High Sierra Topix

Did a 7 night lollipop out of Lyell Canyon, crossing Russell Pass west of Mt. Maclure, into Hutchings Creek and Lyell Fork, and then over into Bench Canyon and North Fork San Joaquin, returning to Lyell via Lost Lakes. Some of the most beautiful sierra scenery I've seen, tons of flowers strangely at peak bloom, butterflies, frogs, and bees everywhere, waterfalls pounding. Still some frozen lakes above 11k - what a year it's been! Next year's snowpack is already started

Weather was still and cloudless for 5 days, until morning at Twin Island Lakes. A chill day in N Fork San Joaquin was thwarted by 30 mph winds, with worse in the forecast, and we had that nasty, loose mess Clinch staring down at us - god was it gusty up there. With some seemingly random rockslides and luck, we got up and over and were able to get some wind shelter below Rodgers Lakes. The next day the gusts pushed us over Lost Lakes Pass back into a relatively calm Lyell, where we would pack up the next morning suddenly soaked with a classic Tuolumne Wet Kiss Goodbye. Oh what a trip it's been!


Maclure Lake, Russell Pass right of center


On the way up


Mt Florence on the SW side


Looking back at Russell Pass, the dark reddish rocks near top center are the ticket


Another shot of the same


Hutchings, Sluggo top left


Crossing into Lyell Fork. Foerster Ridge in the top right - you can see the hanging valley below in half shadow


Highest lakes Lyell Fork


Headed up Foerster Ridge (it's possible to avoid the snow here if you want), Sluggo in the distance


Above Blue Lake, the finest view from any lake


Bench Canyon is awesome


North Fork San Joaquin


N Fork San Joaquin


Clinch Pass, just right of the buttress sticking up in the center


The best rock of the whole damn thing


Clinch N side (there's a long snowfield below this that would be difficult to avoid), Lost Lakes far right


Going up to Lost Lakes Pass we stayed close to Koip Crest, and managed a beautiful, mellow ascent with many scenes like this


Lost Lakes Pass


The view!

Big Tubs,

Wow, spectacular! That corner of Yosemite is pretty lightly traveled, but holds a bunch of amazing gems. The stunning view of the Minarets-Ritter-Banner from Blue Lakes is hard to beat. The long lake beneath Ansel Adams peak is glorious. Bench canyon introduced me to some of the most fragrant lupine I ever encountered. And there are those painful passes. I've not done Russell, but the last time I was at Maclure Lake, a group of 5 folk had just come down from the pass and had some bloodied shins to show for their trouble. And my last time over Clinch, I nearly got blown off the ridge. It must sit in a wind tunnel. What a great trip! Cameron

Thanks, Cameron.

It seems like Clinch just doesn't want to sit still! Bench Canyon is so lush it's hard to believe, and you remind me we had a weird smell of bubblegum underfoot descending from Lost Lakes. Descending Russell wasn't too bad - there were only a couple loose spots, but I was very happy I wasn't going up.

I love your "Above Blue Lake" photo with the rising moon. Serene.

Thanks for the report! These are terrific photos.

This is a really nice off trail route through rather overlooked but visually spectacular country. I've hiked over much of this territory but didn't do it in one trip (a lot of southern part on a 1994 and then some of the northern part in 2014). I think the views on the west side of the Ritter Range are seriously underrated (see your Blue Lake view), and in contrast to the eastern side, you get the fabulous view in solitude. Part of the reason for the lack of travelers in this region is that it is in fact far from a trail, but I think another reason is that many of these trailless drainages lack trout, so they don't draw folks in search of exotic hard-to-reach fishing. Your photos bring back fond memories of this region as well as highlighting the epic snowpack: My trips to these areas were in July of the two years above and I encountered way less snow than you did in late August through the beginning of September! The view from the top of Foerster is also pretty unique in the very very long sight lines and what you can see from there (including all the way west to Mt Diablo, in fact!).

Outstanding! Wonderful photos. Thank you for sharing.

I'm curious what your traction setup was for the snowbound northeast slope of Russell Pass? I've been using Kahtoola's K10 hiking crampons for a few years now and while they work, I wouldn't mind something with less "slop" in the fit.

I think we didn't see any fish except for a few in upper Bench Canyon and N Fork, and that view from Foerster is immense... rounding the ridge to see Harriet Lake is like coming upon a luxury resort.

FeetFirst,
We both used Petzl's aluminum Leopard crampons. In my experience, I need to tighten them at least once after walking a bit, so I start early, but they stay tight and secure. That said, they dull quickly on any amount of rock, and I haven't used them on ice, but for that what we were doing on this trip they worked great. I've tried them with low-cut boots in the "alternative" lacing method they say is for trail-runners or approach shoes and it was pure slop in the toe and unusable, but with mid-cut boots and the standard lacing, they don't move much at all.

Thanks, BigTubs! The Petzl Leopards are on my short list.