Cottonwood Pass / Trailmaster Peak 07/22/06
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 7:16 am
Did everyone get wet this weekend?
Started out with Cirque Peak as my target destination. Left the Cottonwood Pass trailhead at 0615 with a cloudless sky. Meadow wildflowers are still quite nice. While at the pass, a couple came up the pass from the PCT north. Turns out it was Trailtrekker, exiting from a glorious week that started at Kearsarge Pass - very nice to meet you Trailtrekker.
Looking north from the Pass, I could see the hill I needed to climb, but the hill in view is only the southern tip of the ridge, the peak is further north. I ended up spending a lot of time in the boulders bagging the false summit! Should have stayed low and to the west of this bump and traversed the ridge to it's end. I was able to get some nice views of BobR's Cirque Pk shortcut - maybe I'll try that sometime.
After lunching on the summit it was 1130 and although the sky above was decorated with nice bold puffy clouds, the south looked a little more threatening. Call me a chicken, but I decided I didn't wanna be on Cirque by myself in a T-storm, so I retraced my steps, leaving Cirque for another time, another trip. It started raining about 12:45 and continued off/on for most of the descent from the Pass to the trailhead. My arrival at the TH at 2:00 made for an early day and comfortable drive back to Long Beach.
As I got into Lone Pine, it looked like the entire eastern sierra was socked in.
Photos are here
Started out with Cirque Peak as my target destination. Left the Cottonwood Pass trailhead at 0615 with a cloudless sky. Meadow wildflowers are still quite nice. While at the pass, a couple came up the pass from the PCT north. Turns out it was Trailtrekker, exiting from a glorious week that started at Kearsarge Pass - very nice to meet you Trailtrekker.
Looking north from the Pass, I could see the hill I needed to climb, but the hill in view is only the southern tip of the ridge, the peak is further north. I ended up spending a lot of time in the boulders bagging the false summit! Should have stayed low and to the west of this bump and traversed the ridge to it's end. I was able to get some nice views of BobR's Cirque Pk shortcut - maybe I'll try that sometime.
After lunching on the summit it was 1130 and although the sky above was decorated with nice bold puffy clouds, the south looked a little more threatening. Call me a chicken, but I decided I didn't wanna be on Cirque by myself in a T-storm, so I retraced my steps, leaving Cirque for another time, another trip. It started raining about 12:45 and continued off/on for most of the descent from the Pass to the trailhead. My arrival at the TH at 2:00 made for an early day and comfortable drive back to Long Beach.
As I got into Lone Pine, it looked like the entire eastern sierra was socked in.
Photos are here