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.
