R03/R04 TR: Pioneer Basin 6/15-6/18 2021

[Love the Sierra]

Hello High Sierra Friends,
Thanks to all of you who had taken the time to give advice about an easy SEKI trip with my daughter. So why did we end up in Pioneer Basin? At the last moment, that terrible heat wave was in the forecast and none of us do well in the heat. So, I figured we had better go to the highest elevation possible. It was a good choice, since, hot as it was for us, I estimate that we were still about 8-10 degrees cooler than we would have been in SEKI. My daughter had a mega-meltdown on the third day, our layover day, crying that it was too hard etc, etc. but we were still better off with cooler temperatures. Now that that drama is out of the way, on to the trip report.

The first day was hot and we had a hard time finding parking in crowded Mosquito Flat even though it was Tuesday morning. It was after 10:30am when we arrived, leaving Ventura at the crack of dawn and we didn't get parked and on the trail until almost noon. You had to just wait until someone left. There wasn't even parking at the pack station or overflow. It was hot but we made the lovely hike up to Trail Lake in slow but steady time. We found a comfortable camp site with nice views.

The next morning we left for a leisurely hike to Pioneer Basin. At the junction of the Mono Creek Trail, 4th Recess and Pioneer, we met a nice fellow who was 83 and on his way to Lake Edison. We had lunch together and enjoyed his stories about backpacking, ice climbing and flying as a combat pilot in three wars.

It must have been in the mid-70's and so we when we arrived at First Lake we were ready to drop packs and be done for the day. I scouted for a campsite and I found a nicely sheltered one, we made camp and then went exploring for a few hours without packs.

The next day was a layover day. We intended to climb the pass over High Lake for the views, but instead, only got as far as the 4th Lake. (Third on the map, but I believe it is wrong and there are 4) We had a grand time bouldering cross country all over the basin. We went to and explored around the circumference of every lake below tree line. There are a couple on the east side that are not on the main trail. The views are great from there. The clouds began to look threatening but no rain yet.

At night, I got up at about 1:30am to explore the lake in the starlight. I always like to get up and explore at least one night of every trip. The first two nights had been too cloudy to see anything. However, on this night, the stars were just MAGNIFICENT!!!! Also, there were some very low plants in the grass that were covered in dew and glowing as if they were phosphorescent!! It was amazing, they were as bright as runner lights on the ground, all over the meadow surrounding the lake. There was no moon so I have no idea what light they were reflecting, but they were bright! The mountains were coal black silhouettes around the lake. It was a stunningly beautiful night and my dog, Jasmine Rose, and I walked around the lake for about half an hour. We saw several lightening flashes in the south, those must have been the ones that started the Creek Fire now burning around Whitney Portal. At about 3:00am. it started raining on us and we got some lightening and thunder as well, but it passed by morning.

For our hard hike back up and over the pass, it was hot, humid and the clouds were still threatening. We did not want to encounter lightening over the exposed pass so we pushed as quickly as we could. However, my lungs are not what they used to be and it was slow going for me at that altitude. It began to rain when we stopped for lunch at Trail Lake so all cameras went into waterproof protection in the packs. It was sad not to have more pictures. Indeed, it rained all the way up and over the pass until we got to the switchbacks heading to Ruby. We were thankful there was no lightening. The wind gusts were so hard above tree line that one literally knocked me off of my feet but I caught my balance with my poles and didn't fall.

As with every trip, we were sad to leave so soon. However, my daughter had said that she could not have carried any more weight, ie food, so it was good that it had been only a 4 day trip. Also, I have a very sick dog at home, (Maybe some of you remember my Sunshine from other trip reports?) and I hate to leave her for long. However, we decided that if she was ok, we would car camp in the Alabamas that night and day hike to Chicken Spring Lake the next day to extend our trip.

Sadly that plan was foiled because, before he even reported on my Sunshine, my husband told us that the Alabamas were closed due to fires. When it was already dark, it was over 85 degrees in Bishop!! We had had enough of hiking in the heat and decided to head home.
Sorry that the images are out of chronological order. This TR took a long time and I just couldn't spend more time figuring out how to sort them.

[SSSdave]

As the forums place loving expert (: , if you return on some future trip, which lake and where about those other lakes would your group camp at? Note I already have a spot picked out from my 2013 trip 2 of us will soon tent at.

Most like 1st lake lookin south with the lush freshly rising green grass in mid afternoon. You felt the beauty and wanted to save the visual memory, well done. That is also called Mud Lake haha, not too inspiring name for such a beautiful timberline lake.

[Love the Sierra]

Considering the wild storm that last night, I would still choose mud lake. There may be some more scenic spots to camp within the trees on the north side of the lake, but you will be farther from water and bringing water back to camp might be a bother. We filled from the creek, not the lake and had a great water source as close as is legal. We were on the south side of the lake.
There may have been some spots around 2nd, but not nearly as big or sheltered as ours was. We were very happy with our choice. Only if I knew that we would have calm weather and I was really set on getting up the pass over high lakes would I camp at the highest timberline lake, 4th (or third on the map)
I know that a lot of folks do not care, but I prefer my trees and shelter when the weather gets rough.

[tlsharb]

Beautiful pics. Looks like a great trip.