High Sierra Topix

Every year I embark on a backpack with my extended family, typically in August or Aug/Sept. Usually 9 days, with some variations. The August timeframe tends to fit our various schedules, plus it minimizes our encounters with mosquitos (and unfortunately wildflowers as well).
Anyway this year I had a window of time of free time in June, and of course it’s a low snow year. And I’ve been contemplating a route that some of my family would not be interested in. Thus this solo adventure.
My planned route was as follows: Begin at the Big Pine trailhead. Brainerd Lake or so (I’ve never been to Brainerd Lake), then over the tall ridge to the east to Birch Lake (never been there), then south over Birch Creek Pass (never been there) to the lakes above the JMT & Palisade Lake basin (never been there), west & north over Cirque or Chimney Pass to the lake at the head of Glacier Creek (been there as a lunch stop on the standard Dusy to Palisade cross-country traverse, liked it a lot), over Scimitar Pass (never been there) to Elinore Lake (never been there) and back to the trailhead. My window to complete was six days. Ambitious.
As it happens, I’ve still never been to most of these places.

In the map below, the purple is my planned route. Orange is actual, as described following: Day 1
I got off to a late start – began hiking from the Big Pine trailhead at ~1:00pm. Weather reports called for chilly & windy weather the first 2 days of my hike… then supposed to turn balmy. Chilly & windy was OK with me – still worried about mosquitos. Along the low country trail, looking back north/down towards the trailhead

The trail into the South Fork drainage is well-defined until it gets uphill from (south of) Willow Lake, then it splits in various directions and is ‘unmaintained’. I passed and occasionally chatted with a number of folks on this trail, some intending to climb or at least approach Middle Palisade, also many folks hiking with their dogs. It was getting late-ish, I was a bit knackered and I came to fork in the vague trail to Brainerd – either down into a brushy area or on up a ridge. Rather than choose a direction I chose to crash on the spot… would leave that decision to morning.

Day 2
I was hiking by 6am. I chose to go up the ridge… this route took me around the brush, across a talus slope and spit me out on a ridge above Brainerd Lake. I needed to get to the other side of Brainerd, so descended and crossed the outlet stream. There I noted a trail coming up from below – likely this was the way I would’ve come if I had chosen to dive into the brush. Would’ve saved time I’m sure.

I wasn’t impressed with Brainerd, as Sierra lakes over 10,000 ft go. Set in a little bowl, such that the only camp spots are near the outlet. A fair amount of brush in the potential camping area and on this day pretty crowded with campers.
Brainerd Lake from the ridge to its West

Up the hillslope on the east side of Brainerd. Over a small ridge into the next valley – pretty meadows, a stream still crusted with ice in the morning. I filled up with water and began the serious attack of the SFBigPine-to-Birch ridge.
Valley East of Brainerd, looking south towards the Thumb
Looking East at the Ridgeline leading towards Birch Lake

The contour map and observation suggested that the main ascension of this ridge is via a long 2000-vertical-foot incline – nothing too scary. There is a short & steep slope to get to the bottom of this incline though. I angled NE to get to the bottom of this slope. There was talus, and some rock outcrops to work between, and then scree with intermingled pine brush that provided branches to grab onto and pull myself up the scree. Done – now to begin the long incline.
From the Incline, looking North
From the Incline - view West to Middle Palisade & Norman Clyde Peak
View NW - Mt Sill on the left horizon, Contact Pass to the right

There’s not much to tell here. I spent all afternoon walking up this hill. All on rocks… sometimes smaller rocks imbedded in the ground, other times small or medium-sized talus. There were false summits of course, i.e., I thought I was nearing the top only to see another ridgeline further up – that’s to be expected. But as the afternoon went on such unrealized expectations got more discouraging. Finally it was 5:00, the next ridge was a ½-hour away, and (even if that ridge was the top) I still had a 2000-ft descent to Birch Lake. I had to abort, both my attempt to get to Birch and my planned loop as a whole.

The thing is that I’m just Too Dang Slow. I’ve never been a fast hiker. Right now I have ankle issues on one side and a perpetually sore knee on the other. These affect my balance, and also my willingness to hop across small or medium-sized gaps. I use my hiking poles liberally to help with balance, but in such cross-country terrain it means that I have to choose spots to put down 4 appendages instead of 2. Which takes time. All my body parts (with the possible exception of one ACL) have been in use 7 decades now, so there’s no guarantee that it’ll get better.

But enough Whining.
I retreated back down the slope a few hundred feet to a saddle. This saddle had a few things going for it as a campsite: A flat-ish area that could be used for sleeping, a nearby snowbank as a water source, and incredible views to the east in one direction (looking over Owens Valley & the White Mtns) and to the west (Palisades!). A strong and chilly wind was blowing through, but Hey! – no chance of mosquitos. I slept well.
Descending to my saddle campspot, water source to the right
Sunset looking east from saddle campspot

[Continued ---]

[Continued from previous - ]

Day 3 Sunrise looking west from Saddle

If I had allowed a couple more days to do my planned loop, I could’ve continued over the ridge to Birch Lake on this day.
I headed back down the long incline. My water bottle was full when I began at the saddle, but emptied as I descended, and water became a concern as I went on. It was a 4-hr jaunt for me to reach the creek in the meadow below.

As noted earlier, I hadn’t been impressed with Brainerd Lake. But from high on the ridge I could see another lake above Brainerd that looked much more appealing – more space around the lake, less brush, better views of the lake and over the basin. So that lake (‘Upper Brainerd’ I called it) was my target for the day. It took less than an hour to get there from the meadow area – I had a nice camp set up by 3. Relaxed, checked out the lake. I felt a little aimless with my trip’s Purpose curtailed. And sadly I discovered that I had left my Kindle on and the battery had run out, so reading wasn’t an option.

Day 4
Feeling rested, and inspired to explore this basin in my remaining time. Mosquitos have not been an issue. The Elinore Lake area seemed like the obvious place to go.
Leaving Upper Brainerd

There’s steep cliffs to the NW of my little lake, dropping down into Brainerd Lake. I traverse directly west above these cliffs, along granite ledges, over talus and onto & down the ridge that overlooks Finger Lake. Finger Lake is very attractive. There’s numerous campspots near the mouth of the lake, presumably it’s a popular staging spot for climbing in the Palisades. There’s an obvious use trail north from here down the ridge and I follow it. When I get to the approximate elevation of Brainerd Lake I leave the ‘trail’ and start to look for a way west to cross the creek from Finger Lake so that I can continue to head west towards Elinore. The crossing is not trivial – the creek is down in a small gorge, there’s lots of brush in the gorge, and the creek is running high. I find a way down, through the brush, across on rocks and back up out of the gorge.
Finger Lake creek crossing

Continuing NW takes me through a forest, across a talus slope and up onto a knoll overlooking confluence of the two major branches of the watercourse in this part of the basin.
Looking back east to the Birch Lake ridge

The confluence below me is a marsh, and even though I’m up on the dry ridge the mosquitos swarm me here. Now I’m hiking south up this ridge and trying to get away from the bugs, and I’m hiking faster than I have all of this trip. I drop down into the ravine of the creek that drains the area NE of Scimitar Pass, and with a cool breeze here the mosquitos are less. Move upstream in the ravine, walking on the edge of a snowbank that fills it, then cross the stream on rocks. Between here and Elinore Lake is some steep ground, with rock faces interspersed with ledges. I work up the slope. Mosquitos are intermittent here, but as I top out on the ridge they swarm again. Elinore Lake sits in a wide rocky basin. Campsite opportunities appear to be limited - primarily on the NE side of the lake where there’s soil and trees. I try to find an exposed place to camp to minimize the bugs, but there’s no wind and not much relief. Dinner, dusk and finally the mosquitos retire.

Day 5
I’m awake a fair amount during the night, and much of my thought revolves around what to do during the upcoming day. I assume that the bugs will continue to swarm – at least between here and Willow Lake – is there a place where I might camp between here and there on my way out on Day 6? There are some dry exposed knolls downstream that might work. And I could spend some time in the morning circling Elinore and exploring this basin a little before hiking down.

In the early morning I note that I can’t see the stars. And I wake up at one point to see a unique sunrise, with the rising sun in a narrow slot between the eastern horizon and a solid layer of clouds. The next time I awake I look to the Palisade peaks and see obvious rain up there, and heading my way. All previous plans are scrapped. I pack quickly and start down, following the outlet stream where there are occasional ducks and signs of a use trail. The precipitation arrives – at various times is drizzling rain, snow showers, and hail between dry spells. Mosquitos are minimal, only appearing during breaks in the precip.

Continue downhill, generally following the use trail. The peaks are impressive-looking enveloped in the clouds/rain above. I pass the pond/marsh at the confluence of the major watercourses and climb up onto the knolls that are above/south of the stream.
Pond at the confluence, precip on the peaks. Elinore is over the near ridge to the right.
One more look at the 'Birch Lake ridge'. Blue is my approx route.

It does seem that these knolls are exposed and with good views – a promising area to find a campspot. But setting up camp in the rain isn’t appealing. And it’s only late morning, I have no functioning Kindle and there’s no obvious exploration opportunities nearby. I decide to cut my trip short by a day and head for the trailhead. This will make for a long day given my slow pace.
And one more look at the Crest. Scimitar Pass is left center, Elinore over the ridge right foreground.

The rain turns steady. I have to cross a series of creeks – one originating in a marshy area to my south, one coming from Finger Lake and one from Brainerd. It seems like every watercourse or wet area in this basin is enclosed in a string or field of willow brush – makes for a challenge in cross-country travel. At the Finger Lake creek I have to search for a break in the brush, then end up fording the creek at said break. I keep my water shoes on to walk on to the Brainerd creek and ford that as well. Soon after I find the maintained trail and turn north. Past Willow Lake, down the switchbacks. The rain stops and it gets partly sunny. And a little humid. On to the trailhead, there at ~5:30. I stay at the nearby campground overnight, then to Bishop in the morning and away.

A few Notes:
On my way out on Day 5 I met two (separate) hikers on the switchbacks about 2 miles from the trailhead. These were the first people that I saw since passing occupied campsites at Brainerd Lake early in the morning of Day 2. For some reason there wasn’t a crowd on the way up the Birch Lake ridge – must’ve been the chilly weather.

In my Sierra treks, I’m increasingly discouraged and sad about the slime-green algae growth that proliferates every stream and lake nowadays. Interestingly I saw NO such growth in the water in the SF Big Pine basin – every stream and lake was clear (once you got to it past the willow). If one subscribes to the theory that the slime is at least partly a result of ag & emission pollution blowing up from the Central Valley, then it would make sense that a basin on the east side of the Sierra crest would be less likely to be infested.

Eric J

Thanks for the detailed report and great photos! What a creative planned route -- even though you weren't able to complete it, I'm glad you still had a great trip. I've eyed that ridge between the SF Big Pine Creek drainage and Birch Lake on the topo to see if it would work to connect Birch as part of a longer route. Yours is the first report I've seen of someone actually attempting it, and confirms what I suspected -- lots of rocks.

Thanks for the TR. This is quite an adventure. The algae might not do well in glacier-fed water. It's cooler and definitely less contaminated. Sadly it's so dry this year due to the 3-year drought in a row.

bulaklakan,

Like windknot, I am very impressed by the route you had planned. It seems you made the very best of a tough situation, and I'll bet the views from your high camp on the ridge made the trip well worthwhile. Impressive photos, and your self-deprecating humor is a delight, though we can see through it and get a sense of what an accomplished hiker you are. That route of yours!!!

I have one question for you-- how do you explain this statement:

...All my body parts (with the possible exception of one ACL) have been in use 7 decades now, so there’s no guarantee that it’ll get better.

How did that ACL get left out of the action?

Great report! Thanks.

I used Elinore Lake as a base camp for climbing Mt Sill, late season. It gets plenty of sun when the sun is low on the horizon, whereas the standard base camp at Sam Mack Meadow is cold and in shadows late season. The "price" you pay for sunshine is a tricky off-trail route with a lot of boulders to hop and a bit of brush. There is a trail to Sam Mack Meadow. Also base camped at Finger Lake to climb Middle Palisade. Other than climbers, you do not see many backpackers at the head of this drainage.

I remember the post you had on getting information for this route. In my opinion, the upper basin on the west side is not that scenic and can easier be reached from the PCT above Palisade Creek, so perhaps you did not miss much, except the disappointment one gets from not being able to complete a planned route.

Thanks for the nice report.

bulaklakan wrote: ↑Mon Jul 11, 2022 4:52 pm In my Sierra treks, I’m increasingly discouraged and sad about the slime-green algae growth that proliferates every stream and lake nowadays. Interestingly I saw NO such growth in the water in the SF Big Pine basin – every stream and lake was clear (once you got to it past the willow). If one subscribes to the theory that the slime is at least partly a result of ag & emission pollution blowing up from the Central Valley, then it would make sense that a basin on the east side of the Sierra crest would be less likely to be infested.

I have also been noticing this algae in high Sierra waters. Saw a lot of algae in streams in the Yosemite Cathedral Range in 2019 and 2020, but way less in the same streams in 2021. I hypothesize "pulses" of nutrients in the form of wildfire smoke and ash causing the algal blooms.

At first, I just thought the algae was unsightly, but after reading about toxic algae blooms, I also worry now about the water quality when there is algae.

-Phil

Thanks all for your comments and good words.

oddtiger - yes cold water off the glaciers might a factor in the presence of the algae. I was trying to think of other non-typical things about this basin that could be discouraging the slime. Glacier milk in the water? Maybe willow brush outcompetes it?

Harlen - I tore my ACL ~15 years ago and had it replaced with a cadaver's. So I don't know how old it is. It was a successful replacement - even now that's my Good Knee.