I didn’t have a big objective or a peak to bag this year. Instead we had a base camp and all the trail maps and guide books to explore the Eastern Sierra with no other agenda but to avoid crowds who all had the same ideas we did: take vacation on 4th of July week, and retreat to cooler, higher elevation during record-breaking heat in the West.
First adventure took us into the John Muir Wilderness to McGee Mountain
I adore ridge hikes, so next stop was Mt. Aggie
Which began to look a bit more intimidating as we got closer…
And turned out to be a scree scramble at the top
But the ridge hike itself was everything I’d hoped for! Other people encountered: zero.
After spending the afternoon ridge hike gazing down from the heights into the green valley of McGee creek
Our plan for the next day was to hike up the creek trail, and take in the valley floor view of the same mountains
And later in the week, we followed a different creek up through alpine meadows in Yosemite
To reach a series of rocky, glacier-fed lakes
On another day, we completed a hike up to the Great Sierra Mine that we’d bailed on due to weather the last time we were in Yosemite. Looping past the mine, the ridge crest extends back toward Mt. Gaylor and the Gaylor lakes.
On the hike back, I took a detour off the main trail where it crossed the ridge to scramble up to the summit of Mt. Gaylor, but I didn’t take a picture.
From the other side, the ridge overlooks Tioga lake and Mt. Dana. I want to climb Mt. Dana, but that will be an objective for another day, another trip!
So many ridges, and I want to hike them all! From the Minaret Summit Ridge and to the edge of the Ansel Adams wilderness, a dirt road climbs to the top of the ridge that forms the edge of the Long Valley Caldera, and turns into a trail into the wilderness, down into Deadman Pass, and up over more peaks
I followed it down to the top of the pass and a little way up toward the next rise, looking down into the caldera on one side and the San Joaquin river valley toward Devil’s post pile on the other. I wanted to keep going— follow it to the end— but that will have to be a multi day hike for another trip.