High Sierra Topix

Great photos and report. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the nice report and great photos.

Flamingo wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 1:08 pm . . . Also, I don't usually evangelize places in the Sierra, but I would vote for a trip to Return L rather than Evelyn L. This was my first visit to Upper Virginia Canyon, and it's immediately in my shortlist of heavenly Sierra places that can be accessed in <1 day of hiking.

I agree that Upper Virginia Canyon is really beautiful. In fact, I may go back there myself this summer. It's even easier to access if you start at the Virginia Lakes trailhead, which is closer and higher. After passing Summit Lake, don't go all the way down the trail to the junction with the use trail back up Upper Virginia Canyon - just contour over cross-country at about 9800 feet elevation.

-Phil

absolutely stunning views! THanks for sharing!

Flamingo wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 1:08 pm @giantbrookie -- Thanks for your note about Virginia. I'm curious about that SE route. I know that Bob Burd took a similar approach (link), and I'm wondering if its the same thing you're talking about?
. . . Also, I don't usually evangelize places in the Sierra, but I would vote for a trip to Return L rather than Evelyn L. This was my first visit to Upper Virginia Canyon, and it's immediately in my shortlist of heavenly Sierra places that can be accessed in <1 day of hiking. The park-like setting, huge vistas, and delicate meadows... I could easily imagine chilling there all day in my hammock. You could make a nice loop trip, exit via Summit Lake and Hoover Lakes.

The Bob Burd route is east of the chute I took (ie my route is to the left of theirs on the photo). To avoid potentially crummy scree in the bottom part of the chute I stayed west-ish (left) of my target slot until I traversed sideways into it through a scenic notch. I don't like the descriptions of loose class 3 on the Bob Burd route, so I'm glad I didn't got that way. The much more limited class 3 on my route (smidge more than 50') was pretty solid except for the "swing across" move that sketched my bro out. Ian (Harlen) recently did a route on Virginia Pk that is closer the Burd route but Ian's route clearly pushed into class 4 territory as you can see by looking at his photos.

Regarding Evelyn et al. vs Return et al. vs a certain golden trout lake in Hoover W. (my three choices for Aug 4-5/6), as you can guess the first targeting criteria is fishing. Evelyn et al. gets the nod because I've never been there. Return is 2nd because I was there in 2001 but didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted plus there is another lake I'd hit on my way back to the trailhead (small detour) that probably has bigger fish than when I last visited it (late 1990s) owing to cessation of air drops. The golden lake remains an attractive option because of its track record of quality, although I was there relatively recently (in 2019 and 2020). As far as scenery goes between the three locations, I put the Return/Virginia area well above the other two options but fishing is the primary prioritizer unless I decide to extend this to a two-night trip (ie Aug 4-6) in which case I think I'd opt for Virginia/Return so I could use the layover day to go up Twin Peaks.