High Sierra Topix

Blackfoot, Brad W, and I hiked up for a quick one night trip to Long Lake along the Bishop Pass trail. It has become a tradition for us to do some snow camping in early spring in this area. This year we were able to drive all the way to the South Lake trailhead.

We encountered very little snow on the trail for the first 1/2 mile. Since we had made a short hike up the trail on Friday at the 1/2 mile point we knew to put on microspikes to assist with the shady sections of the trail where the snow was still icy underneath. For the most part the snow was very consolidated, but when we got a couple of hundred yards past the trail to Chocolate Lakes we finally encountered enough deep snow that we put on our snowshoes. From there we hiked another 1/2 mile and decided to find a campsite on the bluff above the lake. There were some barren spots, but nothing large enough for the tent so we pitched it on the snow. Due to our normal late start it was about 2PM, so we got the chores done. Blackfoot and Brad were able to get water from the inlet creek on the south end of the lake. After the work was done we enjoyed the rest of the 60 degree afternoon with some fine bourbon.

Overnight temperatures dropped to 28, but there was no wind so it was a bearable night.

Nice pics, looked like fun. Thanks for sharing

Thanks for taking the time to post this TR and photo's.

Glad to see you guys made it out for the annual spring "snow trip" even with the lack of snow. Thanks for the pics.

cloudlesssky wrote:Glad to see you guys made it out for the annual spring "snow trip" even with the lack of snow. Thanks for the pics.

The current conditions look like we'll be able to make-up the cancelled Halloween trip to Dusy Basin soon.

Thanks for posting your photos! I'm hoping to get out there soon, or at least before the snow is gone.