2022.8.27-9.6 Backpacking in East Sierra - part 2/3 - 1 night at Sabrina Lake Basin

My initial plan is to park at Sabrina Lake TH for the entire week. However, the ranger informed me that once I exit the wilderness area, my permit is forfeited. So I had to get a different permit for my loop. As for Sabrina Lake, it's just a one-night trial run. 8/29-30.

8/29, Monday. Driving from Bishop to Sabrina Lake is straighforward. Hwy 168 all the way to the end. South Lake branches off earlier, and then North Lake. Stay on the course to Lake Sabrina and boat launch. We found a pullover without a "No Overnight Park" sign. Ate as much as we can, readjusted food, put everything either in our packs or in the bear bin. Marked each container with name and exit date. Afterwards, we marched on the trail. ~10:40am.

Lake Sabrina is a reservoir. Saw visitors on the dam. The lake is quite large. The trail goes for awhile along its SE shore, ~an hour, slowly gaining elevation. Entered John Muir Wilderness boundary ~10 minutes from TH. This is Monday. We met a few hikers coming out. Not busy at all. Not many cars on the road either, so I was a bit worried. Inquired about catching rides between South and North Lake THs with 2 ladies who hike here frequently. They said that we shouldn't have any problem.

The trail is straightforward, only ~3 miles, 1400' gain. Pitched my tent in shade at Blue Lake, the first of the many lakes in Sabrina Basin. It's large and pretty. CB pitched his tent next to a viewpoint. Soon, he got some neighbors.

We took our day packs, headed to Midnight Lake. On the way, detoured to Emerald Lakes first. Grassy shores, quite pretty.

Continued, passed Dingleberry Lake. Ignored the first turn to Topsy-Turvy Lake, and the 2nd turn to Moonlight Lake. We reached Midnight Lake ~4:20pm. It's more bleak. My favorite stretch is at the creek crossing just north of the turn to Topsy-Turvy. Good campsites there.

Back to camp at 5:45. By then, 5 girls have set their camp next to CB. 4 of them were making some commercial photo shoot with their brand new camping gear, which most of them didn't know how to use. Watching them figuring out how to set up their 2 tents was entertaining. The other girl is solo. She has permit for 2 nights, and was planning to visit Hungry Packer Lake. CB claimed that we did 10.5 miles 2500' for the day.

We cooked dinner at the spacious lookout area. I overflowed my gas can and it almost exploded. There are many boletes here, in good dry condition. I cooked one (probably I don't have enough fuel to cook molushroom every night). Got the soup spilled over. Cleaning up took longer than I hoped.

Almost at 7pm (should have left earlier), I hiked to Donkey Lake alone. It's ~1 mile south of our camp. A pleasant hike, now that the temperature had cooled down. Back ~8:20 in the dark, startled the girls, because I didn't turn on the headlamp. Starry night. I could see most of the time without the headlamp. Warmer than yesterday, even though we were camping at ~10400'.

8/30, Tuesday. Hiked out at 8am. Reached the car at 9:20. Took our food from the bear bin. Only then, we saw the sign of day-use only. Oops. Luckily, no ticket. I guess it was still early.  

2022.8.27-9.6 Backpacking in East Sierra - part 1/3 - to/from Bishop, CA

8/26, Friday. Arrived at office around 6pm. Met 2 coworkers. Glued the broken spoke of my umbrella with black plastic. Showed, and was picked up at 9pm by CB to his Beaverton home. I also picked up a pair of tekking poles and a picnic table (shipped there earlier). Only then, I realized that my new poles are fixed length. Very light though.

8/27, Saturday. Drove out shortly ~7:05am. Eventless, other than CB made many bio breaks. Lunched on my bread, avocados, cheese and marinated mushroom. Gas price in CA is very high. I bought a bag of mandarine and 2 English cucumbers, and the agriculture inspector at CA border waved them through. We settled for the day at Chris Flat Campground, between Hwy-395 and West Walker River. About 620 miles. It was in lower 90s during the day, and the temperature just started to cool down, now we were in the shade, and about 7pm. This USFS campground has drinking water spigots. Clean vault toilets. $24 (cash only, discount for certain pass holders). ~6600'. We checked out Bootleg Campground ~1 mile north on the west side of the highway. Not a single site was taken there. This surprised me for a Saturday. I was worried about everything full at this late hour. Dined on my leftover cheese and mushroom, cucumber I bought on the way, and banana and mandarine. CB bought himself a salad and a lunch crudite tray for the next day.
Starry but cold night.

8/28, Sunday. Alarm at 6, chilly. The neighbor's dog snooped around my tent (I didn't like it). C got out at 6:30am complaining of a headache due to not sleeping well. He went back to bed. I ate breakfast, and then read. Finally, after hot breakfast and coffee, he recovered. We started driving at ~9:10.
First stop, Travertine hotspring off Bridgeport, CA. It's quite pretty. A clear sign indicates the direction. A little over 1 mile of not-very-good gravel road. A vault toilet, a picnic table next to a small pool right by the parking lot. Walked in, found ~5 people soaking in 4 small connected pools. An old guy with a dog chatting with everyone. He told us that there're 2 more pools further down the dirt track, so we walked on. Found a a nice looking twin pools (unoccupied). A bit of walk west, found 1 guy in another pool. Quite scenic. He vacated the pool to let us taking a photo. View of the distance mountains is also quite nice.

We made a short stop at Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center. Nice looking building with a long terrace overlooking Mono Lake. Late morning lights are very hazy. Proper bathrooms with running water, but both drinking fountains out of order (by the look of it, they hadn't worked for awhile). I like the underwater camera feed where you can see the brine shrimp and alkaline fly moving about. Large parking lot without shade.

I have been to Yosemite 4 times, but never on Tioga Road. In fact, in 2006, when dad and I drove here, Tioga Road was still closed due to snow. CB had never been to Yosemite. So we decided to drive to Tioga Pass (~9900'), and do a small hike nearby, for acclimatization. This summer, Yosemit has insticated a timed entrance ticket (obtainable online 3+ days in advance) between 6am-4pm. Without advanced ticket, we couldn't drive into the park. The view on Tioga Road (hwy-120) is quite nice.

We chose Dana Lake, in "Glacier Canyon" marked on Gaia Map, but not on any other maps, neither in reality. TH at Tioga Lake Outlook, no sign. Clear trail going down to Tioga Lake's west end, and continues into the woods. Met one family of 3 coming out from Dana Plateau. They liked it. We couldn't find the trail junction, so cross-country trying to follow the track on Gaia Map. In fact, there is, a faint track, but branches off Dana Plateau trail 200' higher than on the map (~10600'), which we took on our way out. Quite some rock hopping on steep-ish slopes. Good to checkout each other's comfort level with scrambling. There are a few ponds along the way. The end is Dana Lake, under Mount Dana. It's quite large, and pretty, but stark, still had some snow left. Had lunch. Sun was too hot. On the way out, we found a trek, and followed it.

Back to the car. 4pm. Time to drive into the national park. No one at the gate. We drove to Tuolumne Meadown. It's very large, and quite pretty. Some day, maybe I'll come back and do some hiking. The road now goes down and more trees. So we turned back.

Took the last spot at Junction Campground. $21. no drinking water. Picnic table, bear bins. Went to Lee Vining Creek to wash up. Our neighbor informed us that a bear came to our campsite the previous day. Well, fortunately the bear didn't pay us a return visit. All camping on Tioga Road requires food in bear proofed containers. Each site has a metal box for food. We washed the picnic table after use, as well as the cooler. The night was not as cold as I expected. From here, there's a short trail to the ghost town Bennettville.

An easy day. Even though the temperature was maybe only 70F, hiking in the sun is hot. We both carried umbrellas. Another starry night.

8/29, Monday. 44°F when we left in the morning ~8am. Drove to Bishop (over an hour). The mountains to our west (right) is getting more rugged. Stopped at the wilderness center, and it was closed. At the town, found a gas station that has wifi. Gas here is $5.69-5.89/gl, ~$1 more than in Reno. I was able to adjust one item on my proposed itinerary. No cell service.

  8/29-30: Sabrina Lake overnight
  8/30-9/6: Lamarck Lake - South Lake loop

9/6, Labor Day. Got a ride from a nice middle-aged couple who live in Vegas area (Mount Charleston). They were to come back here in 2 weeks to hike North-South Lake loop with a few friends. The husband, a Kiwi, just climbed Thunderbolt Peak (14003') yesterday. He said it was tough. They drove a Prius. So I have to leave my hiking pole behind (fixed length).

CB's car battery was dead (as he predicted). He had prepared an extra battery to charge. Changed, picked up food in the bear vault. Drove out before 9am. Only made stops for bathroom and gas. Northen California and southern Oregon were hazy with smoke. All along, very hot, above 90°F almost the entire way. We stopped at Grant Pass, OR for the night, because he didn't trust me to drive his car. It was still early for me to wash some clothes and they dried quickly in the heat. AC in full blast.

9/7, Tuesday. Back at CB's house by 11am. Picked up a small bag I left there (my laptop and keys). He drove me to downtown.

I went to visit M.V., and had lunch with her. She has weakened significantly since I saw her 2 years ago. Almost completely deaf. Made me sad.

Bought sone misc things. Stayed in the AC-ed office before catching my bus at 6:30pm. Glued my umbrella again.

Summary:

• See my last year's trip summary (end of this blog post). Beautiful, lots of rocks and lakes, dark sky with brilliant stars. However, again, not sure if I want to go to Sierras again: too hot and dry. My nose bled 4 times.
• My favorite of this trip is Evolution Lake, Darwin Lakes, Lower and east Dusy Lakes.
• Going on a short hike before a long loop to sleep at a high altitude is a good idea.
• I took Acetazolamide for expected sections above 12000'.
• My 30°F quilt worked out very well, much lighter than the 20F sleeping bag I used last year.
• I need to portion my food better.
• This loop and Sabrina Lake Basin is accessible from Bishop via https://www.estransit.com/routes-schedule/community-routes/bishop-creek-shuttle/ ($20 one-way for non-resident).

  Chamber of Commerce 8:02am  4:02pm
  South Lake          8:45am  4:45pm
  Lake Sabrina        9:10am  5:10pm
  Bishop              9:45am  5:45pm
  

2022.8.25. Banana Split day

8/25 Thursday. Well, I've never heard of Banana Split Day until today. I walked by Amazon HQ, and the Banana lady was announcing banana split this afternoon. So I went. True indeed. Free Molly Moon's ice cream + a sliver of banana in the cup. You can add various toppings: Hershey's chocolate syrup, whip cream, confetti, cherry. It was very hot today. I had a second cup without toppings.

2022.8.21. Van Trump Park + Mildred Point

8/21, Sunday. Picked up a last minute car at SeaTac Airport (other locations don't have cars available any more, when I reserved it on Saturday), ~$10 extra for airport surcharge. I was heading to Rainier hoping to catch the bloom - this is a weird year for flowers.

The hike to Comet Falls is quite popular, and for a good reason. Only ~2 miles, all along Van Trump Creek, scenic and mostly in the shade. Of course, depends on where you are and where the sun shines, you may see a rainbow. Most people turned around at the waterfall.

Continued up. After ~half a mile, at the junction, I turned left for Mildred Point first. Loses elevation to cross the same creek. More asters here, and a lot of withered beargrass flower stalks.
Followed the trail all the way to the end (there's a sign indicating the end), maybe ~1 mile. Well, you couldn't go further, it's a steep drop. The trail gets steep at times, and rutted. The meadow just below the end has probably the best flowers today in Rainier.
There is a trail to the right which you can follow for ~100' to a different view point. Mount Rainier is staring at you. Looking back down towards Tatoosh and the flowering meadow is quite nice. Coming down Mildred Point, there's a junction going down to a different TH. Met a few people along this stretch.

I returned to the junction. There, continued up to Van Trump Park. The official trail ends shortly, but you can continue up ~forever (a climbing route). Then up all the way towards Van Trump Glacier. A very nice and big meadow above the tree line, where I made a long break on my way back. I returned ~7100', still had snow. Between the snow and the turn, there's no water. Only saw one person here, Views of Adams, Sainte Helens and Tatoosh are excellent.

Back to the car. Drove to Paradise for a short stroll before leaving the park. Already after 6pm. Still a quite a lot of people. Visitor center was closed, bathroom was still open. Flowers were not good (2 weeks out?). Almost no lupine at all.

Returned the car the next morning.

2022.8.20. Seattle Design Festival

Seattle Design is a week-long festival. Many temporary installations at South Lake Union. Same as last year, with the theme of "connection". Most are somewhat boring, exactly like last year, having the vistors draw/write something, and then attach it on a framework of some sort, so to make a combined effect. I was hoping for some tours or lectures, but no.

Most interesting is the Block Home project. I talked to the few presenters. All volunteer based. Juniper wood, sheep wool insulation. Good stuff. Others, I like the seeding giveaway (trees), and this ping pong table with a rotating net.

I was supposed to go to Pugh. But on the way to the bus station, I realized that I forgot something. Thus missed the hourly bus. In fact, I saw the bus leaving, so ran to the nex stop. Well, bus was faster!

2022.8.19. Traffic infraction mitigation hearing

The speeding ticket I received in Olympic Peninsular in June had 3 choices printed on the ticket:

• accept the citation, pay the fine
• accept the accusation, ask for mitigation to explain the circumstance
• contest the citation

The latter 2 options require my presence at the court. However, one option is not listed, which is explained by the judge. Pay $150 fee to get the ticket deferred for 1 year, if I have a clean record for 7 years in WA state. At the end of the 12 months, if no new infractions, this ticket will be dismissed and no record. This is the choice I made.

My court hearing notice is at 8:30am. In fact the court building doesn't open until ~8:15am. The judge arrived at 8:40am. There were about 4 paries in the courtroom. However, about 7 parties online. Yes, I received a printout together with the hearing notice, indicating that zoom is available, but only to a list of infractions. I wasn't 100% sure, so rented a car, took half day off work and drove 1.5 hours to Sheldon. The judge called the 2 cases with lawyers first. I was the 4th. The judge reduced the fine to $140, but there'll be a record. He looked up my record online, and said I was eligible for the deferral, so I took it. Paid $150 to the count office. Next time, hope there's no next time, I'll go with Zoom.

On the way back, stopped by a couple of stores.

2022.8.13-14. Summerland overnight with newbies

Summerland has been a regular backpacking trip for me during wildflower season. This year, I agreed to take 2 friends with me. They are new to backpacking. We had planned this a month ahead. They bought tent and sleeping bags. I veto-ed their new tent (3 person 7lb ‐ K claims that backpacking tents are too claustrophobic). I sent a long list of checklist a few days before. They brought way too much junk, especially bottled water (maybe 10 bottles). I threw out four 0.5L bottles, but should've checked inside their packs.
Lessons

• This is too much for beginners
• Need to check their backpacks before starting the hike

8/13 Saturday. K doesn't get up early. D & K didn't arrive at my home until noon - which he calculated that it would get him to camp by 6pm. There were conjestions out of downtown, and a habitual wait at the park entrance (I ran to the wilderness center, while the car was waiting in the queue). By the time I picked up my permit, and we all saddled up to start, it was already 3:30pm. D had a bag made for laptop. It was stuffed with food, her shoulder was feeling the pain shortly after we started. K was under the heavy load of their junk in a towering backpack, and he was lagging behind. We made a long stop at Summerland to admire the scenary. It was already 6pm. Above that, water was running high. We had trouble crossing water (in 3 braids) before this log bridge. Neither of them brought sandals (which I listed as optional, but I brought a pair). We met a couple on their 2nd to last day of Wonderland loop. The girl informed me of a tricky snowbridge close to Panhandle Gap.

We made the camp ~7pm. No more sun, so it was too cold to wash up. It was cloudy, no sunset. Not many stars due to the near-full moon who rose ~10:30pm. Didn't see any shooting stars (Perseids).

8/14 Sunday. I got up at 6am, and started my morning hike ~6:30. We have agreed to meet at Panhandle Gap at 11am. First, took a reflection photo at the 2 ponds below Panhandle Gap.

Next, took a different gap over to Sarvent area. I left the spikes for my friends, so took the steep rocks above the snow. A little tricky, but I made it slowly. I did go back via Panhandle Gap, just to see the condition of the snow bridge. It's longer, but has a more defined trail to follow.

I always see goats here. No exception today. They were resting, and started to move away when I got closer. But didn't leave altogether.

My destination here, same as last August, is Banshee Peak. It's an easy walk, maybe a mile from the trail. Easy slope, not as many flowers as I hoped. The faint bootpath disappeared altogether after the goats. The view is splendid all around.

Going back via Panhandle Gap. The snow bridge was close to collapse. It was hard when I crossed it ~9am. It's narrow and on a steep slope. Need to be careful.
My friends were up. They were slow getting ready. I made them carry the spikes. This photo was taken on the way back on the rest of the snow, after the snow bridge was punched through. They put on spikes, and followed me slowly one by one. I waited on the other end, pointing out where NOT to step (on top of the short bridge), but K still stepped on it. It was still hard (at 11am, still in the shade), and he was fine. After he crossed over, and looking back, he realized what I meant. Now he said I didn't explain why! Oh, well...

Wow is what they claimed after they reached Panhandle Gap. But I made them walk more. From there on, it was slow going. They were taking photos. We saw a herd of goats (maybe the same ones I met in the morning) on a patch of snow. After about 1-1.5 miles, they decided to turn back. We met a group of 6 Chinese from Arizona, carrying heavy packs doing Wonderland loop. They weren't able to secure campsites at Indian Bar or Summerland. Today is their toughest: 18 miles from Nickle Creek to the road. I continued on to my favorite flower slope, Not as good as last 2 years, but still lovely. I sat down and ate my lunch, took a long-ish break before hiking back (uphill). Met a few more loop hikers, and 2 doing the 18 mile one-way as a day hike.

Caught up with my friends before we reached the gap. The group before us decided to scramble down the rocky slope to avoid the snow. My friends put on spikes and we crossed on the snow. The two ponds under direct sun look very pretty from here.

We packed up. They decided to cook dinner. Took the same detour around the creek going down to Summerland. Made a break at Summerland. See the first photo of this blog. It was 5:30pm already! D had never walked this much in a day. Her muscles were complaining. I carried her pack out the last 2 miles. We made to the car ~8pm. No traffic on the way back.

2022.8.12. The Elixir of Love at Seattle Opera

8/12, Friday, 7:30pm. The Elixir of Love is set in the 1940s. Music by Gaetano Donizetti; Libretto by Felice Romani. A silly story of love. Nice stage, good acting. Very funny. I attended the after performance talk with 2 singers and the artistic director. There was a pre-concert talk, but I wasn't able to attend. I went to volunteer with Freeway Park Association 4-6pm.

2022.8.6. Gothic Peak - Del Campo traverse

8/6 Saturday. 9 of us met at Green Lake P&R before 6am, piled into 2 cars, and drove to Granite Falls. D in my car forgot his boots in the P&R, so we had to drive 8 miles back to pick them up. They decided to get coffee and breakfast at Lyla's Cafe. I'd rather sleep than spend 30 minutes in a cafe. D and A in my car also ordered lunch to go, and they were made to order, which meant a long wait. Barlow Pass was overflown along the road. I didn't expect it to be this popular. Met up with another couple, K and M here. Finally, at 8:30, 11 of us started hiking.

0.8 miles on the closed road towards the ghost town of Monte Cristo. An obvious side trail goes up to the right, signed for Gothic Basin. The first mile or so is nice soft forest trail, even with a few boardwalks. Then it gets a little rough. A few creek crossing. None too bad.

3.4 miles (2700') after the junction, is the first lake of Gothic Basin. 11am, already a lot of people and a lot of tents. Boys were sunny themselves like marmots.

Continue up over rocks, Foggy Lake is a short distance away. Still has snow on it. Very pretty. We stayed here for awhile to wait for the rest of the group. Ate lunch. I draw here in red our rough route. It's fairly easy to go to both peaks from Foggy Lake. The traverse, at least what M and I did, involves veggie belay, a short but super steep and bushy section. We had to crawl over tree limbs, or standing on them in order to pass. Lost all the others behinds us.

We headed to Gothic Peak first. There's a nice track up the ridge. We saw a group coming down. A few dry campsites there too (none taken). Once gain the ridge, walk towards Gothic, and then the scramble starts. Everyone in my group made to the top. Misa ahead of all. The view at the summit is fabulous. We spent almost 1 hour here. I took these 2 photo, while waiting in the shade for my group to come down. 11 people nicely illustrate the route up/down.

We came down the same way. Half way down, half of us decided to traverse towards Del Campo. Half returned to the lake for some relaxation.
We all made to the other side of snowy saddle. After some rock pile, we were on some serious steep scramble. Everyone bailed, except Misa, who lead the charge and me following. She's been here before. Once join the regular climbing route, it was easy. The top 100' or so scramble has maybe 2 big rocks that need hands to pull/push. The summit view is even better (higher than Gothic Peak). But we didn't linger.

Took the regular track down. It was easily identifieable once you are down from the scramble. I wasn't paying too much attention. In the haste, fell over some sharp rock. I only felt something dripping before I knew that I was bleeding. Smashed snow on to my pant leg. It got rather red/pink.

At some point, we heard a cheer from the direction of the lake. My group was waiting. By the time we made back to the lake, they were gone, which is good. Misa and I caught up with them halfway out, and found Maysam in a sickly state. Some cold water revived him. We all made to the TH. D gave me some antiseptic wipe. The bleeding didn't stop for 3 days. The wound was small, but deep.

This group always go to dinner after the hike. I got home very late (almost midnight). Will be resting tomorrow.