TR - Fourth Recess / Pioneer Basin 8/15 - 8/19

[westmatt]

Left Mosquito Flats at dawn on 8/15 for the stable tour/hike that is Mono Pass. Felt super low the entire hike in. The trail condition from the Trail Lakes to Golden Creek didn't help. Hooves do not make for a happy trail, IMO.

_DSC1554-1 by Matt Fox, on Flickr
_DSC1558-1 by Matt Fox, on Flickr


After arriving at Fourth Recess, I felt fatigued and unmotivated, so I made the decision to do nothing at all. Got a little rain in the late afternoon.

8/16: I woke up and felt remarkably better, so I decided to keep my original plan to hike up to the Snow Lakes, which I had been wanting to see for some time.

_DSC1573 by Matt Fox, on Flickr
_DSC1576 by Matt Fox, on Flickr
_DSC1583 by Matt Fox, on Flickr

There are several small lakes immediately above the waterfall. One, cut off from the stream coming down the valley, is absolutely full of frogs. The other, and the stream itself, hold some microtrout. It felt like I could have been the only person on Earth in that hanging valley - I saw no evidence of any person.

_DSC1587 by Matt Fox, on Flickr
_DSC1590 by Matt Fox, on Flickr
_DSC1591 by Matt Fox, on Flickr

Despite the haze in the air, I was impressed by the lower Snow Lake and the basin above. There were a couple of hawks circling above the lake, and I saw two Dippers in the stream on the way up.

LowerSnowLakePano by Matt Fox, on Flickr

The clouds were building, and I, being paranoid about lightning, decided to bug out without seeing the upper lake, which in hindsight turned out to be a good decision.

_DSC1607 by Matt Fox, on Flickr

I was rained on a bit on the way back down to camp, where it started in earnest. Thunder, lightning, hail and hard rain for about 3 solid hours. I ate with my sit pad arched over my head to keep the drips out of my food that evening. My site afforded me some protection from the weather, but there was nothing to do but lay down in the tent until it passed.

8/17: packed up and headed for Pioneer Basin, with one last look at Fourth Recess Lake.

_DSC1627 by Matt Fox, on Flickr

I passed Mud Lake, and camped near the Northeastern side of the first lake in the lower basin:

_DSC1635 by Matt Fox, on Flickr

I enjoyed the afternoon light over the recesses, and an interesting late afternoon sky. The wind howled all that day, and all night, only slightly tapering off in the morning.

_DSC1649 by Matt Fox, on Flickr
_DSC1699 by Matt Fox, on Flickr
_DSC1681 by Matt Fox, on Flickr

8/18: I awoke to find that the constant haze had disappeared, and I headed out towards the saddle between Mt. Crocker and Mt. Stanford. The upper Pioneer Basin was almost empty - I caught a glimpse of a couple of people packing up at the next lake, and from then on saw not another soul for the rest of the day. The hike was varied and interesting. There are some use trails, and some places where you just have to make your best guess about where to go, and it's a mix of fairly flat terrain with some steeper sections in between, all very beautiful. Making my best guess about the route to take, I let the contours guide me, and found one of what was probably many little use trails up to the flat bench below the ridge, and then another trail up to the ridge itself. I ended up too low to see anything but Steelhead Lake and McGee Canyon at first, then angled up for a view of the upper McGee Creek Canyon:

_DSC1724 by Matt Fox, on Flickr
_DSC1725 by Matt Fox, on Flickr
RedSlatePano by Matt Fox, on Flickr
_DSC1731 by Matt Fox, on Flickr
_DSC1734 by Matt Fox, on Flickr

The view was one of the finest that I personally have seen, and I am glad I experienced it. The colors in those metamorphics are really amazing. The hike back took a fraction of the time due to the lack of route-finding needed.

_DSC1749 by Matt Fox, on Flickr

When I arrived back at my camp, I looked up at the ridge where I'd been, and again saw smoke filling the northern sky, and it wasn't long before the smell was overwhelming.

8/19: With the smell of smoke still ever-present, I decided to bail. I pushed pretty hard getting back to Mosquito Flats, and had a bit of rhabdo, which worried me, but which cleared up by the next morning. After a shower and a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato and ortega chile (delicious) at the Rock Creek Resort, I headed home, driving through the most consistently bad air quality I have ever seen. The whole Owens Valley was choked with smoke, and you could only see the faint outline of the Sierra.

So my trip was cut short, which was a bummer, but my two primary goals (Snow Lakes and the view of McGee drainage) were accomplished, and I saw more birds than I ever have up there - chickadees by the dozen, juncos, hawks (too far to ID), Clark's Nutcrackers, Steller's Jays, Dippers, what had to be a Peregrine in Pioneer Basin, and the usual host of LBBs. As always, I am grateful for the experience.

-Matt

[SweetSierra]

Thanks for your trip report. I especially liked the sky with clouds photo. I've been to Pioneer Basin several times, camping at Mud Lake (which I think is a pretty lake and has some good camping), and at one of the higher lakes in the basin. I don't mind repeating trips. They're different each time.

It's good you got most of your trip in before the smoke arrived. I was in Pioneer Basin a few years ago when firefighters lit a back fire around sunset in efforts to control a fire I think near Yosemite. We didn't know that a back fire had been lit. The smoke filled many basins throughout the Southern Sierra (the group leader learned in the morning). The smoke was so dense, a peak just across a lake where our group was camped was shrouded. In the morning it was not much better and the trip was cut short, though the smoke cleared enough to enjoy a layover day at Trail Lakes before we headed out.

[balzaccom]

Nice report--and lovely photos. I was stunned to see how little water was in the cascade to Fourth Recess Lake...

Like you, I loved the colors in those mountains!

[windknot]

Stunning photos with impressive compositions of light and shadow. I appreciate seeing the Sierra through others' lenses, in this case literally. Thanks for sharing!