I have a core group of friends of whom I’ve been sharing the mountains, mostly the Sierra, for over thirty years. We try and slip in as many trips as we can while managing all of our other obligations. This year I picked up a permit for Mono Pass out of Rock Creek. Many years we arrive at the ranger station midweek and snag a permit. But I put in for one a couple of months early. It makes pre-planning more fun and interesting.
Day 1 7/6
After picking up our permit, we ate at Jacks in Bishop. Kind of a walk down memory lane. I can remember going there as a Boy Scout in the 70’s. We then headed up to Mosquito Flat. It was living up to its reputation as we stepped out of the car we were swarmed. I’d say it was a “4” on the mosquito scale. We bailed down to the Rock Creek Lake campground. Much better “2”.
Day 2 7/7
After driving back to Mosquito Flat, we started up the trail to Mono Pass around 8:30. Not a big deal, just a steady 2000 foot slog from 10000 to 12000 feet. Though we were all in ok shape, we’ve learned to go slow and enjoy, especially the first day out. The views up Little Lakes Valley were spectacular. It brought back memories of climbing Mt. Abbot and Bear Creek Spire, as well as many other trips. Our original goal had been to drop down to the vicinity of Fourth Recess Lake and camp along the stream away from the crowds. When we arrived at Trail Lake there were no bugs and no people, so we opted to stay there. Well the bugs stayed away, but three other groups ended up camping there. It’s a large area so it wasn’t too intrusive. The lake was full of small brook trout, as is often the case. After catching a number of them , My friend Eric and I put our rods aside and just enjoyed the beauty of the spot.
Day 3 7/8
After weighing our options we decide to leave a camp at Trail Lake and day hike into Pioneer Basin. Its a thousand feet down and another thousand up into the Basin. This proved to be a good plan as we ended up spending 8 hours day hiking into the Basin and back. What a beautiful place! The meadows afternoon we did the climb back to our camp to finish a very satisfying day of hiking. A quick bath, a bit of hooch, and a good meal finished off the day.
Day 4 7/9
Here we had a bit of a dilemma, none of us were particularly keen on descending down to Fourth Recess Lake again, but we still had a day and a half left. We decide to move camp somewhere over the Pass towards the trailhead. So we packed up and made our way back to Mono Pass. Eric and I had become a bit intrigued with Half Moon Pass, which we had seen form the campground at Rock Creek Lake. This pass leads to Golden Lake. So when we arrived at the first saddle, we wandered over to the edge to have a look and see if there was a route from Golden Lake to the pass. It looked doable. An adventurous day trip might be to leave Rock Creek and ascend Half Moon Pass, fish the lake, then return over Mono Pass.
As we made our way to Mono pass Eric decided to climb Mt. Starr. None of us were particularly interested, so we waited for him at the junction for Ruby Lake. He managed to get the peak done in 2 and half hours. We then faced another dilemma. We wanted to make camp in the vicinity of Ruby Lake, but we didn’t have bear canisters which were required. After some consideration we decide to walk out to the car and camp in a campground. Alas most of the campgrounds were full. We finally found a site only to have mosquito issues again. I looked around and said “let’s go home”. Everyone agreed. We got back to the City around one am.
All in all a good trip. It keeps me wanting to stay in shape and enjoy the beautiful mountains with my good friends
PS A bit of technical difficulty with pictures...
