2021 Summary and Looking Forward to 2022

[davidsheridan]

Hello HST Community,

I haven't posted in a long time, so I thought I owed at least some pictures before I start asking you fine folks for beta or my 2022 trips.

2021 was another year where my dreams were bigger than what I actually got done. However, I was able to see 3 new areas of the Sierra for me and had a great time along the way.

I was most excited about climbing Mount Russel over Labor Day timeframe, but that was not possible as the entire Inyo national forest was shut down.

Luckily I got in 3 short trips before that. This was also the first year we took our new puppy Quincy backpacking. Quincy loved it!

1st trip was a quick 2-nighter to Desolation Wilderness to see if Quincy liked backpacking - she sure did!

2nd Trip was our first trip into the Humphrey's basin

Day 1: North Lake to Mesa Lake. We loved our campsite at Mesa lake! Great Views of the Glacial Divide, Greta Fishing, and even a sandy beach nearby!

Day 2: Day Hike to Carol Col and then down To Tomahawk Lake for a swim, returning to campsite at Mesa Lake - Great views form Carol Col, ad we really loved swimming in Tomahawk Lake!

Day 3: to Muriel Lake - very beautiful, but the shoreline is much rockier and more big talus than the smooth shores of Mesa Lake
Day 4: Exit

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Quincy

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3rd Trip: Deer Lakes / Duck Lake Loop out of Mammoth

Day 1: Mammoth to Deer Lakes - Great hike, a little bit smoky. We loved Deer Lakes and found that the basin did a good job of making you feel like you had solitude, even thought we discovered in the morning we had neighbors close by.

Day 2: Over Duck Pass onto Skelton Lake - great class 2 hike between Duck Lake and Deer Lakes, and Skelton Lake was so nice, when we arrived, the crowds dispersed and we had it to ourselves after 3PM

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Overall we had a great time! Mount Russel will still be there in the future.

In 2022 my wife is going to hike the John Muir Trail Southbound starting at Happy Isles.
I plan to join her for a portion of her trek: entering at South Lake/Bishop Pass and exiting at Kearsarge Pass. (keep your eyes out for a future post looking for campsite beta...Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge!)