R04 TR: Silver Divide, September 2010

[richapple]

I received some good hints and advice from this forum while planning this trip, and I'm hoping there is no statute of limitations on posting a Trip Report. I'll keep it brief and basic here, though too many more words, photos, and even some Flash videos are at:

http://www.richapple.com/backpacking/silver_divide

Any drive out to Vermillion Valley Resort at Edison Lake is epic. As the good folks at Edison say, "It's like backpacking in your car." The Prius is not 4-wheel-drive by any means, but for squeezing by an oncoming SUV or truck on what's really a crazy-ass, winding, often blind-hairpinned sketchy single-lane mountain road, the little car and some slow driving did the trick.

12 days/11 nights, Monday, September 13th thru Friday, September 24th. Great weather with just a touch of hail hiking down from Goodale Pass Wednesday the 22nd.

Day 1: Devil's Graveyard trailhead heading for Goodale Pass, camped on small ridge just south of huge meadow just up the turn-off to Graveyard Lakes

Day 2: Graveyard Lakes junction to Goodale Pass and down to Lake of the Lone Indian

Goodale Pass looking southwest:


Papoose Lake w/ Evon Peak (12221 feet) upper right:


Day 3: LOTLI (not internet shorthand for some kind of laughter, but for Lake of the Lone Indian) to Wilber May Lake (that evening at Wilber May was when we saw the last humans for - wait for it - 8 full days!)

Day 4: Wilber May Lake to Peter Pande Lake

Peter Pande Lake at sunrise:


Day 5: Day hike to explore possible X-Country pass (called both Silver Fox Pass and Graveyard Lakes Pass, I think) for our eventual return. From what I've read here on these forums I'm going to guess that 90% of the members here would hike right over this without giving it a thought, but when I posted questions about the route ( viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5447 ), somehow I didn't figure out that the overall answer about this pass was that it is very doable if you are comfortable hiking on talus. I'll have to post a followup on that thread that we day-hiked into it a few hundred feet, but then both agreed that it would be just wonderful to see LOTLI again and maybe venture over to Chief and Squaw and so forth before hiking back out Goodale Pass. (We were glad we did for the overall trip.)

Tinker Bellde Lake (our name for it, it being the lakelet just east of Peter Pande and all):


View looking south to Silver Fox Pass (aka Graveyard Lakes Pass), and though steepness wasn't so much of an issue, the tendency to angle the camera up to the horizon probably makes it look even more gradual than it is:


Day 6: Day hike up to (and meandering around) Anne Lake

Day 7: Day hike back up to Anne, but then heading right down to Olive (well, to nice view looking down at Olive)

Olive Lake w/Red Slate Mt left/cntr - photo by Kanani (Julie's hula dancing given Hawaiian name):


Day 8: Back to LOTLI

Moonrise from Lake of the Lone Indian:


Day 9: Day hike to Chief and Squaw Lakes (both along the JMT, so expected to see humans, but...)

Southwest from Chief Lake - photo by Kanani:


Ritter Range from Chief Lake:


Day 10: LOTLI to Graveyard Lakes, a touch of hail along the way, camped at lowest, largest lake - same site where we camped at in 1998

Long day, pawdner? Kanani kicks back to recreate photo in her office from 1998 trip:


Day 11: Day hike to upper Graveyard Lakes

Tarn/Graveyard Lakes w/Mt. Hilgard/Mono Divide in distance:


Day 12: Graveyard Lakes out to Edison

Cowabunga...

[DoyleWDonehoo]

Nice picture of sunrise at PPL. That is an area where you could spend a year and never run out of photo opportunities. I also liked the photo of that last little level stretch of trail just before you get to Goodale Pass, where you know you have reached the top because above you all you see is sky. Hey, nice TR.

[maverick]

It is never to late to post a TR, especially to a great place like PPL area.
Thanks for taking the time to post it.

[slade]

richapple

Many thanks for the TR. Two of us plan a 5-day hike beginning June 28, going in over Duck Pass, visiting Duck and Purple Lakes on the way to Olive, Peter Pande and Wilber May Lakes, then taking the Goodale Pass and John Muir Trails to Tully Hole, and out over McGee Pass. But for all the snow this winter, your pictures would make me want to start today.

slade

[windknot]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the belated trip report! I enjoyed the pictures and report on your website, and I especially like your moniker for the little lake near Peter Pande. That lake, along with the other unnamed little lake in the drainage to the east, was one of the high points of my all-too-brief visit to the Minnow Creek basin last September. In fact, it looks like I was heading back down to the trailhead on the same day that you guys started up, so we just barely missed running into each other.

[slade]

Just changed our June 28 reservation for Duck Pass-Silver Divide lakes-McGee Pass to August 2. slade

[SweetSierra]

Just changed our June 28 reservation for Duck Pass-Silver Divide lakes-McGee Pass to August 2. slade

Last year a group of us did a 10-day trip in mid-August over Mono Pass to Pioneer Basin, down Mono Creek, up to Grinnel Lake, over Bighorn Pass and Shout-of-Relief Pass (Sierra High Route) and out McGee Pass. It was my first time over McGee Pass. There were a couple of snow chutes over the trail on the eastern side that no one had walked through. It was no problem to climb around these but this year there might be even more snow on that side. Just a heads up. We were surprised that the packers hadn't dug out the snow at these places. The chutes were steep and dropped down to the highest small lake. We had a dog and that made things even more tricky at these spots.

[slade]

SweetSierra - Thanks for the heads up. Rock Creek Pack Station beta on current McGee Pass conditions--crampons and skis a must--motivated me to delay. I'll be in touch with them again before going, and of course, be watching this discussion group.

Also, a major goal of the hike is to explore Olive, Minnie, Anne, Peter Pande and Wilber May Lakes, and across Graveyard Pass, the Graveyard Lakes. Crampons and ice axe are not a problem if needed, but am not sufficiently skilled (or motivated) for ski mountaineering. slade