I wanted to go back to finish my previous adventure at Baker Lake, but when I looked online the walkup permits had not been released yet. However, there was a single permit available for Kearsarge Lakes as someone else must have cancelled a trip. Grabbing that one, I planned to spend a night at Charlotte Lake and another at the Kearsarge Lakes with a short walk in between. As we all know, fires are rather prevalent this late summer and I could smell a little smoke when I woke up in the Alabama Hills on Saturday morning. Undaunted, I set off late in the morning for Onion Valley and secured a parking spot about a half mile below the trailhead, hurray for me! Walking up this trail in the blazing sun is a nice reminder to leave earlier next time, but fun is fun and done is done so I trudged slowly uphill. I took a long lunch break leaning against my favorite rock at Gilbert Lake and then a sweat break later above Heart Lake. At the Pass I chatted with a few people, mostly JMT hikers bringing their resupplies up from Independence, and looking at the hazy skies I decided not to go as far as Charlotte Lake. Instead I walked to Kearsarge Lakes and found a nice spot at the bottom of Lake 1, which had a couple of nice rocks for sitting on or against and a place to cook up some grub. Dinner, Kindle, scotch and some nice alpenglow made for a good evening and I filled up my water bottles at the outlet stream.
Day two dawned clear, so I walked to the top of Lake 2 to watch the sunrise on the Kearsarge Pinnacles before a hearty breakfast of pop-tarts. After reading a bit more I wandered down to explore Lake 3, which has some great campsites so I'll have to remember that for next time if this happens again. My big project for the day was to do a bit of off-trail sauntering, visiting an unnamed lake to the south of the main group. I was able to find pieces of a trail, although the stream also gave me a pretty good indicator of where to go. When I lost the track I jumped the stream and climbed up a short class 3-4 rock (sorry Cecelia no pose this time) about 20 feet and kept heading slightly uphill. A few minutes later I found the lake and it is fabulous. Just about treeline with one side butting up against the Pinnacles, it's a really dark blue color with contrasting granite surrounding. I went around the one open side to a big rock slab where I planted myself for the next few hours - reading, wading, eating, drinking, observing made for a relaxing day. On the way back I took a different route around that rock and stumbled onto the trail right about where I lost it earlier. In my defense, it was covered by low brush and a pine tree, much easier to see from the uphill side. This evening was much like the first, I mixed together a few ingredients from my bear can to have a nice dinner of bacon mashed potatoes, chicken, cheese and refried black beans. Yum yum.
I woke up about 1am and the smell of smoke was pretty strong, and through my tent I could see that the moon was rather obscured too. I may not have actually got back to sleep, when I got up around 6am it still seemed dark and the sky looked like a heavy fog. Unfortunately it was smoke, so I had some granola and milk for breakfast and then packed up camp with the plan to go slowly up the 900-foot climb to Kearsarge Pass. As I was about to leave a couple guys walked past, one of them saying it was a rare time he felt good about wearing a mask. Due to the smoke, I wore my Buff over my face the entire route, which helped to filter out a little of the smoke. Since I didn't want to get winded, I went slow and steady up the hill, reaching the pass in about an hour. From there it was a disappointing look into the Owens Valley as it was also covered in smoke. While walking down I talked to a few people, telling them how thick it was on the other side of the pass but all of them kept heading up. Just below Heart Lake I met a couple ladies who decided on the spot to end their JMT hike because of the conditions. As I walked down a bit further I thought to ask if they would need a ride from the trailhead, which of course was a yes. One of them said she was going to Pasadena so I figured I could take that route home since it's only about 30 miles further for me. We all walked down together with a single stop for a photo at the giant rock overlooking Gilbert Lake, and for me to pick myself up after slipping on one of the many Sierra Stairmaster steps.
Smoke was prevalent the entire drive home, actually thick until well below Palmdale and then of course we ran into the beginning of the fires in the San Gabes. Still a great trip, Sunday was pretty clear and I got to visit a new lake and just hang out with no one else.
About 18 miles total, 2500 feet elevation gain/loss.
