High Sierra Topix

Early morning start from Virginia Lake July 7th, overcast all day, great for hiking as we looked back on Virginia Lakes. Headed over pass for lunch at Summit Lake before entering Yosemite. Cool and cloudy all day made for pleasurable hiking and interesting views as we ended the day at Return Lake in upper Virginia Canyon. Timing was perfect, finished dinner and got everything stowed away before the rain came. Day 2, began cross country ascent toward Grey Butte and into Spiller Canyon. Spent a little time exploring route into Spiller Canyon, settled on boulder hoping across ridge between canyons, beautiful views as the sky began to cloud up by late morning. Eastern view toward Virginia Canyon was spectacular, never rained on us but could see rain falling to the east. Most unusual day encountering wildlife, almost stepped on baby quail, only to be attacked by mother quail as she made sure to lead me away from her baby. After descent into Spiller Canyon, had the rare view of a porcupine wandering his way up the creekside we were descending along. After long day, pulled into the beautiful Miller Lake along the PCT, a little cool, but very refreshing swim and relaxation on sandy beach shore to end day 2. Day 3, as we packed up camp and headed across meadow at Miller Lake, Coyote was stalking prey in meadow. Made long descent into Matterhorn Canyon, first day where the sun was out from start to finish. Beautiful and not to difficult ascent to Burro Pass, the canyon reveals new majestic views around each corner. Made camp between Burro and Mule Pass, and set up camp with a view of the Finger Peaks and our camp bear. Day four ended up being our last day, started off with clear sunshine, after summitting Mule Pass, we made it to trail junction near Crown Lake when the thunderstorm began. First came the rain then the hail, after the hail ended we made trail junction for lunch, and decided to head out a day early rather than shelter in a tent for the rest of the afternoon at Peeler Lake, also the mosquitos were just pesky enough in that area to help persuade us to hike out for a warm shower and evening BBQ dinner.

Silverfox

thanks for sharing.

A porcupine! Good sighting. Still haven't seen one, nor a mountain lion. Coyotes seem to be very common in the Virginia Lakes area, I have seen them several times. In the fall they really blend in with the grasses. Nice trip report and pictures, thank you.

Nice report. Thanks for sharing pictures are always welcome. Last time I saw a porcupine was in Paiute Pass from North lake in the 70's. Also saw a wolverine on same trip between the th and the pass.

Thanks for the report. Ive never spotted a porcupine, very cool!

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