Sabrina Basin, June 13-15

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tweederjohnson
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Sabrina Basin, June 13-15

Post by tweederjohnson »

Did a two night trip into Sabrina Basin on Wednesday, June 15th.

Highlights:
- Weather was perfect. Clear and sunny skies. Gentle breezes. Felt great to escape the Southern CA heat.
- Mosquitoes were nasty...probably the worst I've ever experienced. Headnet and wind jacket were worn anytime I wasn't in the tent.
- Lots of people on the trail to Blue Lake, and several groups camped at the lake. But the lake is large and there are lots of sites. Especially if you head closer to the inlet side of the lake.
- Only saw one group near Dingleberry Lake on my dayhike to Hungry Packer Lake, and I didn't see them again the rest of the day. Felt like I had the whole basin to myself.
- I loved Hungry Packer Lake. Truly a beautiful location.


Day 1
I arrived at the overnight parking area at 11 am on Wednesday and made the 10 minute walk from my car to the trailhead near the Lake Sabrina dam.
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The weather was perfect for the whole trip. Clear skies and the temperatures in the mid-70's with a nice breeze that never escalated to 'wind.'

The trail parallels the lake and ascends gently until the junction with the George Lake Trail. I passed many dayhikers and a few backpackers returning from the their trips. Lots of people fishing from the dam and out in boats on Lake Sabrina. I saw tons of fish from the trail in Sabrina's clear waters. Many of them good-sized--which got me excited for the lakes in the upper basin as I brought both my fly and spin rods.

From the George Lake junction, the trail crosses the George Creek outlet/waterfall which was easy to cross without having to get my boots wet.
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From the creek, the trail steepens and gains more than 1000 feet in the 2.5 miles to Blue Lake, where I'd make my base camp for the two nights. This is also where the mosquitoes made their presence felt and would be inescapable until I got above Topsy Turvy Lake on my dayhike the next day.

I reached Blue Lake a little before 1:30 pm and easily crossed the outlet on logs and boulders and followed the trail along the lake where I found a good site after the Donkey Lake trail forks with the Baboon Lakes trail. There are plenty of good, legal sites and no one was camped within eyesight/earshot of me. I pitched my tent and donned my head net and windjacket, both of which were lifesavers for this trip. I spent the remainder of the fishing/reading/eating and slapping at mosquitoes. I caught 6 small brookies that evening, none larger than 10". It was the first time I ever caught more fish by fly than by lure (5 to 1), as the brookies were hungry for dry flies. I headed to bed early and had a great night of sleep.
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Day 2
I awoke, made some oatmeal and coffee and fished for an hour before taking off on my dayhike. I caught four more small brookies and again, the fly rod outfished the spinner (3 to 1).

Without the burden of my tent/quilt/pad/bear cannister, I made quick time to Dingleberry Lake, which like Sabrina, I could see many good-sized fish from the trail above it.

The inlet to Dingleberry was the only time I had to wade on the trip, as the two inlets converged to make a wide, but shallow floodplain about 100 feet across but only knee deep.
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The mosquitoes gave chase all the way to where the trail parallels and overlooks Topsy Turvy lake, about 10,900 feet, where they finally subsided. From there, snow patches dotted the landscape along with many seasonal ponds and lakelet. It was a truly beautiful sight.
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From Sailor Lake, I followed the trail up to Hungry Packer Lake, which still had sheets of ice covering a good portion of it. Hungry Packer Lake, with its (to me, unbelievably) unnamed peak towering over it was magnificent. Fish were easy to spot in the crystal blue water, lazily swimming from under the ice and along the granite banks. I rested, snacked and fished under a clear blue sky for two hours before having to pull myself away from that little slice of heaven.
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From Hungry Packer Lake, I skirted around the northern edge of the ridge that separates it from Moonlight Lake. In an effort to avoid snow patches (and any voids that may have been lurking under them from meltstreams I could hear under them), I had to navigate a fairly long stretch of boulders. Once I reached the lake, I worked my way north towards the outlet and followed it to the two beautiful waterfalls that were flowing freely on their way to Topsy Turvy Lake.
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After pausing to admire the scenery and snap a few photos, I worked my way back across the basin, hopping across streams to Sailor Lake and returned to the trail heading back down canyon. By the time I got back to my campsite at Blue Lake, I was exhausted and welcomed a late afternoon nap.

I spent the rest of the evening fishing and slapping at mosquitoes and for some reason wasn't able to replicate my previous night's sleep.

Day 3
Unable to sustain any consistent sleep, I climbed out from under my quilt at 5 am thinking I might as well try to beat the mosquitoes out of bed...but my efforts were futile. So I packed up and hit the trail out by 6 am and was back at my car by 8 am on my way to Bishop for breakfast.
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kpeter
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Re: Sabrina Basin, June 13-15

Post by kpeter »

Thank you for the report! It is fascinating to see one of my favorite haunts in different conditions--ice in Hungry Packer and snow around the falls!

It appears as if skeeters are now in full bloom everywhere, since I had them at 7000 feet and you had them at 11000. I remember a bad mosquito trip at Blue Lake in the second week of July. Turned my kids off of backpacking for a couple of years. That basin can get rough, but I've never had problems there in August.
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rams
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Re: Sabrina Basin, June 13-15

Post by rams »

I was thinking about heading to that basin in a few weeks so thanks for showing its current state. Really like the Blue Lake shot.
Hungry Packer Lake, with its (to me, unbelievably) unnamed peak towering over it was magnificent.
I might be mistaken, but I think the peaks above have names. Picture Peak is the dominant one on the left and I think Mt. Wallace is in the center.
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tweederjohnson
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Re: Sabrina Basin, June 13-15

Post by tweederjohnson »

‘Picture Peak’ is a fitting name. I didn’t see it on my Tom Harrison map or in Google Earth—so I made the lazy distinction that it must not have a name. Thanks for pointing that out!
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Hobbes
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Re: Sabrina Basin, June 13-15

Post by Hobbes »

Very nice - looks like the snow is finally beginning to melt. Here's what it looked like on 6/1:

Image
Sabrina

Image
Looking back from Piute
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