R03/R04 TR: LL Valley Circle- Mono Pass, Gabbot, Cox Col, 6/26 - 6/30/2022

[looks easy from here]

now know for sure that the wilderness permits do indeed preclude mixing areas,

How do you know that for sure? My understanding has always been that TH quotas put some limitations on the direction of travel/order of visitation (e.g. you couldn't have gone straight up LLV to Cox Col day 1 with a Mono Pass permit), but never that they've prevented visitation of an area (with the exception of the Whitney zone).

[tahoefoothills]

So, if they gave awards for best trip reports, I think you would win first place. Your reports always have a theme, they are organized, the photos are excellent, they are educational, and they are entertaining. Obviously, it takes some effort to put these things together and it shows. You have a real talent in this area.

[sekihiker]

Great report, especially the photos. Great fish. The 20 incher was amazing. Who needs scale? It's the proportions that count.

[Wandering Daisy]

Nice report. I really like Mills Creek, but I have missed the trail up to it once. It sounds like all the use from the SHR has made the former faint come-and-go trail easier to find.

I descended the regular Cox Col (never knew it had a name) after climbing a technical route on Bear Creek Spire. It did not seem that bad. We did the lower part in the dark, and that was a bit challenging.

As for "legality", unless your permit wording specifically says you could not do your route, my understanding is that only the first day is critical- you can go about as you please the rest of the trip. You came out the same trailhead, so sounds fine to me. Obviously, there were not hordes of people on Mills Creek as it was a bit too early for the SHR crowd.

Nice fat Goldens! You had a lot more success than I did my last trip. I love to eat fish- I may have to go with you on a trip since you seem to catch more than you and Bearzy can eat!

[Gazelle]

i have come down cox col…did not enjoy especially compared to a nice almost fun and friendly north col, but it is quicker if coming off of bear creek spire!

[Harlen]

Bill wrote:

Great fish. The 20 incher was amazing. Who needs scale? It's the proportions that count.

With a scale I'd be sunk. In my case, it's the proportion of B.S. that counts-- the fish was 14-ish. I measure by the olde "hand-span" method, ie., from tip of my thumb to tip of my little finger = 9." If a fish is bigger, I just note how many inches beyond the 9" span. This time 2 of my 5 fish were 1' over, 2 were 2"over, and the big one was about 4 inches over.
So even my "14ish" is dubious, but it's a more credible exaggeration than 20" would've been.

Thanks for the nice comments though.

[Harlen]

looks easy from here wrote:

How do you know that for sure? My understanding has always been that TH quotas put some limitations on the direction of travel/order of visitation (e.g. you couldn't have gone straight up LLV to Cox Col day 1 with a Mono Pass permit), but never that they've prevented visitation of an area (with the exception of the Whitney zone).

Well, I sure hope you and Daisy are right. I thought the representative I spoke with on the phone to finalize the Permit (was he NF, or Rec.gov?) was saying that our Permit was for the Mono Pass, and Mono Creek areas to the west, but that we could not visit LLV on that Mono Pass Permit. The more I think about-- thanks to your query, the more I hope I was mistaken, and the guy was only speaking about on the way in. That makes better sense. Of course, we often end up miles away from our entry points. Thanks for helping to clarify this point. [I will add a retraction in my Post.]

[windknot]

Thanks for the fantastic report and photos! Great success fishing, too. Thanks for sharing!

[oddtiger]

Ian I walked back to car 9pm yesterday and logged 26.4mi. Indeed it was quite some effort! First day was 6:30am to 6pm all the way to the upper lake, and second day was 1:45pm to 9pm back via north col and LLV. I am very impressed Bearzy can do it! Thank you for the TR with the latest condition. I left my crampons in the car last after seeing the pictures.

oddtiger wrote:

Nice! I'm actually driving up to do this loop tomorrow but have to compact it to 2 days. Would love to see the condition on the Cox col!

That sounds like quite an effort. I suppose if you got an early start from LLV, you might make it to the Mills Creek Lakes area in one long day. We didn't start till 3 PM. It would help you acclimatize too, since you could sleep at a lower elevation lower in Mills Creek. Are you doing our same route Oddtiger? It isn't many miles is it? I added in our day hiking miles, plus our short deviation to explore 4th Recess Lake too-- so it might be less than 25 miles. Sounds like too very fine days-- Great luck!, Ian.

[erutan]

It's a nice loop.

North Cox Col is just called North Col, at least in Secor and when I've heard people talk about it.

Honestly not a fan of people with off leash dogs in the wilderness - there's a reason why your Inyo permit says your pet must be under control (6 foot leash at all times). Aside from the environmental impacts (running through redds in inlet pools, having marmots and pikas stop their foraging, etc) the only "animal attack" I've had in the Sierra was from an off-leash dog in Granite Park.

A couple just off the trail had a medium sized black and white dog which ran up barking to me, then started snarling and lunging at me - I used my trekking poles to keep it at bay which caused it to circle around to my side and flank me. I was considering using my trekking poles more aggressively (going for a stab to the throat) but the owner finally ran over and grabbed it by the collar. They asked if I was ok, but were aggressive that it was their right to have an off leash dog in the wilderness.

I've also had two instances where a dog was a minute or so ahead of it's owners and stood in front of me growling with it's fur up and then someone coming up and insisting their dog is friendly - and had dog owners laugh when their dog tries to run and take food I'm eating, forcing me to stand eating up.

There's a minority of people that grab their dogs collar on the side of the trail, or legitimately have them under voice control, but I have no way of knowing who those people are.