TR: Halfmoon Pass-Cox(ish?) Col loop, 10/10-12/23

[Sam R]

Greetings! Two last nights presented themselves as fair game, and I took the bait. Harlen's Little Lakes loop from last year furnished part of the inspiration for the route. I managed to hang onto my map this time.

An Indigenous People's Day tip of my cap to the Owens Valley Northern Paiute, who have been here a long time.

I tried off-trail Halfmoon Pass to see if it would expedite me, relative to the Mono Pass trail, to the Second Recess. I'm not sure how much time I actually saved, but I did like Golden Lake.

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Usually I try to get above the trees and stay there. This time I went back down to the woods for the rest of the day--on purpose! But it wasn't all bad.

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I made for Mount Abbott till headlamp time, and called it a day.

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The next morning's agenda called for oatmeal at Lower Mills Creek Lake. Steve Roper seems to have thought well of this one. I was not prepared to argue the point.

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In what must have been the spring of 1995, my dad took me to an outdoor expo at the Berkeley REI. We met a guy named Phil Arnot, with very blue eyes under prodigious white eyebrows--he had to have been 70 by then--smiling benignly but making no attempt to get our attention from behind a card table with a flyer on it about trips to the High Sierra. Neither of us had been backpacking before, but my dad, to my enduringly pleasant surprise, suggested we give it a shot. We followed Phil for 9 days that June through northern Yosemite--witnessing Waterwheel Falls at its deafening post-El-Nino peak--and did three more trips with him over the next three summers. What with Phil's alpine savvy and wry, understated presence, we couldn't have asked for a better guide. To be leading trips past threescore and ten! (He more or less poured milk on a bowl of Advil for breakfast, but no matter.) He wrote a book, The High Sierra, one of the chapters of which describes his special fondness for Upper Mills Creek Lake. Phil is dead now, but I took a moment to think of him in this, one of his favorite places in the world.

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After Gabbott Pass, I went down and back up and made the little dogleg at upper left:

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I'm not quite sure if I then went over Cox Col, the reputedly preferable North Col, or somewhere in between. The notch I went through (circled in blue) was lower than I expected it to be, and lower than Harlen's route, I think. Can anyone enlighten me? At any rate, someone had recently gone ahead of me and left heel-punched boot tracks in the snow, tracks that had since frozen solid and made a little staircase in places, so I didn't have too much trouble on the descent.

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[Sam R]

The next morning I had to give Dade Lake a few good whacks with a rock to get through to water.

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The map made it look like a hop and a skip back to the parking lot, but there turned out to be mucho talus. Should've figured, in such a high north-facing basin. Still, I was out & down to Lee Vining for lunch.

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All in all, a lovely loop, but doing it in a little over two days may have been a little much. Maybe I'll learn, someday.

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[giantbrookie]

Super cool 4-day off trail route. Upper Mills Creek L. was a Phil Arnot favorite? I'll have to reread his book. It is certainly one of the more beautiful places in the off trail Sierra. Regarding Cox-es-ist-nicht, as I like to call it, the easiest route isn't through a low point but it exploits the gentlest topography on both sides (including the east side) to head over the rounded high point (at 13120+) north of all of those notches. Accordingly, it is a crossing of a ridge but not really a col, pass, or notch, because it is in fact a high point. I have crossed there on three different trips in 1986, 2015, and 2020 and found it quite mellow class 2 on both sides.

[Sam R]

Right over the top, huh? Roger that!

[Harlen]

Great trip Sam R! I too love that whole area you hiked through. I'm glad you found your way over Halfmoon to Golden Lake; I had a lot of trouble finding that pass. It looks like you hit the Aspen trees in full color.

I wonder, did you freeze at night? How cold was it? Did you see anyone after you headed up 2nd Recess Sam?
Thanks for the trip report and the fine photos in it.

[Sam R]

Ian, it was frigid. I lay awake most of the night because I was too cold to fall asleep, even though I was wearing all my clothes inside my sleeping bag. That was a first for me. I don't know the temperature, but the rock I used to break the ice at Dade Lake was about as big as I could hold in one hand, and it didn't go through the first, or second, or even the third time.

The aspens were funny--there were a couple nice moments, but for the most part they seemed to be going from green to brown. I'm trying to remember what that means--it hadn't been dry or cold enough at night? The only sustained yellow patch I saw was along 395 at that spot--somewhere beside northern Yosemite, I forget where--where everyone pulls over to take pictures.

Second Recess was just me & the pikas.

[Harlen]

Sam R wrote:

...it was frigid. I lay awake most of the night because I was too cold to fall asleep, even though I was wearing all my clothes inside my sleeping bag. That was a first for me.

That sounds awful Sam. I think it should be the first, and only time that happens to you. I (and others here)recommend the Western Mountaineering 5 degree down bag. I think it's the one called the "Antelope." Here's a link:
https://www.westernmountaineering.com/s ... telope-mf/

It's light-- right around 3 lbs., and roomy enough to add warm layers on sub-zero nights. I wonder what your bag is rated for Sam? And what are you rated for? I put on weight in the wintertime, which may help. Drink more beer.

[RiseToADry]

Heck of a trip, Sam. I can't imagine doing this in 2 days, you are a stud.

Like you, I found Mills Creek to be such a special place, I'm trying to find my way back there next year. I too went over Gabbot and Cox/North Col and went over nearly the same notch that you circled. I hiked up to the low point before continuing along the ridge, peaking over every 200ft or so until the down climb looked appealing enough for someone afraid of heights.

You were lucky that most of the hike down to Dade was covered in snow.... It was 100% talus from Gem Lakes up to the Col when I did it. Way too tedious for me.

[Sam R]

Thanks for the tip, Ian. Maybe a tent instead of a tarp next time, too.

Also: excellent idea. (Do they make dehydrated beer yet?)

Risetoadry, I can't imagine doing it in 2 days again. Oof. Glad you made it through the heights & talus.

[Harlen]

Hey Sam R, I just revisited this great trip of yours. I hadn't realized that you performed this feat in just 2 days?! That fact may make the following one moot, but I think "dehydrated beer" could be coming into our future-- would that slow you down Sam? You asked the old question about dehydrated beer; check this out: "Beer Powder is great for making beer chili, beer battered fish fry seasoning, and adding a beer flavor to any other dish."
I just googled "powdered beer" and got a wide range of powdery beer products, including the words quoted above.

I'm afraid they are mostly about either beer cooking stuff, or powdered beer to be then laboriously made into the much-admired fluid. Well why not? Does one simply add water? Isn't there water enough in the Sierra-- even if you need Sam's fist-sized rocks to break into it? Where's giantbrookie when we need him? Isn't he semi-famous as a homebrewer?
If it's too time or heat-consuming to set up to brew beer in the backcountry, what about frying beer-flavored trout then?

Anyhow, I mainly wanted the congratulate on your burly trip. Cheers, Ian.