TR Minaret loop hike 8/20/17

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tie
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TR Minaret loop hike 8/20/17

Post by tie »

I got in to Mammoth Saturday night, and the weekend prospects looked ominous. Or rather, smelled ominous. But at Minaret Vista, it looked ominous. Smoke to the southwest. The skies were clearer a few miles north along the ridge, so I could only hope.


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Sunday morning, I drove down to Postpile and started up the enjoyable trail to Minaret Lake. The sky was clear! Dew steamed off a meadow. I waded a creek. Jogging a shallow climb up into the mountains is one of my favorite things. All anticipation. Literally all uphill! Before I knew it, I was on the final climb. It's longer than you expect, but then you are at Minaret Lake.


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Minaret Lake was a zoo. People camped everywhere. But very pretty. I scrambled higher up the rocks for the view, then hung out until the sun had crept over the foreground rocks. Then down, and onward.


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From Minaret Lake, it's an easy climb up to Volcanic Ridge, with no real route-finding needed.


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I ate my Clif bars at the top, and shot a panorama. A lower peak blocks some of the view of the Minarets; I'm not sure how hard that one is to top.


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Here's a link to a draggable version of the panorama.

I descended the north ridge, aiming to make a loop. This was a bit more stressful, since there were plenty of snowfields and I wasn't carrying technical gear. The rock terrain is easy. In the worst case, if snowfields blocked me, I could turn around (provided I didn't descend something dangerous!). This was a reason for taking the loop clockwise—but obviously one is reluctant to backtrack. I did make two or three wrong turns but never had to ascend more than 50 feet. And I only had to cross two or three snowfields, at fairly shallow angles before, finally, reaching the trail. Chasing it around the corner, the trail ended in a snowfield. :) No big deal, I went lower.


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Ediza Lake was quite pretty. And unusually, there was nobody there! The ice at Iceberg was blocking people from one direction and, apparently, a knocked-out log blocked some groups from the other direction. Even without the log, the creek crossing was trivial.


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WIth some regrets, I headed down. This is my least favorite part of a run. At Agnew Meadows, the shuttle arrived within 20 seconds and I was soon back to the car and off to South Lake/Dusy Basin.


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Wandering Daisy
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Re: TR Minaret loop hike 8/20/17

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Great photos! What camera are you using? Much more snow here than farther south; I was surprised to see Iceberg Lake still so frozen. What is the smaller lake in Photo #8? I used to run, but do not anymore. I aslo hated downhill running- it really beats up your knees.
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Re: TR Minaret loop hike 8/20/17

Post by maverick »

Nice trail run, impressed by all the snow still out there, especially around the smaller Minaret Lake and at the base of Riegelhuth.

Last time on that ridge above Minaret Lakes, from where you took your shot, an inconspicuous cloud came floating over the larger Minaret Lake around 8 am, a lightning bolt from the cloud hit the lake, followed by an extremely loud thunderclap, probably scared the heck out of the three guys still sleeping in their tent near the lake. I too was nervous since being on a high point and not knowing whether the cloud was going to head my way or towards Cecile Lake, the hail started to come down, took off down hill towards the lakes, about half way down there was a thunderclap emanating from the Cecile Lake, that was a close call.
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Re: TR Minaret loop hike 8/20/17

Post by amghaderi »

Nice! To clarify, for your descent you went down from Volcanic Ridge N/NW towards Ediza lake / Cabin Lake and intercepted the trail somewhere north of Iceberg Lake? That sounds really great if there are only a couple snowfields to deal with vs. the usual snowfield from Cecile to Iceberg. Would you mind pointing out (more or less) the route you took on a map? Is it all pretty much class 2?

Thanks!
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tie
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Re: TR Minaret loop hike 8/20/17

Post by tie »

Thanks, Daisy and Maverick. I don't think that lake has a particular name, maybe just one of the "Minaret Lakes."

amghaderi, sorry I wasn't clear. There are two photos above that show the trail from Cecile to Iceberg; it definitely looks snowy. From this angle you can't see it, but other recent trip reports have shown lots of snow along the east side of Iceberg. (There is also snow along Cecile, but I think you can climb around it.)

Here are screenshots of my route, from Minaret Lake at the bottom to Volcanic Ridge to Ediza Lake at the top. The descent N from Volcanic Ridge is less steep than the ascent from the S. And it was all class 2. Just the routefinding was trickier, to avoid the snow. I always try to avoid snow.

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Re: TR Minaret loop hike 8/20/17

Post by amghaderi »

Thanks so much!
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Re: TR Minaret loop hike 8/20/17

Post by Jimr »

A friend of mine was there today and posted this on his FB page. One of those click and drag panoramas of Iceberg Lake.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater
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Re: TR Minaret loop hike 8/20/17

Post by maverick »

That is pretty cool! Looks like Iceberg Lake is not going to thaw out completely this season.
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I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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Re: TR Minaret loop hike 8/20/17

Post by kpeter »

Gorgeous camera work!
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Re: TR Minaret loop hike 8/20/17

Post by juscro »

thanks for that trip report. I'm going up there mid sep. I love that panoramic photo!
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