scramble up hill, we arrived at the small lake.
While there, several deer come down for a drink. Although we saw
some good sized fish, they were very cagey and we caught very few. Bernie
braved the 50-something water temperature and took a brief but refreshing
swim.
Photo Left: View of area around base camp,
as seen coming down from the small lake above camp. We were camped
in the grove of trees to the right of the stream. |
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Stream
crossing above Dingleberry Lake |
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Back in camp, we packed our belongings and
headed down to make camp at Blue Lake for the next two nights.
We camped on the west side of the lake,
about
midway along the length of the lake, near the trail fork leading to Donkey
and Dingleberry Lakes.
Here the fishing was poor on both flies and
spinners.
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Mike setting up camp at Blue
Lake |
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Blue Lake |
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| This time, bear
bagging the food was a snap, thanks to more practice, a better tree, and a
thicker line borrowed from Stan. In the evening,
Mike's star chart came in handy and we identified some of the major
constellations, despite the brightness of the three-quarter moon. |
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Mike Hanging Food, using
Bernie's Hiking Stick |
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Tuesday 9/17/02, Day hike to
Baboon Lakes
At 9:30 AM, Bernie and I packed our lunches
and fishing gear and headed up to the Baboon Lakes area…upstream from
Blue Lake and in a different drainage from the group's prior base camp near
Dingleberry Lake.
Again, the weather cooperated as we enjoyed a warm day with little wind.
We fished the streams near Donkey Lake and then made our way up to the
first (and largest) of the 6 lakes in the Baboon Lakes area (10, 976 ft.),
arriving at 12 Noon. |
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The first and largest of the
Baboon Lakes |
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| This was the high
point of the trip for me. The rugged scenery surrounding the perfect
high-altitude lake was spectacular.
The fishing was even better.
Bernie tried using various flies (Blue-wing Olive, Tan Caddis, Parachute
Adams, Royal Trude, and Hoppers) and I used a white-feathered Panther
Martin spinner. At first Bernie was experiencing a lot of refusals,
but when he switched to the Blue-wing Olives, they hit almost every
time. We lost count after catching and releasing over 40 fish each
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Mike fishing the north shore of
the first Baboon Lake |
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Mike getting ready to zing a
snowball |
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Middle Baboon Lake |
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around the entire lake by boulder hopping and bushwhacking and threw a few
snowballs made from a snow bank near the water’s edge. And, we
shot lots of photos…I used film and Bernie shot digital. It was
hard to tear ourselves away from this perfect scene. |
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We caught and
released a few fish in
the other Baboon Lakes and the stream below Baboon Lakes as we worked our
way back to camp.
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Fishing the stream below Baboon
Lake |
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Waterfall and pool below
Baboon Lake |
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Wednesday 9/18/02, Blue Lake to the
trailhead, then to Escondido
I set my watch alarm for 6:00 AM so we could
get a jump on our last day. The
morning temperature was 39. We began our descent at 8:20 AM and
paused often
to take in the scenery…I don't think either of us wanted to leave the
mountains. We made the trailhead within a couple of hours and took
advantage
of a pay shower ($4 for 10 minutes) at the small resort cabins on the road
to South Lake.
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Lake Sabrina Dam and White Mtn.
in distance |
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Just a few more yards to go! |
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| Back in Bishop, we
filled the tank with gas, had lunch, and spent a bit of time in Brock’s
Fly Fishing Shop. But the real treat was spending the better part of
an hour at Galen Rowell’s Mountain Light Photographic Gallery in
downtown Bishop. Situated in a former bank building, the photographs
were displayed beautifully in one of the best photo gallery settings I
have ever seen.
We were mindful of the very recent
tragedy, but the overall tone in the gallery was very positive.
(Galen, his wife, and two others perished in a small-plane crash while
returning to Bishop after a photographic workshop in Alaska). We
both bought a book and some other small items and vowed to return anytime
we made it back to Bishop.
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Finally, it was time to turn the horse
(Bernie’s Mazda) back toward the barn.
We were reminded that our trip had been a great escape from the goings on
of the everyday world, and appreciated the company of everyone who had
shared our trip.
There's something very special about the Sierras.
Return Home Page:
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Link
to Galen Rowell's Web Gallery:
www.mountainlight.com
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AA1111 © Galen Rowell |
