Summer's Kiss is Over: October backpacks
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:33 pm
I spent over 30 days in the Sierra this summer and today was the only one I got rained (actually, hailed) on. I should have been happy to get back to my car, but instead a bittersweet sadness ran through me, because I knew this would be my last day in the Sierra this year.
Here, I've compiled a report from 3 trips I took this month, all out of the Horseshoe Meadows area. The first went over New Army Pass, over what I refer to as "You and Whose Army Pass" (the saddle between Soldier Lake and Miter Basin), through Miter, over Crabtree Pass:
...and then down to the upper most lake in the Crabtree Basin:
Here's another view:
I then dayhiked (or late afternoon-hiked) down to the main Crabtree Lake. The sloping meadows and granite creek run down the canyon were lovely.
Here's the main Crabtree Lake:
My second trip was PCT to Rock Creek, back to PCT, over Guyot Pass and up Crabtree Basin from the west. I made it up to the main Crabtree Lake, so sort of completed the loop. This is evidence of the prior week's snowstorm, taken in Lower Crabtree Meadow:
Here's the Lower Crabtree Lake, basking in a beautiful light:
The path to the main Crabtree Lake, which was like the path to Valhalla:
Later in the day, I hiked back up the canyon that I had come down on my previous trip. The light was much better this time. Mt. McAdie at the top:
McAdie with burnt edges:
This looked like cake icing to me:
And a dramatic sky:
The next morning I climbed Mt. Hitchcock (13,184). This is actually a pass down to Hitchcock Lakes, but even I'm not this crazy:
From the saddle, Mt. Whitney (left) looked like part of an enormous bundt cake (not that I have cake on the brain or anything):
And from the top of Hitchcock, two zooms of Mt. Whitney:
Here, I've compiled a report from 3 trips I took this month, all out of the Horseshoe Meadows area. The first went over New Army Pass, over what I refer to as "You and Whose Army Pass" (the saddle between Soldier Lake and Miter Basin), through Miter, over Crabtree Pass:
...and then down to the upper most lake in the Crabtree Basin:
Here's another view:
I then dayhiked (or late afternoon-hiked) down to the main Crabtree Lake. The sloping meadows and granite creek run down the canyon were lovely.
Here's the main Crabtree Lake:
My second trip was PCT to Rock Creek, back to PCT, over Guyot Pass and up Crabtree Basin from the west. I made it up to the main Crabtree Lake, so sort of completed the loop. This is evidence of the prior week's snowstorm, taken in Lower Crabtree Meadow:
Here's the Lower Crabtree Lake, basking in a beautiful light:
The path to the main Crabtree Lake, which was like the path to Valhalla:
Later in the day, I hiked back up the canyon that I had come down on my previous trip. The light was much better this time. Mt. McAdie at the top:
McAdie with burnt edges:
This looked like cake icing to me:
And a dramatic sky:
The next morning I climbed Mt. Hitchcock (13,184). This is actually a pass down to Hitchcock Lakes, but even I'm not this crazy:
From the saddle, Mt. Whitney (left) looked like part of an enormous bundt cake (not that I have cake on the brain or anything):
And from the top of Hitchcock, two zooms of Mt. Whitney: