Hello All,
Got back safely and had a great trip. Hey huts, wasn't the weather phenomenal? The day you were at Kirkwood was the day we started out from Leavitt Meadows. On that first day we hiked in about 7-8 miles and camped where Yparraquirre Cr. meets the W. Walker R. Lots of little dinks in the river, but we were tired and it was late so we didn't fish.
The next morning we left and headed up Long Canyon toward Beartrap L. Ate lunch just below Beartrap at these little ponds that had some decent sized fish in them (surprisingly). After Beartrap we headed off trail en route to Kirkwood L. Going was rough. With a fair amount of bushwhacking and route finding we were able to make it to a little lake/tarn just north of Kirkwood Pass. It was late and we were tired and the ridge to Kirkwood was daunting so we just stayed at the little lake.
DISASTER STRIKES!! When I took off my pack, I noticed my sleeping bag was GONE! I ran back to the other side of the lake where we first took off our packs, no bag. I retraced our steps up to a point where we had to down climb a small cliff band, no bag. It's late, hungry and now what??? Surviorman skills kick in. I found a nice thicket of lodgepoles and kicked out a trough about 12" deep and 6' long in the pine needles. Fortunately I still had my Thermarest pad and Don had his Bivy Sack. I then cut a bunch of dried up Cow Parsnip, made bundles, and placed them on my rain poncho. I then folded the poncho over and made a blanket. (see pictures) Did the same with Don's poncho. So now I have 2 blankets. After dinner and cocktails, I put on all my clothes, crawled in the bivy, pulled the makeshift blankets over me, and had a toasty warm night without my sleeping bag.
Change in plan. Instead of heading down Thompson Canyon we decide to take our layover day here and go back to try and find my bag. As luck would have it, about an hour back, I found my bag where we had taken a break the previous day. YEAH! Back in Business.
After our second night at this place we then climbed the ridge toward Kirkwood, cross over into Northern Yosemite and into Thompson Canyon. We scrapped the Thompson/ Stubblefield loop and opted for a relaxing day exploring. We climbed Hawksbeak Peak (elev. 11134) and checked out a small lake. We ended up camping at the small lakes below Hawksbeak. What a BEAUTIFUL place. Some of the best scenery I've seen. No fish at the lakes though.
The next day we wanted to get a glimpse of Stubblefield Canyon so we ascended up a steep couloir and topped out at peak 10654 just to the east of Tower Peak. Awesome views to be had. That night found us in a high mountain meadow near at the headwaters of the W. Walker River. The river was teeming with fish (Goldens). Caught and released a bunch of fish ranging from 6 - 10".
The following day we followed the river to Upper Piute Meadows, then through Lower Piute Meadows. We took the abandoned trail on the West side of the river. Pretty sketchy in places, I do not recommend going that way. But nevertheless, we made it back to the main trail were we found a place to camp along the river and fished (rainbows and browns down here). Kept two keepers for an after dinner treat.
The last day we hiked out back to the trailhead were we had a 6 pack of Sierra Nevadas waiting for us. After a shower and lunch at Kennedy Meadows, we headed home.
So see the pictures, follow this link.
http://gallery.me.com/cmon4day#100113" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
