When picking up our permits,the nice lady at the ranger station said to us with that "you two are crazy" expression "Nobody's up there anymore". But assured us that aside from a few small patches of ice, the trails should be clear, and the bears settled down. Canisters are not required after 10/31, though still recommended. We planned to hang our food, provided there were trees nearby - otherwise, eat a big dinner and hope for the best.
The Cottonwood Lakes trail starts at 10k', and goes up mildly from there. Acclimatizing? We don't need no stinking.....uh, wait, where did these gnomes come from, and why are they ice climbing inside my brain?? Our campsite was at 11,200' and the headache floored me, especially when I moved my head. I downed some aspirin and a bunch of water, still had a restless night, but woke up feeling much better. And, the weather was pretty mild. Neither of us were cold, and except for some wind at night, it was very calm.
We managed to make a loop, and see all the lakes in the area except for Muir and Hidden, which were more out of the way. Jane knew this already, but I learned how cross country travel in the Sierras is so much easier than it is in the San Gabriels. She kept looking at the map and casually saying "we can just cut across here, no problem." It was freaking me out, until we did a couple of shortcuts that were easier than some trails I know! Lots of fisherman's use trails in the area helped.
Though it's cold, there is still active wildlife up there. We saw two foxes, a gigantic snowshoe hair (swear to god, it was the size of a small dog), saw some cougar tracks and scat, and heard the weirdest sound around the lake which we later figured out were Sage Grouse. It sounded like a cross between an owl and a bullfrog, and was reverberating off the walls of the lake, making it extremely loud and very eerie!
Rest of the pics:
http://s484.photobucket.com/albums/rr20 ... =slideshow
I want to see this place in summer!
