High Sierra Topix

Hi Giantbrookie,
Turns out I'm in agreement again; the trip earlier this year that my wife thought was a killer (and got us back to Blue Lakes) was a "high loop" around Lyell in which we visited virtually all of the drainages that run off the flanks of Lyell, MacLure, Simmons, Rodgers etc. It was something I'd longed to do for a while, because I figured that the lakes/valleys in those areas were likely to be pretty underutilized, even though most of them run out to trails. Turns out it was a good guess, because we did not see another soul for 8 of the 11 days we were out. (However, there was one set of footprints from someone who'd been at Blue and went over to the Lyell Fork Lakes). Anyway, both the Hutchings Creek drainage and the Lyell fork of the Merced (and that great series of azure steppingstone lakes on its East side) were absolutely spectacular. However, the wildest visuals on the whole trip came from a pothole lake at the end of the basin a little south and east of Simmons peak. With ice trapped below a layer of melt, it was among the most intoxicating blues I've seen in the Sierras (and all the more incongruous, because it was barricaded by dark rock and snow). Anyway, once I figure out how to get photos posted, I'll illustrate. The only downside is that by the time we reached Blue Lakes, the early July fires that were sweeping the Owens valley had kicked up enough smoke that those stunning views to the south that you were waxing eloquent about were partially obscured. Still, I think the take home message is that it's hard to go wrong on either side of the Minarets/Ritter/Banner......
cgundersen

OK, I'm still having problems getting the images to display in the post, but the preceding post has the link to the "cool" blue pothole lake that is south and a bit east of Simmons Peak; I'll see if I can get Blue Lake photos to appear in a subsequent post!
cgundersen

That is an exceedingly alpine scene (the lakelet in your photo). If you like that one, have you ever seen the lakelet SSE of Mt. Dade? (this is the bowl that sits above the so-called "Hourglass" part of the standard class 2 climbing route on Mt. Dade) It is an utterly savage scene with the jagged crest above steep permanent snow/ice which calves into the lakelet. I first saw it in September of a dry year (1977) and the ice was streaked gray with bands of talus rockfall making it look even more dramatic.

OK, I can see that my list of places to go is going to grow exponentially, which is fine as long as the joints hold up. Anyway, that lakelet by Dade is not one I've seen, but it sounds like it's worth a peek/peak (and the good thing is that it can probably be done over the course of a strenuous day hike)!
Thanks for the tip!
cgundersen

A couple of shots across lower Blue Lake toward Ritter/Banner and the Minarets (I hope):
[img]"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1100/979 ... 81b2_o.jpg"[/img]

This is a great thread! Here is my vote:

This lake is really beautiful:



Thanks for sharing your pictures.

For mountaineer: maybe your link has a clue, but I'm certainly prompted to guess where that lake/peaks are located in that marvellous shot. My first guess would be Split mountain, but since I've not camped at the lake below Split, I cannot say for sure. Perhaps other folks recognize it?

For Kathy: yep, if there'd been anywhere to camp near that lake we would have done so, just to revel in that blue. But, the area around it was pretty unaccommodating, so I'm glad the little camera we had did as good a job as it did! Anyway, that's one of the amazing features of the Sierras: you never quite know what's going to pop up over the next ridge or in this case, at the end of a long talus field...
cgundersen

Yes, it has a clue for the mountain and the lake would have to be a guess. It is Vee Lake below Seven Gables Peak.