High Sierra Topix

Thanks for identifying the birds. I tend to agree, now that I have looked up some photos of ptarmigans. I wonder how they know when to do the transition? Probably has something to do with the loss of daylight in the fall.

Thanks for sharing your adventure with all the great photos and thoughtful writeup.

Technically the route is from Duck Pass Trailhead, that is located in the Coldwater Campground. Sorry if that confused anyone. There also is an Emerald Lake trailhead nearby, and that trail eventually connects with the trail to Duck Pass.

Nice TR and your usual fine photo doc. I have never been over Duck Pass, but I was close to it on a piece of the High Route, where it climbs the ridge and drops down to Deer Lakes. I would love to camp at Deer Lakes, and then walk that ridge to the north with Lizzie. You wrote that you had been considering Deer lakes too-- did you consider dropping back down to your car from that ridge? It looks like before Mammoth Pass, there is another trail that could lead to Crystal Lake, and then cross country under Crystal Crag, and back to the trailhead from there.
Thanks for reminding us of these great places.

I thoroughly enjoyed your trip report, WD. I'm familiar with many parts (though not all) of the trip and it brought back pleasant memories and new longings.

Question: you said you messed up the descent into Izaak Walton Lake. When I camped at Cotton Lake I spent quite a bit of time looking for an easy route down to Izaak Walton, and while I could see Izaak Walton from above, I never did find anything that looked like a good route. From above, the best I could see was a very steep, forested slope and since I could not see the bottom, I did not want to explore it and possibly get cliffed out. Can you say anything more about what the best route down from Cotton to Izaak Walton actually is?

Harlen, the trail from Mammoth Crest to Crystal Lake is a good trail, although steep. I had planned just to hitch a ride back to my car. There probably is a trail. I have climbed on Crystal Crag - some really nice climbs. I think that if the shuttle bus is running you can take that back to Cold Creek TH.

Kpeter, A bit left of the little saddle/pass there are two steep gullies that you can go down. If you go over the pass too far to the right there are cliffs- avoid these. Starting at the proper place, facing downhill, the right gully looks like the best when viewed from the top. It starts out good but has a few hard spots near the mid-slope ledge. You have to go uphill, left a short distance, to get to the left gully which looks impossible, but soon becomes easier downward. I think the left gully is considered the correct route. Neither route is very obvious. But that is not where I messed up. Both end on a ledge, mid-slope, and you walk the ledge downward to the right before a sharp hairpin turn to the left (not obvious) on a very steep poor use-trail that soon gets better. It ends at the bottom several hundred feet upstream from the lake. I missed this turn and kept going right, which looks like the obvious route, but soon ended. The short drop to the lake was pretty miserable.

I recall a more obvious use-trail in the past. I am not sure why it was not distinct this year. The first time I did it, I was going up and do not recall any problems other than it was very steep. I've always thought it was easier to find going up than down.

Kpeter - when I hiked through this area in 1998, I just followed the stream down from Cotton Lake to Izaak Walton lake, staying on the south side. I don't recall any difficulties.

After dinner there was enough time to briefly walk up to the ridge to the northeast (of Hortense) where the sun still shone. On the map the ridge looks like one could walk it easily; in reality it is jumble of huge rocks, trees and brush. I looked over the cliffs down to Horse Heaven!

We climbed up to that ridge on our way back to Cotton Lake earlier in September, thinking we could contour around the other side of it. Nope, way too steep. So we passed along the ridge to the south all the way to the saddle below the peak, scrambling over and around all those huge blocks. From that saddle we made our way across the slope and down toward Isaak Walton.

We also saw a couple of ptarmigans at Isaak Walton. They weren't at that fuzzy stage yet, though.

Thank you for the great trip report. Hortense Lake is still somewhere I'd really like to see; I enjoyed your photos! Last year a friend and I were out there wandering the basin on a day hike from Tully Lake. I too have been wondering how you get down to Izaak Walton; thanks for sharing that information. On this particular trip I at least got up to a high point on the ridge above Fish Creek and got a nice view of Hortense Lake.