TR Lakes of the Eastern Silver Divide via McGee Creek

[cgundersen]

TR: Lakes of the Eastern Silver Divide Via McGee Creek

It’s a rare Sierra trip that follows our plans, and this one found my wife and me recalibrating on a daily basis. The substantive concerns were to try to stay away from bugs (ie., stay HIGH, stay breezy) and to be off exposed ridges by midday, which is when we got hit by raucous thunderstorms the first 4 days. Given these exigencies, we managed the following lollipop route that I’ll embellish with a few additional ruminations and some choice photos my wife captured with her new camera: we hit the McGee trailhead on July 15th and there were only 9 vehicles in the lot (a couple day-hikers arrived as we packed up). Given the dearth of available permits, we’d expected far more cars, but it did bode well for future solitude. The first day was an unending procession of flies and mosquitoes the likes of which we’d not seen in years. Avoiding bugs became our mantra the rest of the trip. We camped above Big McGee Lake (close to the waterfall), and got set up just as a light rain turned heavier. This theme was repeated the next several days as we headed over McGee Pass (yes, the sky pilots were in full blossom) and parked in upper Fish Creek valley with views down to Tully Lake (and its myriad buddies). From then on, it was hop a ridge and stop to camp above Bighorn, Rosy Finch and Grinnell Lakes. We took one of my old favorites (Grinnell-Hopkins ridge) to get into Hopkins basin and settled near the tarn on the northeast rim of Hopkins. The next day it was the well-worn use trail down Hopkins pass and a last night above Little McGee Lake. Smoke from the Oak fire intruded that evening, so we were in a dense haze on exit day.

Camping high: I know that Giantbrookie has sung the praises of getting away from lakeside campsites, and we kind of took his admonition to another level. With one exception, our campsites were at least 100 ft above the various lakes we’d targeted and this helped minimize visits from winged furies. It also gave us a different perspective of the lakes and wonderful view corridors as the sun set (rose).

Flowers and bugs: Some of the best flower blooms in the Sierra coincide with peak bug season, so if you want to enjoy the flowers, well, you better be ready for the mosquitoes. We had taken 3 day hikes in Bishop basin before starting this trip, and the low bug count had lulled us into thinking we might escape the worst of these beasties. Day 1 dispelled that notion, and we made the necessary changes to our route to stay high. At the same time, we ran into some amazing flower displays. I’ve been in Hopkins basin at least 5 times but never during July and never at the peak of the lupine display. It was sensational. Every meadow we crossed was painted blue-purple with lupine and sweetly scented to boot. These crazy flowers persisted in their dwarf form all the way up to the ridgeline overlooking McGee Lake. What a treat! Columbine were going strong in several areas, and paintbrush, which I typically see earlier were dominant in a few meadow/rock gardens. Heather (pink and white) was everywhere. Monkeyflowers signaled copious water. Penstemon at McGee pass. It was quite the show!


The off-trail passes: We were reminded that Rohn Pass and Shout-of-Relief are a couple of the gentlest off-trail passes in the Sierra. The only risk in ascending/descending is that you get distracted looking at the scenery and bump into something. The ridge from Rosy Finch to Grinnell/Laurel basin was marginally more demanding (I’m not sure why it’s labeled Bighorn Pass in the HST off trails compendium, but maybe those critters moved there from the lake?), but still a low-risk venture. In contrast, Grinnell-Hopkins ridge is a workout. We climbed mostly on the left face of the broad ascent path, and it had looser rocks/gravel than I remember. Nothing was terribly surly, but we were still pretty pleased to hit the ridge and take a break to enjoy the amazing views from up there. As we started down the Hopkins side, we noticed a bunch of guys who had reached the little lake below us and were stripping down for a plunge; we left them in peace, but would meet the next morning at Hopkins pass.


Where did everyone go? We chose the McGee trailhead, because most other (popular) entry locales were booked solid, and we nabbed the last two wilderness permit slots for McGee. Still, in spite of the fact that gobs of parties should have preceded us up the McGee trail (since it was booked solid several days prior to our entry), and more should have arrived the day we did, the trailhead parking lot was nearly empty. Three groups were heading out as we headed in, so this implied that we were not going to be running into crowds on or off the trail. And that’s exactly what happened. We got going early on day two and were passed by a guy heading to climb Red Slate, but otherwise we ran into just one other couple before leaving the trail in the upper Fish Creek drainage. My wife has always been reluctant to go backpacking in July/August because of anticipated crowds, so this turned out fine for her. Still, we both got the distinct feeling that a large number of folk are reserving permits, but not using them. While this may be fine for those seeking peace and quiet, it definitely makes it harder for others to get a chance to visit the mountains. In our case, it meant that from the time we left the McGee pass trail on day 2, till we saw those gents below Grinnell-Hopkins ridge, we encountered only one other party (two women) on their way to Mott Lake over Rohn Pass. So much for the theory that the entire Sierra is crawling with backpackers in July and August. That said, the guys we’d seen at a distance below Grinnell-Hopkins ridge preceded us up to Hopkins pass and were enjoying the view when we arrived the next morning. We had a delightful half-hour chat (mostly about hopping the ridge from Grinnell) before they hit the trail to hike out. Yes, we got one more night in the Sierra, but they missed the Oak fire smoke that blew in overnight.

The night sky: as denizens of LA, it’s great to see the night sky in its glory; at the same time, we spend lots of idle minutes waiting for a shooting star to streak across the sky. These days, it’s mostly airplanes. On this trip, it was almost exclusively planes. We saw one meteor….. I think we need to go back during August’s Perseid showers and try again.

Animals: On past trips in this area, we’ve regularly seen/heard coyotes, but aside from one brief, plaintive screech, we struck out. No sign of deer or bears (the animals or their scat; we occasionally saw old deer poo, but not much). But yes, there were marmots, plenty of ground squirrels and loads of trout feeding at Grinnell Lake (but not at most other lakes). A magnificent golden eagle strafed us one afternoon, but the real treat was finally seeing one of the bald eagles that have begun to (re-)inhabit the Sierra. Ian Harlen has had some great eagle photos, so I’ll post one too to add to the collection.

Geology: For me, a highlight of the McGee area is the contrasting color of the rocks (and the metallic clink when you’re pounding the trail up to the pass). Some areas are dominated by the classical silver/grey of Sierra granite. But then you get the reds and whites of Red Slate and Red & White mountain and their surrounding peaks as well as exposed faces that are ominously black. Some even have bizarre markings like giant petroglyphs. Contrasting this palette with hanging meadows, precariously perched pines and flower displays creates a magical environment. Cannot wait to return!


Cameron

[balzaccom]

Nice bald eagle!

We had a similar experience in terms of crowds, in that we saw two groups at McGee Lake, and just about nobody else. But you did far more than we did. And we did struggle with those pesky thunderstorms.

We're big fans of camping up on the ridge, away from lakes and in the breeze--at least in July.

And yes, those red and white mountains are something else!

[wildhiker]

Nice report and photos! I did one trip to the Silver Divide - McGee Pass area in August 1998 and thought it was quite enchanting. Oh, and we saw very few people. My experience in the Sierra is that you get a lot of solitude if you just get off the JMT and main connecting trails. I also agree that people must be reserving permits but then not using them.
-Phil

[windknot]

Thanks for the report and photos! This is a striking area. I wanted to do a similar loop a couple of years ago but ended up only having 4 days so ended up just retracing my steps and going over Hopkins Pass and McGee Pass twice each (sort of a "tree" route instead of a lollipop, since the ends of the "branches" didn't end up connecting). It would have been much more interesting to do your route, but I didn't have time and wasn't sure how I'd feel doing that Grinnell-Hopkins Ridge east to west while solo.

Your report is also a good reminder that I need to do a better job of camping high during mosquito season -- better views and fewer bugs in exchange for longer water carries.

[SSSdave]

Like your late morning perspective "Grinnell Lake from Grinnell-Hopkins ridge" that also includes Red Slate and Bloody Mountain. I have unfinished future work to do base camping in the Laural Creek basin since my early August 2017 turned out to be too snowy and stormy.

Your "Pond with Red Slate" shows despite reasonable numbers of wildflowers this summer you noted, shows how dry those areas are. Those grasses around that pond sometimes are covered with white heather, cassiope mertensiana, and asters. The lupine, Lobb's lupine, lupinus lepidus var. lobbii, have a narrow window of peak blooming.

[robertseeburger]

Great report and photos..always fun to see an eagle too.
Amazing to me you did this loop in 4 days..

Can you elaborate on the route you took from Grinnell to Hopkins..going over Grinnell/Hopkins ridge? I think I can see
the route from the photo of Grinnell Lake, and I have scoped this in trip planning, but didnt know if was relatively easily doable..and I haven't seen a trip report on it.

I really would like to do this route soon!
Thanks Cameron.

[cgundersen]

Hi Paul, Phil, Windknot, Dave and Robert,

Y'All are mighty quick; I was going to post another cache of photos, but got lazy last night. So, thanks for the heads up regarding the flowers (we're more accustomed to shooting stars and paintbrush in early season, so the copious lupine and heathers were welcome!). And for Robert, I'll include a separate blurb regarding Grinnell-Hopkins ridge, but there will be a couple relevant shots below. Cheers, Cameron

Bighorn from Rohn pass.jpg

Evening above Bighorn.jpg

Rosy Finch from Shout-of-Relief.jpg

campsite above Rosy Finch.jpg

Grinnell basin.jpg

Grinnell-Hopkins ridge.jpg

[cgundersen]

For Robert re: Grinnell-Hopkins ridge

The 5th and 6th photos (above) provide the long-range and a closer view of the passage between Grinnell and Hopkins (the first saddle on the right in the upper photo). As you can tell, it's mostly just a long, relatively steep, sand and gravel slog from lake level to the ridge. Rocks-boulders-snow punctuate the climb and though we found the climbing easier on the snow (less slippage and great traction on the snow), that last snow field was too steep for us and a bit icy. Also, in contrast to prior times over this ridge, we hugged left more than right (and I think this was simply because we'd been climbing the snow), and this led us to crest the ridge a bit higher than usual, but it's no big deal. As I noted before, we felt that the surface was more slippy-slidey than in the past and we dislodged more rocks than previously. Again, unless you're very cavalier, there's little danger other than the potential for minor bruises or a brief slide. And do carry some water, because it's likely to take longer than expected and it can be hot and dry.

The descent into Hopkins basin is almost in the snooze category, because there are ample stretches that you can "slalom" in gravel. I've only gone the opposite direction once (from Hopkins to Grinnell) and it's reminiscent of ascending Sawtooth pass in Mineral King: you slide down one step for every two you go up. Once you get down to the meadows, if you're heading toward Hopkins pass, the inclination is to track left (northward), but doing so will land you in a zone with ample opportunities to cliff out or wind up in tall willow clusters. The best bet is to cut a straight track down to the valley floor and lean right (to the south) whenever the opportunity presents. The well-used use trail in the valley will get you back up (or down) very efficiently. And right now, it's a cornucopia of lupine. Cameron

[robertseeburger]

Thanks Cameron..
very helpful.
I had always looked at Grinnell Col and decided it was not doable for me.
Now I see your route and understand.. and this looks doable, although very steep.
I have this now as a route to be done in the back of my brain...

[cgundersen]

Hi Robert,

I'm confident from the routes you've highlighted in past TRs that the G-H ridge would be well within your comfort range. And like you, I've repeatedly looked at Grinnell col and commented to myself that I'd only risk that route if I were in a desperate hurry. It looks equally sketchy from both sides. Either way, it sure is nice to have a way between the two basins without having to go all the way down to Mono creek (especially, in bug season). Cameron