High Sierra Topix

I hiked up the South Fork of Cottonwood Creek to the South Fork Lakes area on 5/10/2014. My initial plan was to camp overnight to test out my new backpacking goodies, but the wind conditions made me decide to return that afternoon turning the trip into a day hike with full pack. I found virtually no snow along most of the route. The only snowfield that I encountered was near the junction of the old South Fork trail and the trail coming from the North Fork, and that snowfield was easily bypassed. I knew of the wind forecasts and hoped to find refuge at Cirque Lake, but I encountered other hikers coming from Cirque Lake who said the wind conditions were just as bad there.
These last two photos are a demonstration of the zoom capabilities of my new Panasonic DMC-ZS40.

Thanks for the TR and pictures of the area. It seems the windy conditions affected
everyone who was out this past weekend.

It's nice to hear that I wasn't alone out in the wind. It wasn't bad until after 2 pm where I was, but then it just started blowing like crazy. I went from a t-shirt to a puffy jacket in no time at all.

Thanks for the photos and report!

Jim,

Thanks for the report. I really like the picture of Langley!

I climbed Mt. Ralston in Deso that same day and the wind was howling up north as well!

Thanks,

-Russ

Jim,
Great insight into how things look out there;! I had to delay my first trip into early June, because of work issues, but with the snow forecast for next week, I'm hoping that the bug bloom will ease off a bit. I'm guessing there will be a few more reports over the next couple weeks as more folks venture into the low-snow backcountry. Obviously, the tracks over NAP indicate that the surge has begun. Thanks for the report.
cg