A short TR

[Jimr]

I don't know if I can do a short TR, but I'll try. Lisa and I started out July 4th at Lake Sabrina headed toward Dingleberry Lake with the intention of camping there and day hiking higher, depending on conditions. We hit George Creek and as anticipated, it was flowing generously. There were a few snow drifts in the upper reaches just before reaching Blue Lake.

This has been a special place for me regardless of fact that it is a fairly generic day hike in. My mother hiked there several times with her family during the late 1950's. My first Sierra experience on July 1st through 4th weekend 1972 (I was 11 years old) was at Blue Lake. My uncle (my mom's brother) took me there on my first backpacking trip. His roommate hauled in a 50 lb inflatable raft while my uncle carried both his and his roommate's gear and I carried my own in an old boyscout backpack (a joke by today's standards; a painful one). We hit the outlet and inflated the raft, then paddled to the Island to make camp. Back then, there were no restrictions on camping on the island. Also, back then, the trail traversed Sabrina on the opposite side than it does today. Probably wiped out in rock slides forcing a new trail in it's current location.

We spent 3 days drifting in the raft and fishing. I still remember the rig; foot long double flashers (little propellers) with a short leader and a worm. We fished near bottom and pulled in 33 trout in 3 days. A combination of Rainbow and Brook all roughly 12”. It was a better fishery in those days.

Enough reminiscing. Oh no, we're not done! In 2009, I took my kids (13 and 11) there on their first backpacking trip. My family has three (no, four) generations of backpacking trips to Blue Lake. I've now been there 6 times. Far more than anywhere else in the Sierra. This was the second trip for Lisa and I, both in high snow years over July 4th weekend.

Back to the present. We forded the outlet, avoiding the usual log jam crossing, just because. We made our way about half way up the lake and decided to look around for possible camping. We weren't sure if we wanted to camp there because of it's popularity, but we found a perfect place away from the trail. We noticed a pile of clothes on the rocks, but no pack, so I checked the shore and saw a man sponge bathing. I asked him if he intended to camp there and he said he was just taking care of some personal duties and we were welcome to the spot. We dropped our packs and went down to the lakeshore to give him his privacy.

About 15 minutes later, a man walked up. He said, “now that I'm dressed, my name is Jeff”. I told him, “now that you're dressed, you look quite official”. He was dressed in a USFS uniform. He was the ranger assigned to the area for the holiday. We chatted for awhile, then, as is his job, he asked for our permit. I told him that we had our permit and a story. About half way up the trail, we took a snack break and Lisa decided to pull out her permit and read it. She handed it to me and asked me if I saw anything odd about the permit. I said that there was no itinerary and “entering Whitney Zone” was checked as “unknown”. She said, “you haven't gotten to it yet. I looked further and it said July 1st through July 4th. She picked it up on July 3rd and it was a reservation made 6 months ago. She was absolutely positive of the correct dates obtained through reservation.org. I told her that when she picked up her walk-in permit for Little Lakes Valley for the 2nd and 3rd, they would have questioned a permit already reserved for the 1st through the 4th.

We explained the story to Ranger Jeff and he noticed that there was no itinerary as well. He pulled out his pen and corrected the permit, then signed it. We chatted awhile longer and he thanked us, saying he appreciated that more experienced backpackers like us took the extra effort to find camp spots farther away from the trail terminus. We know what that means. Too many reach their destination lake and go for the first available site they can find rather than push farther to find less inhabited places to camp.
We talked about legal and illegal campsites and he looked along the lake and saw an obviously illegal tent pitch and said, “They're getting moved”. “I'm going to move them”.

The next day, we hiked to Dingleberry Lake and set up camp above the inlet stream.

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Our goal was to see if we could get to Moonlight Lake on a day hike. Jeff told us that they had gone to Hungry Packer lake the day before and it was exhausting due to the unrelenting fields of deep sun cups. We took that to heart. Saturday, after a leisurely breakfast and chit chat (that's how we seem to roll when we don't really have to get to another destination), we headed off around noon toward the upper basin. Most of it was cross country because half the trail was covered in snow. We ended up heading toward Pee Wee and Topsy Turvey lake, so we decided to crest the berm above Topsy Turvey and have lunch. The stream crossings were short and swift, but with experience in these conditions, they were very manageable. We hit the crest and sat for lunch. This was our view.

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It was approaching 3pm, so we decided to hang where we were, enjoy the view, then head back to camp.

Backing up to Saturday, we met Jeff again after we set camp at Dingleberry Lake. We chit chatted a bit more. He's a really nice guy. He had his shovel in hand and after our chat, he proceeded to clean up the trail that went down to the inlet stream. I guess that a big part of being a ranger is the ability to engage with visitors and build camaraderie. Especially before asking for permits or requesting that a camp me moved. Tactfulness is the key to cooperation.

So much for short, I guess.

[Rockyroad]

Sabrina Basin is the first place I took my kids too! They were 21 and 25 so I guess they weren't kids anymore. Thanks for the TR.

[windknot]

Thanks for the report!

[kpeter]

I so appreciate this, both because Sabrina Basin (and Dingleberry in particular) are favorite destinations of mine, and because I am taking my brother there for his first Sierra backpack on July 23. Do you think by then that the snow will retreat enough to open up camping in the upper lakes? I am hoping to camp however high we need to go to avoid the oncoming mosquito bloom, and I imagine that Blue and Dingleberry may not be the best spots by then.

[rightstar76]

Jimr, I think your post qualifies as one of the best for the summer so far. Your encounter with the ranger would make a great scene for a comedy film. On a different note, that's a really nice picture you took of Dingleberry Lake.

[gary c.]

I love the Sabrina basin. Thanks for your report. How cool was it getting down to at night?

[Jimr]

@kpeter, you may get lucky at Midnight or Sailor. A couple we talked to made it to Baboon lakes and found enough clearing to camp off of snow.

@rightstar76, thank you and thank you.

@gary c., I don't know what the night temp was, but my 10 degree bag was a bit warm and I would have to shed the beanie and zip down the bag a bit each night. If I had to guess, it would be low 40's. The afternoon breeze was a bit chilly coming off of the snow above, but it was light and lasted only a short while in the afternoon.

[Shawn]

Great story about the ranger.

Those photos are beauties Jim, thanks for posting up the <cough> short TR !

[Jimr]

<cough> <cough>, you're welcome @Shawn

The shots were just iphone 6 shots. Not bad for a phone.