TR: Mono Pass to Pioneer Basin and Fourth Recess, July 20-23
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2022 8:38 pm
Trail Report: Mono Pass to Pioneer Basin and Fourth Recess, July 20-23, 2022
Purpose of the Trip:
After much advice and many adjustments, this trip was going to be for my daughter and me to introduce her boyfriend to backpacking. It also was going to be redemption for last year—my daughter and I set out for Mono Pass a year ago, but a massive hailstorm stopped us and we wound up reversing to Little Lakes Valley. So I looked forward to this trip with great anticipation and solicited wonderful advice from this board.
As it turns out, my daughter was sent to a conference in DC the week before the trip and returned with a positive COVID test. So the trip became a solo affair (I had no contact with her), leaving me somewhat worried for her health (though I stayed in touch via satellite device), and lonely. It definitely put a damper on the enjoyment. Then, on midnight of the fourth day, the smoke rolled up Mono Creek from the new Oak Fire that began the day before. So the trip was neither as joyful nor as long as I had hoped. Nevertheless, there are some truly impressive sights to see in the area.
Even allowing for my mood, I found the effort/reward ratio a little lower than I had anticipated. Mono Pass is a high pass and one which makes you trudge a long ways through a hemmed-in rocky canyon to get to the vistas. And unlike Piute, Bishop, or Kearsarge passes (to name only a few) you wind up coming down the other side of Mono even a little lower than the trailhead. Yes, Fourth Recess Lake is 100 feet lower than Mosquito Pass trailhead. So leaving is every bit as strenuous as arriving.
Day 0
I drove to Mammoth, moteled to acclimate a bit, and took a dayhike to help the process.
Day 1
I drove to the Mosquito Flat trailhead and was walking on the trail at 5:45 am, one of my favorite times to be out. The climb to the Ruby Lake turnoff went surprisingly well. At that intersection I paused to put on sunblock and was approached by a gentleman—by appearance even older than me—off on a dayhike to fish Golden Lake for golden trout. He stopped, peeled a hardboiled egg for his breakfast, and we chatted. An inspiration.
The trail then began a set of switchbacks up a relatively barren hillside before beginning a long traverse high above Ruby Lake. I enjoyed looking down on Ruby—the emergency destination for my daughter and me last year when the storms moved in. Then the trail dog-legged right and headed through the long, narrow Mono Pass. The pass is laid out like all the recesses—in fact it could be considered the Fifth Recess I think. That means that to go from the east side to the west side you need to walk a couple of miles from south to north, with piles of rock blocking both the east and the west sides of the canyon. I met several people who use the pass to summit Mount Starr on the east. The trail led me through stark terrain, with Summit Lake and the gravelly parking-lot around it particularly bleak. The trail then begins down in earnest, switch backing down to Trail Lakes, which seemed quite nice but not photogenic. This is not even the halfway point to the bottom, however, as the trail undertakes another set of switchbacks to descend to Golden Creek and yet more downhill to get down to the Pioneer/Fourth Recess intersections.
For some reason, this day I was motivated to keep trudging, and so I vowed to get up to Pioneer Basin on my first day in. I had not paid enough attention to the maps. Having ascended 1900ish to get to Mono Pass, now I needed to reclaim 800 feet I had lost to get back up to Pioneer Basin. Somehow I did it, making it up to the first lake above “Mud Lake” about 10 hours after I set off. The trail from the intersection to Mud Lake was fairly normal, while the trail from Mud Lake up to the higher lake was straight up the side of the hill, with almost no switchbacks. I also discovered I was following a pack train and was once again amazed (though I should have needed no more proof) of just where mules can actually go.
With the expansive camp at the outlet end taken by the horsepackers (and some very nice people I met later,) I found a camp on the east side, sheltered and hidden by some rocks and trees. This was my base for two nights.
Purpose of the Trip:
After much advice and many adjustments, this trip was going to be for my daughter and me to introduce her boyfriend to backpacking. It also was going to be redemption for last year—my daughter and I set out for Mono Pass a year ago, but a massive hailstorm stopped us and we wound up reversing to Little Lakes Valley. So I looked forward to this trip with great anticipation and solicited wonderful advice from this board.
As it turns out, my daughter was sent to a conference in DC the week before the trip and returned with a positive COVID test. So the trip became a solo affair (I had no contact with her), leaving me somewhat worried for her health (though I stayed in touch via satellite device), and lonely. It definitely put a damper on the enjoyment. Then, on midnight of the fourth day, the smoke rolled up Mono Creek from the new Oak Fire that began the day before. So the trip was neither as joyful nor as long as I had hoped. Nevertheless, there are some truly impressive sights to see in the area.
Even allowing for my mood, I found the effort/reward ratio a little lower than I had anticipated. Mono Pass is a high pass and one which makes you trudge a long ways through a hemmed-in rocky canyon to get to the vistas. And unlike Piute, Bishop, or Kearsarge passes (to name only a few) you wind up coming down the other side of Mono even a little lower than the trailhead. Yes, Fourth Recess Lake is 100 feet lower than Mosquito Pass trailhead. So leaving is every bit as strenuous as arriving.
Day 0
I drove to Mammoth, moteled to acclimate a bit, and took a dayhike to help the process.
Day 1
I drove to the Mosquito Flat trailhead and was walking on the trail at 5:45 am, one of my favorite times to be out. The climb to the Ruby Lake turnoff went surprisingly well. At that intersection I paused to put on sunblock and was approached by a gentleman—by appearance even older than me—off on a dayhike to fish Golden Lake for golden trout. He stopped, peeled a hardboiled egg for his breakfast, and we chatted. An inspiration.
The trail then began a set of switchbacks up a relatively barren hillside before beginning a long traverse high above Ruby Lake. I enjoyed looking down on Ruby—the emergency destination for my daughter and me last year when the storms moved in. Then the trail dog-legged right and headed through the long, narrow Mono Pass. The pass is laid out like all the recesses—in fact it could be considered the Fifth Recess I think. That means that to go from the east side to the west side you need to walk a couple of miles from south to north, with piles of rock blocking both the east and the west sides of the canyon. I met several people who use the pass to summit Mount Starr on the east. The trail led me through stark terrain, with Summit Lake and the gravelly parking-lot around it particularly bleak. The trail then begins down in earnest, switch backing down to Trail Lakes, which seemed quite nice but not photogenic. This is not even the halfway point to the bottom, however, as the trail undertakes another set of switchbacks to descend to Golden Creek and yet more downhill to get down to the Pioneer/Fourth Recess intersections.
For some reason, this day I was motivated to keep trudging, and so I vowed to get up to Pioneer Basin on my first day in. I had not paid enough attention to the maps. Having ascended 1900ish to get to Mono Pass, now I needed to reclaim 800 feet I had lost to get back up to Pioneer Basin. Somehow I did it, making it up to the first lake above “Mud Lake” about 10 hours after I set off. The trail from the intersection to Mud Lake was fairly normal, while the trail from Mud Lake up to the higher lake was straight up the side of the hill, with almost no switchbacks. I also discovered I was following a pack train and was once again amazed (though I should have needed no more proof) of just where mules can actually go.
With the expansive camp at the outlet end taken by the horsepackers (and some very nice people I met later,) I found a camp on the east side, sheltered and hidden by some rocks and trees. This was my base for two nights.