I got off early from work on Friday, grabbed my pre-packed bags gave the pets some extra food and water and bailed for the High Sierra. In Pearsonville hit some awesome thunderstorms that were DUMPING! The scent of wet sage brush was thick in the air. It was wonderful.
Got into Bishop at 6pm and drove up to Bishop Creek. I was planning on camping on BLM land for free but at the last minute my Dad dropped his work and cruised up on his motorcycle so I snagged a campsite at Four Jefferey's (close to South Lake). We had a stunning view of Mount Emerson, Mount Humphreys, Basin Mountain and Mount Tom
Saturday we woke up fairly early and drove to North Lake and hiked up to Piute Pass 11,423'. The trail was buried under snow pretty much from Piute Lake to the pass. In a few spots the horse packers have begun digging trenches (nearly head high in places) through the snow so they can get their horses up to Loch Leven. Summit Lake is still nearly frozen solid too. Still a ton of snow up there!
Sunday was a leisurely day we got breakfast in Bishop, hung out at Black Sheep Coffee for a bit then decided to go check out the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. The road to access this area of the White Mountains was AWESOME. I was loving my paddle shifters, and in one spot I hit a hard right corner and got the right rear wheel off the road and at a dip I ignored the warning speed limit sign and nearly got all 4 off the road! Yikes! This road is not for the faint of heart.
Afterward I drove to Buttonwillow, CA (outskirts of Bakersfield) to pick up my wife who was returning from a 10 day vacation with her family in Redding. A lot of driving on Sunday but I was totally amped from a great weekend in the mountains.
Saw a lot of Marmots and a Deer but no Bears or Mountain Goats though...
On the way down from North Lake
Piute Crags
Loch Leven looking towards Piute Pass
Brave little guy
Soaking in the views, airing out the boots, brewing some tea and eating lunch.
View of Mt. Humphrey's from Piute Pass
The oldest living thing in the world!
