SSSdave wrote:59.jpg "Mt. Gabb from Laurel Creek" sb Recess Peak. They have somewhat similar shapes from the north. The ridge in front across the canyon is 11,661. The point sticking up right of Recess is peak 12188.
62.jpg "Mt. Izaak Walton & Red and White Peak from Laurel Lake." Beautiful lake reflection well done! That meadow zone at 11,170 feet has been near the top my list for several years as a location to base camp at as the view you captured is one of the best peak perspectives in the Sierra though you are the first person I've seen with a picture of it. Most groups going north are too intent on reaching Grinnel or Laurel Lakes where the peak views are not as impressive. That is not Mt Izaak Walton which is far out of view left and a peak two of us climbed from a camp at Bighorn Lake in 1994. That is the no name peak 12200+ northeast of Bighorn Lake that we call The White Crags that presents a beautiful view from Mott Lake. At these cross hairs:
70.jpg "Lower Mills Creek Lake." sb Lower Mills Creek below the lake
As you found, it is a superb location to catch late light on the towering avalanche chutes of the ridge east. And also there are some small ponds nearby to catch dusk color west.
I went through the last several days of your trip quickly just looking at images and will need to read it when I have some time. So you didn't bring enough food. Your weight was adequate per day and 23 pounds of food is quite a load. Obviously you could not fit that in canisters. I hate the anti Ursack policy in the National Parks when traveling in remote timberline areas.
Over the years I've met quite a few people in the backcountry that didn't bring much food, especially snack food. Not a few only carry the minimum freeze dried dinners and a pitiful few snack bars. We would croak on such a meager diet. I'm a small thin wiry old guy. Strenuous hiking makes me really hungry. We tend to bring more food than we ever eat, especially snack food, candy, and rich stuff we almost never eat at home. I just packed today for a 5 day 4 night trip starting this Thursday to Dusy Basin. My food weight is about 6.7#, the Garcia is fully stuffed, and I'm going to add something on the drive up like a fresh turkey sandwich from Subway I'll eat for lunch on the way to the pass and probably some sweet rolls fron Vons.
Thanks for reading the trip report. It was a challenge to condense it into a read-able format and I appreciate you taking the time to read it closely enough to recognize the correct peaks.
The outlet of Lower Mills Creek Lake is among my favorites. I could take a few days just swimming around those ponds and creeks.
In looking back my average daily food weight was around 25 ozs, this is slightly below my usual 26-28 ozs. I lost about 1 lb/day. I remember taking out 7 ProBars when re-packing at Reds, which was essentially removing 370 cal/day from the last week. I can live like that for up to 10 days, but at around 18 days I started to really feel the deficiency. Drinking the sulfur-water from the Emerald Pools may have caused some problems too.
At 6.7 lbs for 4.5 days your food weight is around 23 ozs/day, plus the turkey sandwich and some rolls, which may get you up to 26-27 ozs/day. That sounds about right. I will be interested to hear how it went, and of course see your photos!
Ballpeen wrote:Incredible trip! We were also captivated by those emerald pools earlier this summer. Probably my favorite swim spot of all time. I noticed the bottom of the creek was bleached white for its whole length in that basin. Similar to photos I have seen of nearby White Fork. Does anyone know the cause?
Thanks Ballpeen!
After seeing the large rust colored seam on the ridge at the headwaters I assumed it was sulfur, but maybe there is something else at work on those rocks. It might be worth going back there next summer to spend more time fishing etc.
balzaccom wrote:"62.jpg "Mt. Izaak Walton & Red and White Peak from Laurel Lake." Beautiful lake reflection well done! That meadow zone at 11,170 feet has been near the top my list for several years as a location to base camp at as the view you captured is one of the best peak perspectives in the Sierra though you are the first person I've seen with a picture of it. Most groups going north are too intent on reaching Grinnel or Laurel Lakes where the peak views are not as impressive."
We camped there are few years ago over 4th of July weekend, when the lakes themselves were frozen over, and the route to the lakes was a mess because of an avalanche.
Wow! What a trip. I followed along each day you described with caltopo.com and the high sierra maps of the passes. The pictures are incredible. Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to share with so much detail! I'll probably be reading this again in Jan/Feb '17 about the time Spring seems eons away.
Ballpeen wrote:Incredible trip! We were also captivated by those emerald pools earlier this summer. Probably my favorite swim spot of all time. I noticed the bottom of the creek was bleached white for its whole length in that basin. Similar to photos I have seen of nearby White Fork. Does anyone know the cause?
Thanks Ballpeen!
After seeing the large rust colored seam on the ridge at the headwaters I assumed it was sulfur, but maybe there is something else at work on those rocks. It might be worth going back there next summer to spend more time fishing etc.
I agree that rust colored erosional feature is the likely source. Not sure what is happening beyond that though. That area is definitely worth spending time in, but I didn't see any fish, or much other life in the water for that matter.
Got some service in Bishop so I figured I'd weigh in on the white color of the stream bed. The likely source as I understand it is a carbonated spring. Carbonated springs contain carbonic acid which will dissolve any time of carbonate and specifically a lime. The rocks that contain such things are types of limestones. Now, the whiteness won't dissolve out easily without a catalyst.... And that's the iron from any rust colored looking rock.
Fascinating geological processes still at work.
In terms of food... I honestly am not sure how much food I carry in terms of weight but I know I eat about 1500-1700 calories a day. That's considered to be more or less POW rations by probably most people. But... Somehow I make it. By Day 14 of a section I definitely am starting to struggle a bit. But after a ressuply of eating real food for a few days I can go back to eating the usual nonsense.
Never put off a backpacking trip for tomorrow, if you can do it today...
Alpine Mike-
cloudlesssky wrote:Wow! What a trip. I followed along each day you described with caltopo.com and the high sierra maps of the passes. The pictures are incredible. Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to share with so much detail! I'll probably be reading this again in Jan/Feb '17 about the time Spring seems eons away.
Thanks cloudlesssky! I usually start digging through old trip reports around the same time each year
