High Sierra Topix

I needed a mental reset after an absolutely crazy end to my semester. More often than not the 'antidote' is the High Sierra. The usual Coperincus/Sentinel imagery gave me some ideas so on Monday (6/3) and Tuesday (6/4) I headed up to the Ebbetts Pass and Desolation (Velma Lakes) areas respectively. Monday was cold, overcast, and supremely windy in the Ebbetts Pass area. When I parked at Kinney Reservoir it was the first time I've been alone there. I had this weird feeling that I shouldn't be venturing out. This led to afternoon thawing out at Cutthroat Brewing Co. in Markleeville, then a motel room in South Lake Tahoe, and more craft beer at South Lake Tahoe Brewing Co. The hike to the Velmas was adventurous with lots of hiking over snow, some of it steep and a fairly serious stream crossing of the creek downstream of Upper Velma. I went out of Bayview and lost the track in the snow going to the Maggies saddle. I ended up on some pretty steep snow and ended up heading to the top of South Maggies which wasn't such a bad thing. The main track westward on the crest of the ridge was pretty clear. The trail to the Velmas was not (minimal tracks through snow) so that was entirely off trail for me. I saw no one until I was hiking back. I encountered my first hiker of the two days a bit short of the Eagle-Bayview split. This was a solo dayhiker headed for the Velmas. Anyway I post this mainly as a 'conditions' post. The Eagle Falls trail was reported to be largely free of snow, in contrast to the Bayview above Granite Lake. The snow cover meant that much travel is essentially off trail so topo navigation is crucial. Of course I didn't do this just for the snow hiking adventure. Copernicus/Sentinel shows me when lakes are thawed so that I can fish them. Fishing took place in three of the four lakes I visited, but I caught fish out of only one of them. But the main pleasure was simply being out there tromping alone over snow and slabs in that wonderful mountain range.

There's never a ad day on the trail!

I fished Kinney Lakes once many years ago, and it was windy enough that I managed to hook a 180 pound human, right under my chin. The only time I've ever done that. I caught a few fish that day, then went to try to get the hook out---and failed, after stripping the feathers off the fly and using needle nose pliers. The skin in that area was just too loose.

So we went to the First Aid Station at Bear Valley, where a very competent EMT read me a long list of disclaimers before taking about five minutes to get the damn thing out.

From Ebbetts, I prefer the hike to Noble Lake, where I think the fishing is better, too!

This is a nice report, but there is no documentary evidence for the fish you say you caught, nor for the fine beers you say you drank. Did you go sans camera John?

OK. Here are the fish which were packed in the usual fish towel then transferred to the cooler. Lee filleted them after I got home, so Wednesday was a big dinner. He oven baked the fillets with a pistachio coating. Yummy. Beer? Gotta remember to do the usual pub selfie next time. Highlights included the Czech style pilsner at Cutthroat and the HBC586 West Coast IPA and the West Coast Pilsner at SLT brewing. Speaking of hooking oneself, that reminds me of a childhood memory from Ellery Lake, sometime in the 60s when my cousin hooked himself in the scalp on a cast (I think he had a reel snarl or something). Another fisherman did the usual thing of pushing the hook through so he could snip off the barb and extract the hook. My cousin's pain was apparent and it was pretty painful to watch, of course.

Now we believe you.

Nice cutthroats John with good size! Late June with less snow, I'll be going up to one of your favorite lake trout lakes.