july 19th trip near mammoth

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croupier
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july 19th trip near mammoth

Post by croupier »

So, i'm thinking of doing a hike near mammoth lakes on the weekend of july 19th. If i do a loop around minaret, iceburg, and thousand island lakes (i was looking in the area and there seem to be a few other threads discussing this area as well so i guess it's a nice trip) will everything be frozen over by then? While i have done snow camping i'm not particularly thrilled by it and would like to avoid camping on/hiking on too much snow. If you have other suggestions in the area for a 3/4 day trip that would be great also. My wife and i who are pretty experienced are taking a couple friends who haven't done too much backpacking before so we can't go too crazy.

thanks in advance!
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hikerduane
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Re: july 19th trip near mammoth

Post by hikerduane »

Those lakes have cold sounding names, but should be in good shape by then. Not a big snow year, but Mammoth Mt. itself had some late snow which helped keep it open longer. You can call the FS in Mammoth for more info. I did a week trip two years ago, about that time, but to the south around Silver Pass/Divide, only snow on the north side of the pass there and the lakes I hit were in good shape. You are going to a very popular area, I hope you have your permit reserved already. Some are available on a first come basis. In a good snow year, I have hit snow just above Thousand Island going to Catherine and Catherine had only thawed out about 25% that summer. I was in the area on that trip in Oct., Catherine was already refrozen. It is a good scramble getting past Ediza heading south. Pooch and I did it on one trip, just one section below Iceberg or whatever the second lake is after leaving Ediza. He was able to carry his pack I think over this section. Enjoy.
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maverick
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Re: july 19th trip near mammoth

Post by maverick »

My guess is that Iceberg will be partially thawed by then (maybe), which if your lucky
will give you some nice mini icebergs floating around.
The route at Cecile has a steep narrow slot (class 2-3) which takes you to the
eastern side of the lake, are your friends comfy with this.
Iceberg Lake has a permanent snowfield that may require you to use an ice axe
steady footing especially in the morning hours.
Also its 7.4 miles from the Devil's PP to Minaret Lake one-way with an 1800 ft climb,
make sure your friends are up to hiking that distance and at that altitude.
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croupier
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Re: july 19th trip near mammoth

Post by croupier »

Thanks for the replies! Yeah, i haven't ever gone in summer (and now i realize why) - the trails were all booked up to that area.Yeah, i could go up and hope to get one of the first-come-first-served passes, but I'd rather not have that many people on the trail with me anyways.

And thanks for the info about Iceburg etc, after lookup in the path on TOPO and doing an elevation profile i also came to the conclusion that it probably is a bit tough for the newer backpackers.

I'm going to look around for another place with hopefully a little less people.
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hikerduane
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Re: july 19th trip near mammoth

Post by hikerduane »

Hate to discourage you, however, if a little rock climbing isn't what they are into, then it isn't a good route, but only for a short distance. What do they call that, class 3, hand and foot holds needed? Going up might be better, as you could see up, where you need to go. My dog did ok, I had to encourage him some, but he was a veteran of my travels. You can always loop around thru Rosalie, Pooch and I did that, thru Devils Post Pile early in the morning before the Rangers saw he had no leash and along the River Trail to Agnew Meadow TH.
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maverick
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Re: july 19th trip near mammoth

Post by maverick »

Hikerduane

Did you ever see that rock climbing dog on tv a couple of months back.
The dogs owner would climb up class 5 stuff and the pooch would follow him
it was one of the most amazing animal videos I have seen!
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hikerduane
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Re: july 19th trip near mammoth

Post by hikerduane »

Hi maverick, no, I'm away from home all week, plus they doubled my satellite bill when I wasn't make much money a few years ago so I dropped my DirectTV subscribtion. I have heard of dogs who climb trees and ladders, never worked with mine on those things. Pooch and I trained on SAR for six months, he was up to a acre search before I dropped us out due to training taking too much of my time from my job. It was cool when he alerted. Neat stuff.
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