I went up Momyer to San Bernardino Peak via the unmaintained trail then east along the Divide to Dollar Lake Saddle and returned via Falls Creek Trail.
I had some minor ambitions of completing the SGW 9 Peaks so I headed for SB Peak first via a shortcut a few switchbacks below where the trail begins to veer east of E. SB Peak. I went northwest across the manzanita and boulders to hook up with the saddle east of SB Peak.
Weather was nice going up Momyer then by noon it started to hail. It was coming down pretty hard. I didn't mind the hail but when I got to Shields Peak, there was thunder and lightning. I decided to get out of there. I've had a bad experience with lightning before and am terrified of it.
On the way back on Falls Creek Trail, it rained heavily for at least an hour. I was soaking wet. It was a little uncomfortable to be wet, but it wasn't that cold and there was no wind so it was actually very nice to walk through a damp forest in the rain.
The area that Falls Creek Trail goes through was fascinating to me. It's like a lost world back there. 10,000 ft ridges surround the entire canyon so you can't see outside at all. It's very lush with vegetation everywhere. I don't think anyone ever goes back there because it's a long ways from any trail head. I hope it stays that way.
Mill Creek was flowing like crazy and there were very few places to cross it safely without getting wet. I had to go upstream about 50 yards from the Momyer parking lot to find this narrow log to cross the creek.
Explosion of wildflowers at around 7,000':
Indian Paintbrush and Lupine: beautiful!
Lots of downed trees and debris along the first section of the trace trail to SB Peak. All are easily climbed or bypassed. Some larger logs had steps chopped into them.
The upper part of the unmaintained trail is through a massive manzanita and brush field. The trail is overgrown in spots, but you can still follow it fairly easily. Pants highly recommended. My legs got chewed up by the buckthorn even though I wore pants.
The hail was interesting. The consistency was more like tiny little snowballs, rather than ice. It was almost like Dippin' Dots. Man, if those really were Dippin' Dots falling out of the sky, I would have been in heaven.
Ominous clouds over Shields Peak.
Plummer Meadows. This place is amazing. I have never see the forest so green as it is here.
This doesn't look safe.
