A photo heavy trip report. We had a unique trip to Sabrina Basin this weekend. The smoke shrouded the Sierras from late afternoon through the night giving the mountains a unique and slightly eerie look. Although the smoke seemed to slightly bother our respiratory system by the third day, it was an interesting experience to see the normally crisp alpine air in a different perspective.
We had perfect weather the entire weekend, not too cold at night even up at 10,600'. We caught lots of brook trout in most of the lakes, especially Dingleberry and Moonlight Lakes, and we saw 3 gorgeous deer throughout the weekend.
We encountered no mosquitoes the entire trip, which was also a first!
Sabrina lake, looking a little drier than a couple years ago
Lunch at blue lake
Rocky switchbacks as the smoke starts to roll in
A fiery sunset over Dingleberry lake
The sky glowed orange and red for a solid 3 hours around sunset
Mornings were the nicest as sunrise brought clear skies
Nice report and photos. In spite of the smoke, a nice hike and good scenery can still be had up there as illustrated by your report. Nonetheless, breathing in all that smoke is a bit hard of the respiratory system. A few weeks ago I was hiking in that smoke for 5 days and was constantly coughing. Anyhow, thanks for posting that report. It is indeed a lot drier in Sabrina Basin than anytime in my memory as illustrated by the tiny bit of water going over Moonlight falls. I understand what you mean by the smoke giving things an eerie appearance. Yes it is a surreal sort of view at times. At other times, depending on what you're looking at and your sight lines, it can look like Mordor up there.
Thanks for your tr and photos. It's especially good to see what the conditions were like with the smoke (it didn't look too bad), water level (very low). . . and I like the idea of bringing a tube to float around the lakes:).
Thanks for the TR and pictures, to bad about the smoke, air quality has been pretty bad in the Bishop area, it sure was a lot better the last time you were their in 2013.
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer
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
