This trip is about the evolution of an idea and the practicality of its implementation. To begin with, my dad and I have had the luxury of doing a 3 day trip for the last three years. After a pretty successful challenge in Moose Lake last year, we (more accurately, I) wanted to keep the ambition high and interesting. With that in mind, I've always been interested in going into the Ansel Adams wilderness into Yosemite on the west side for some pretty killer scenery. Greg Aiello from Motion did an episode into this area a few years ago that only continued to fuel interest. As the infancy of planning commenced, with hours on Caltopo, here with trip reports, and Google Earth; I really wanted to get into the Lyell Fork of the Merced river. For that, we would have to go at least 4 days, that ended up being the easiest part. As the planning for the 2016 HST meetup coincidentally met with our original destination, the excitement continued further. By the time I had my "dream trip" planned, we were to go on the Isberg Pass trail and crest the pass, then down to the Lyell Fork, up into the headwaters, crest Electra Peak, down to Twin Island Lakes, then down North Fork San Joaquin River back to the trailhead for an amazing loop.
Then.... life happened. It sounds so dramatic, I apologize. As the new year started, I was offered a teaching position at the college I am staff at a week before the semester. This would be my first class at this particular institution and had to prepare quite quickly. On top of that, my full-time job at the college is at the bookstore, so the beginning of the semester is always rough. Coupled with that, my other teaching job has given me a total of 5 classes this year already, so the time evaporated quickly. To make sure I had zero free time, my wife and I embarked on purchasing our first home.
All this relates back to the trip, as it went from a loop, to an out and back into the basin, hopefully getting to the highest lake, to end up just getting over Isberg Pass by the time we started hiking. Obviously, this is a quarter of the original plan, but the point of all this rambling is, even with these grandiose expectations not even close being met, we still had a wonderful time and a killer trip.
Day 1: Teaching until 10:00 PM the night before and knowing I had to be ready out the door around 5:00 AM, I didn't sleep much (though also the excitement of the trip helps with that too). So off we go, breakfast in Fresno and after the beautiful drive up Minarets byway, we arrive at Clover Meadow a little after 10, and start walking from Isberg a little after 11. So obviously a late start, and it was hot, and I was 10 pounds heavier, and this is the first hike of the year. Isberg Pass seemed another range away.
In any event, this was a great time. We passed Cora Lakes and they were stunning. We ended up camping a bit short of Sadler Lake that night, just enjoying the beauty that Granite Creek has to offer.
Day 2: After hitching up camp and preparing for the climb to the pass, this day felt we were back on track. The goal was to make it over the pass and set up camp at Lake 10005 and see what we can do from there. Getting to Sadler lake was a breeze and the lake itself was stunning
DSC_1303 by Charles Slaght, on FlickrWe continued our hike and stopped at the lower Isberg Lake and take in the view and coolish (compared to the Valley) weather. After coming to the top of the basin, it was the final slog up the pass, with the Ritter Range opening up behind us. This was a great hike and must say the trail is in great shape here. Once we reached the pass, the views were quite stunning.
DSC_1330 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1333 by Charles Slaght, on FlickrYosemite side still had quite a bit of snow for July 1st.
DSC_1337 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1338 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1345 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1359 by Charles Slaght, on FlickrAgain, Ritter and Banner look amazing just sticking over the ridgeline here.
After a pretty good break, we finally make our way down the Yosemite side. The snow on this side wasn't bad, but was enough to make us lose the trail a bit and get stuck in the talus. After some quick moves, it wasn't long to find the trail and wrap around the headwall of the canyon. We found our partner and headed to the north shore of lake 10005. Arriving around 3 gave us plenty of time to soldier on to say Harriet Lake or deeper into Yosemite, but we decided this was a pretty awesome spot and kind of dipped in the lake and had a little snack before setting up camp.
DSC_1365 by Charles Slaght, on FlickrThe view isn't too bad either.
One reason for stopping here is that it gave us a great view of the southern sky, as I love taking night shots.
DSC_1399 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1427 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1428 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1429 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1430 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1439 by Charles Slaght, on FlickrOne thing about taking night shots in July is that you're usually too tired to stay up after crossing a pass, though once I woke up after a short dosing off, the motivation was there. It was a beautiful area here at the shores of Lake 10005, something that will be burned into my memory.
Day 3: This started the "back" part of our out and back trip now as we decided to head back to the TH. My dad was hosting his annual party on the 3rd and we wanted to get back to town by day 4's afternoon, so to get a chuck back to the truck was in order. After retracing much of our steps, the views again were incredible. Coming back over the pass and into the Granite Creek drainage is definitely something special.
DSC_1441 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1449 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1459 by Charles Slaght, on Flickr
DSC_1461 by Charles Slaght, on FlickrWe set up camp at an established area off of Knoblock Meadow and enjoyed the night
DSC_1471 by Charles Slaght, on FlickrFeeble attempt, but still fun.
Day 4: With an early start we were able to zip back to the truck in about 2.5 hours and make it to North Fork for a burger and back to reality in time for the party.
This trip had a lot of ambition and still was amazing even though we only completed a fraction of it. The reason I say this as we were heading back, my dad asked me on a scale of 1-10, what would you rate this trip? I gave it a solid 8. We didn't get to see everything, or climb peaks, or do much of any cross country this trip, but with all things considered, especially as a "warm up" hike though I don't seem to have the time to do more than one a year now, this trip was still very good. I mean, how can you complain about being in the Sierras?
