High Sierra Topix

I did a solo trip into Sixty Lake Basin. The trip was 5 days, June 24-28, 2012. Saw lots of PCT hikers along the way. Bugs got worse each night of the trip.
Day 1 - Drive from San Diego to Onion Valley trailhead, hike to Flower Lake.
Day 2 - Flower Lake to Kearsarge Pass, to JMT north to Glen Pass, to Rae Lakes.
Day 3 - Rae Lakes over unnamed pass to Sixty Lake Basin, explored the basin.
Day 4 - Sixty Lake Basin north to Basin Notch, down to Arrowhead Lake. South on JMT to the lake basin just north of Glen Pass.
Day 5 - Lake basin north of Glen Pass, over Glen Pass, down and back up over Kearsarge Pass, down to Onion Valley trailhead, and drive to San Diego.

This was my first time into the Rae Lakes area and Sixty Lake Basin. It is a beautiful area!!!

You can view my photos through this link.
https://picasaweb.google.com/hikerdmb/S ... directlink" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pretty pictures from a great area. Thanks for taking the time to post this TR Hikerdmb.
Were there a lot of backpackers (Rae Lakes Loop/JMT) at Rae Lakes?

I only ran into a few people doing the Rae Lakes Loop. But each day I met 5-6 PCT thru hikers. A very interesting group from early 20's to 60+ years old. At my camp at Rae Lakes I could hear a few people on the ranger hut side of the lake but did not see anyone in the 12+ hours I was there. In Sixty Lake Basin there was a group of 7 park service workers setting gill nets and trying to save the Mountain Yellow Legged Frog. I saw one other hiker in the basin while I was there.

which lakes were they netting? They might be re-netting, but i'm still curious if this was planned and announced. Still a nice report.

Great report and pictures, thanks for posting.

Great photo journal, thanks for sharing your report!

First, congrats to Windknot for hitting 1000 posts!
Second, thanks Dave for the great photos; I'd forgotten the knifedge on Glen since it's been a while since I went over there sans snow. But, even in this low snow year, there was still a little left. Great for chilled beverages...
cg

Thanks for posting your pxts Dave. Looks like a great camp at lake 11,200 on the north side of Glen Pass.

They were cleaning and repairing the nets left in the lakes over winter and setting additional nets in the same lakes. I saw nets in the first lakes you come to when you drop down into Sixty Lake Basin from the trail that comes up from the Rae Lakes, southwest of Fin Dome. They were working in the six lakes and several ponds in the center of the basin west of Fin Dome. They said they were in year 3 of this effort to save the frog and get rid of non-native fish. Once I was down in the lower part of the basin, west of Arrowhead Lake, I did not see any more nets.

Thanks for the update. For fish removal, they tend to start with the higher lakes in a basin. Easier to defend against upstream fish with a natural barrier.

I still find it unnerving to see the nets, but i guess froggie needs a place to thrive as well.

Russ