High Sierra Topix

Nice report and what a great concept for a trip: to go after a remote unnamed lake on a topo! This is the spirit of off trail adventure. Yes, there certainly are those remote lakes and basins out there on topo maps that call to us. The rewards are great for the few who heed the call.

I normally keep my mouth clammed shut about such places but in this case even if I expand a bit about that area, I seriously doubt anyone else at all reading this will bother to venture up there. It is painful enough climbing up over Sawtooth, Blackrock, or Franklin and there are lots of easier pickings with excellent fishing, peakbagging, and scenery everywhere right along the trails once getting on these eastern slopes of the Great Western Divide. Very very few of us ever bother visiting such places. And there are several more noname lakes further north between Mt. Eisen and Eagle Scout Peak, the latter I've been atop.

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On my topo penciled route, would leave the trail in Lost Canyon at about 9900 feet and move southeast to cross the creek at 9800. Then traverse east and begin climbing up on the east edge of the willow seeps. At 9960 is a steep 300 feet that is scattered foxtails and bedrock that would go. Viewed that from the north canyon wall where we cheat the horse trail over the ridge to Big Five Lakes of 300 unnecessary up and down by traversing off to the northeast from about 9900, finding a narrow passage through ugly boulders and brush on steeps, then passing above the ledges on the noname pond at 10080.

Otherwise one could drop all the way down to 9400 feet on the LC trail and follow the less steep slopes to 9700 at the noname stream. From there would aim for 10540 on the 10861 nose where one traverses west into the small canyon draining what I named Bean Cirque and Bean Pond. Up that to 10720 then traverse south to your destination that I call Mouth Cirque containing Mouth Lake and Toothbrush Lake named due to their shapes.

Someone like gb who seeks out remote lakes would not bother going there because they are highly likely to have always been barren of trout given their lack of any spawning in what would likely be a talus bowl given the considerable cliffs on the east ridge of peak 12168 I named Mouth Peak. Also cowbows of the old fish dispersion era needed to be able to ride horses to such places.

The next basin to the south I named Peanut Cirque for the two Peanut Ponds though getting there looks to be at least a class 3 effort and would not be surprised if no one has ever stuck their toes into the peanut waters as there has been no reason for anyone to go there.

From the NPS stock camp at the Lost Canyon trail junction, we went SE to get over the south wall of Lost Canyon. Once over, we headed due south until we crested the gradual ridge and could see down toward Soda Creek. From there, we simply headed up that ridge until just short of point 10,861, then dropped down a little to the first lake. From there we contoured over to my lakes. This route involved a lot of rocks once we were on the ridge and heading up it; I took that route because it was a very definite route where I could see exactly where I was going. On the return to Lost Canyon, we took a route that was much easier. From the smaller lake north of my lakes, we crested over the divide just west of point 10,861, then headed down the (dry) creek drainage until we reached the flats at about 9700', where we turned north. That route would be a better way to go, with far less rock hopping. When you reach the rim of Lost Canyon, if you are too far west you end up cliffed out.

Near camp we found some fairly fresh scat that at first glance looked like stock had been there, nothing but grass. But it looked more like a bear had been eating grasses, and I could not find any tracks of any kind. Plus, I couldn't imagine how anyone could get stock to that location.

We also wondered about getting to what SSSDave calls Peanut Lakes, but from our vantage point at my lakes, it looked to be at least Class 3 if not worse, and I wasn't too keen on trying it.

Thanks for a great trip report on some country I was very familiar with back in the 1970's. Took some nice trips up and over Franklin Pass to Little Claire Lake over to Big and Little Five lakes and back out semi-cross country via Spring Lake and Glacier pass. Age has caught up to me and I'll probably never walk that high country out of Mineral King again. You brought back some fond memories.

wonderful trip report.
thank you for sharing.
these isolated lakes (hundreds of them) make high sierra cross country travel all the more worth the effort.
(ps - it was most amusing to see someone else herein get "jealous" for not having been there first)
pick another one & have fun.

Great TR! I'm planning a MK loop and now may need to add going off trail to a lonely lake.

Awesome! Thanks for the look! And what an outstanding place to introduce your friend to the Sierra...

Sounds like a very cool trip!

Shoulda left a lake register there in an old chew can. "8/1/2013 Joe Hero was here with friend Gump from Lousianna. No evidence of humans, except the small eel-like brookies in the lake, that I caught by putting an oat flake in my palm and holding it in the water until they swam into my grasp." Imagine someone finding it 25 years later.

Hi Lambertiana,
Great, inspirational trip & report. Yes, I'm not at all surprised at the dearth of signs of human activity there. I last did a trip through that area by traversing from Crystal Lake to Amphitheater and then collecting boletes in Soda Creek canyon. Very little sign of folks even in that corridor. But, I remained curious about the other off trail lakes up there, and now you've solved much of the mystery. I'm very much looking forward to returning, someday. Perhaps, the most memorable part of our trip was that as we reached the trail at the outlet of Soda canyon we ran into a guy who said he'd intermittently been wandering the Sierra since he graduated Cal in '59. It took me a while to do the arithmetic, but it meant he was either a genius or well over 70. Or, both. Either way, I hope to be so lucky.
Anyway, since I'm just starting to catch up on last year's TRs, this was a fabulous start!
cg