Since I started planning my first trip to the Sierra's this past Spring I have relied on much content from HST to plan, tune and get inspiration for routes and areas to trek. I also have read many of the trip reports and found them to be of much value when looking at how trips have gone for other groups. In respect of that I have decided to post a trip report for my very first trip to the High Sierra's this past week, hoping it may provide the same type of inspiration and ideas that I have garnered from HST myself. Enjoy...
Day 1: Afternoon flight from Grand Rapids, MI to Las Vegas, we decided to drive through Death Vally National Park on our way out to Bishop, CA. The temps hit 123 degrees on our way, but it is a dry heat. Got to Parchers Resort around 9:30PM and it was final prep for the next day and off to sleep.
Day 2: Left South Lake Trailhead around 9AM, clouds were building early, but we only had about 10 minutes of light rain after we crested Bishop Pass, that would be the only rain we experienced for the week. Settled in for camp at night around a lake in lower Dusy Basin.
Day 3: Made our way down Bishop Pass trail to LeConte Canyon, this was very a very enjoyable trek as is was all down and no up, we would pay for this later when we reached the JMT and headed north up LeConte Canyon for an afternoon uphill grind. The bridge over the Dusy Branch on the Bishop Pass trail was still under construction with 4 steel beams crossing above the water. We settled in at camp near the Middle Fork of the Kings River a few miles short of Muir Pass. A coyote passed right above us on a large boulder while looking for our campsite, didn't have my phone on me to capture it.
Day 4: Made a short trek up to Helen Lake and setup camp early for the day. Spent the remainder of the day relaxing, taking a short trek up to Muir Pass and then up to Black Giant pass to get a view of the Ionian Basin. How grand it is. After some boulder hopping we made it back to camp for dinner and to throw some extras layers on as the sun disappeared and settled in for cold and windy night. We woke up at 4:30AM to do some stargazing as well as check out the Perseids meteor showers. It was a grand display of God's glory with little meteors streaking through the night sky, we caught glimpse of a real large one with a long tail.
Day 5: Back down the canyon to settle in at camp near the JMT and Bishop Pass trail intersection. Spent most of the afternoon relaxing and hanging near the river. We met a group of 10 Israelis who were headed up the Bishop Pass trail, they said their flight to Los Angeles was 15 hrs... just to experience the Sierra's!
Day 6: We were dreading heading up Bishop Pass Trail at the floor of the canyon as it was all up and no down, but a combination of an early morning start, sun behind the mountains and a slow and steady pace made it easy sledding. The bridge over the Dusy Branch was now complete, big props to the NPS crew that had to build that in one of the coolest jobsites I have ever seen. The old steel beams were laying off to the side of the trail and were bent from all the pressure when the bridge went out. Settled in for camp at night at a lake in upper Dusy Basin not too far from Bishop Pass. It was a grand evening watching the alpenglow on the Palisades and then the multiple colors the sky turns before it goes black. It makes perfect sense now why John Muir called this the Range of Light. Up again at 4:30AM for some more skygazing, not as many meteors as the other night. We turned the exposure on our iPhones to 10 seconds and got some great shots of the stars, mountains and lakes in the darkness of night.
Day 7: Slower start this morning and then headed up and over Bishop Pass, we made it to Bull Lake under Chocolate Peak and setup for our last night in the Sierra's. Took a few last pics, enjoyed the sunset, then the alpenglow, then off to bed.
Day 8: Short trek back to the trailhead and headed back to Vegas to catch our flight, went back through DVNP again, only 115 deg this time.
