I took a quick day hike up Mt Langley this past weekend (9/19/2015). The weather was about as nice as it could get: high 40's when I left the trail head, blue skies, only very slight south-southwesterly breeze making sure the Rough fire smoke stayed clear.
I love driving up Lubkin Road in September through the fields of sunflowers. This year there aren't as many as prior years, but it's still nice. I dream of living in that little yellow house on the north side of the road.
- Lubkin Road
It was a quick hike to my first sighting of Mt Langley.
- Mt Langley
And then up to 4th Cottonwood Lake to make my way to (old) Army Pass.
- 4th Cottonwood Lake below (Old) Army Pass
The real treat on this trip was sighting sierra big horn sheep for the first time ever. When I'm in areas I know are home to big horn I always stop and look, but I've never seen them. This time it was pure luck that I spotted them. I was stopping to breath below a cairn near the summit and looked up and noticed something moving. My camera was handy so I snapped a few photos of 2 sheep that were crossing my path just ~50 meters away. They seemed unconcerned even though I was giddy from excitement and/or lack of oxygen.
- Bighorn Sheep below summit of Mt Langley (#1)
- Bighorn Sheep below summit of Mt Langley (#2)
The sighting was a real treat and the highlight of another spectacular day in the Sierras.
