R08/R02 TR: Virginia Lakes > Matterhorn Canyon, July 2-6 2021

[jeremiahkim]

I had been looking forward to this trip for two main reasons: 1) it would be our first jaunt into the Sierra this year and 2) it would be our first time in northern Yosemite. I was a little anxious about holiday crowds and parking at the trailhead but we found Virginia Lakes even quieter than other eastside entry points and once beyond Summit Lake, we only encountered a handful of parties, mostly in and around the PCT.

Overall, it was a wonderful introduction to the northern canyons. I loved the red volcanic rock that's characteristic of this area and found the canyons to be extremely pleasant. It's curious how each trip in the Sierra can stir feelings that are both deeply familiar and also new.

Day 1
We hit the trail right around noon after an early departure from Southern California and a breakfast stop in Lone Pine. I found the Virginia Lakes TH very accessible, both logistically from the 395 and as an avenue to get into the good stuff.

Climbing above Blue Lake

The outlet of Summit Lake

After lunch at a surprisingly quiet Summit (we heard one other party there), we made our way down to Virginia Canyon before heading north up towards Return Lake. A late afternoon shower encouraged us to stop short of our goal of Return Lake and we camped at the base of the ascent, which provided a great view of the upper canyon.

Upper Virginia Canyon

Day 2
We climbed up to Return Lake and up toward Stanton Pass. The ascent was pretty straight forward but once at the top I realized I should have paid closer attention to Roper's caution of choosing the descent line carefully. After a false start and retracing our steps, we made it down to Spiller Canyon just as the afternoon storm kicked in. Initially we were targeting getting up over Matterhorn today, but decided to make camp in the upper canyon and enjoy an easier day.

A look up at Stanton Pass

Carefully picking our way down Stanton Pass

Contemplating the Whorl

After the storm. Matterhorn Peak obscured by clouds.

Day 3
Because of our shortened day yesterday, we decided to travel down Matterhorn Canyon instead up pushing up to Burro Pass. Perhaps because it was "plan B" I wasn't prepared for how lovely I would find it, especially the upper and middle sections of the canyon. After negotiating Matterhorn Pass, we had a wonderful afternoon walking down the canyon before making camp just above the PCT junction.

Final pitch up to Matterhorn Pass

Upper Matterhorn Canyon

Descending Matterhorn Canyon

Day 4
We climbed out of Matterhorn Canyon via the PCT and after a quick dip in Miller Lake, we stopped for lunch a bit of fishing at the PCT/Return Creek junction. Our original itinerary had us visiting some lakes a few canyons over but I settled for an hour or so of wandering up Return Creek pestering 6-8 in rainbows.

Return Creek rainbows

We hiked on to Summit Lake where we made camp.

Day 5
Having to drive back to San Diego, we hit the trail early and made it to our car by 11am. We passed more people (both day hikers and backpackers) than we did in our four previous days combined. It was the type of crowd I was expecting on the first day and I was glad to be on our way out. After an obligatory stop at Whoa Nellie Deli, we made it back to San Diego by 7pm.

Descending from Summit Pass

[cgundersen]

Hi Jeremiah,
Looks like you guys threaded the needle in getting to some delightful camping spots and avoiding the crowds. I get nervous driving to the Sierra from LA, so I can hardly imagine adding another couple hours to/from SD, but obviously it's worth it. And, the bonus of Whoa Nellie! Great job & thanks for the TR! Cameron

PS. How'd you get the fish to pose?

[windknot]

Thanks for the report! Sounds like a great trip and you got to avoid the holiday crowds to boot! Thanks for sharing.

[Harlen]

Great trip!

[Harlen]

Jeremiah! You make light of going over Matterhorn Pass; was it easy to find the right way? I really like the photos: "After the storm...," and "Final pitch up to Matterhorn Pass."

From the pictures, it looks like you were in surprisingly green country. It looks beautiful, but were you plagued by mosquitos? Did you see any Bears? Thanks for the inspiration to get back in there.

[sekihiker]

Thanks for sharing your trip. I'm really impressed by the fish photo.

[ExploreABitMore]

Thanks for sharing, great trip!

I was trying to figure a way to squeeze Matterhorn Canyon into a recent trip of my own, but it just wasn't looking feasible.

Your photos convinced me I need to get back with the specific goal of visiting that canyon!

Cheers

[jeremiahkim]

PS. How'd you get the fish to pose?

Thanks for sharing your trip. I'm really impressed by the fish photo.

My "secret" is that I finally pulled the trigger on a GoPro and shot with a high enough resolution to pull photos from it. I downsized them for the board but I have been pretty happy with the general quality of the stills.

Great trip Jeremiah! You make light of going over Matterhorn Pass; was it easy to find the right way? From the pictures, it looks like you were in surprisingly green country. It looks beautiful, but were you plagued by mosquitos? Did you see any Bears? Thanks for the inspiration to get back in there.

Thanks! Matterhorn Pass was an effort but not too bad until the last pitch. Lots of ramps and granite to follow up. The last section was more of making sure that our line would go before fully committing to it but it was the most obvious one from where we were standing.

The canyons were really verdant and pleasant, although it was dry enough to miss what I would imagine would have been some really spectacular wildflower blooms. The mosquitoes were plentiful in a spots, but definitely not the worst I've been in. Mostly around the outlet of Return Lake and down in the middle stretch of Matterhorn Canyon.

[giantbrookie]

Nice trip and photos. I like the off trail backpacking photos in particular, no doubt because I enjoy off trail backpacking so much. The underwater trout photo is indeed amazing.

[erutan]

If anyone wants to continue a high traverse between canyons here's something else to consider.

On the spur of the moment in '15 (I spent a lot of time in NE yosemite and environs in 13-15) I decided to hop over to Big Meadow Canyon after seeing it from the dome near Tallulah lake in the evening, then see if I could wiggle into Matterhorn from that recess of Slide. Easy on the west side, the east side was traversing up canyon as much as I could to where it mellowed out enough to safely drop, some wriggling with elevation lines but nothing terrible.