r/SierraNevada

This weekend, my dog and I headed back to the Sierra Nevada for another unforgettable adventure.

We explored some stunning alpine lakes, including North Lake — the very spot featured as the wallpaper in Mac OS High Sierra.

It was also my dog’s first time riding a mountain gondola, and she stayed calm and relaxed the entire ride to the top of Mammoth Mountain.

We finally crossed a long-awaited bucket list destination off our list: Patriarch Grove. We’d visited the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest before, but because of how remote the grove is, we hadn’t made it there until now. While it’s home to the world’s largest bristlecone pine, the journey is just as memorable as the destination. The drive to the grove is absolutely breathtaking — you’ll find yourself stopping over and over to take in the incredible views.

Duck Pass (Mid-June Conditions & Mosquito Report)

I hiked Duck Pass twice in the third week of June and wanted to share a few trail conditions in case anyone is planning to go soon.

• The trail is in great shape overall.
• There were two short snow patches (about 20–30 yards each) near Duck Pass. Following the existing footprints made them straightforward to cross. Trekking poles and offline map with GPS were definitely helpful.
• Water was plentiful all the way up, and filtering was easy at most lakes.
• Mosquitoes were by far the worst around Emerald Lake and Skeleton Lake (I'd rate them around 8–10/10).
• Once I got above Barney Lake and onto the exposed switchbacks, the mosquitoes almost disappeared.
• Duck Lake itself had very few mosquitoes because of the wind.

The biggest surprise for me was Duck Lake itself. I didn't expect it to be that large. Seeing the deep blue lake with Pika Lake behind it and the Sierra Nevada stretching across the horizon was easily one of my favorite views around Mammoth.

Has anyone continued past Duck Pass toward Deer Pass or Mammoth Crest? I went back a week later to explore farther and would love to hear about other routes in that area.

Did a random hike up to Lookout Peak with my two days in the park after discovering just how far the trailhead for Mt. Silliman was from Sentinel Campground. 4k elevation gain ~ 11 miles with an added bonus extension to Summit Meadow. Took about 7 hours, had no idea what to expect beforehand but the scramble up to the peak delivered incredible views.

I’ve been dying to get up into the Miter Basin to explore and was finally able to head up, 6/29-7/2. 49.5 miles total. 20-30’s for lows, 50-60 for highs, perfect hiking weather.

Day 1 - Cottonwood Pass TH ->Lower Soldier Lake. Typical PCT traffic until the Rock Creek junction, once here, the people start to disappear. Watched building storm clouds before tucking in early.

Day 2 - Lower Solider -> Sky Blue Lake. Woke up to a dusting of snow in the meadow below Lower Solider. Headed up into the Miter Basin through the Lower and Upper Solider lakes. Such a fun route up and over, then traversing below the Major General down into the basin below. Found an awesome site below the Sky Blue Lake drainage. Set up camp and headed up to the inlet for Sky Blue below Crabtree Pass.

Day 3 - Sky Blue -> Iridescent Lake -> Rock Creek Lake. Iridescent Lake was first up in the morning, unbelievably gorgeous lake, flanked by The Miter, Le Conte and Mt. Corcoran. I cannot wait to return here. Decided to take the Rock Creek drainage down to Rock Creek Lake, one of my favorite places on earth, always happy to stay a night here.

Day 4 - Rock Creek Lake -> Solider Pass -> Mt.Langley -> Horseshoe Meadow. Woke up early to a perfectly calm Rock Creek Lake and set off to soggy bushwhack up to Upper Solider Lake. Took Solider Pass up to Langley trail, easy use trail to follow up. Summited at 10:40am, hung out for an hour with no else insight. Wanted to head back via Old Army Pass, but there is still a large snow field at the top, all options over and around felt sketchy still, so I opted to go over New Army, which was free of snow.

Taken with iPhone 14 Pro w/ +2 light exposure, no editing done — My favorite lakes in California, second and first lakes.

Took me 3 something hours to get up there. I can’t wait to come back out here this year too.

Finally got around to editing my Big Pine Lakes hike from late May.

I've been coming here about once a year, and it's still one of my favorite hikes in the Eastern Sierra. Last year I came in the summer and made it to all of the lakes, but coming a little earlier this year was a completely different experience with snow still hanging around.

The hike is about 10 miles with 2,500 ft of gain, so it's a decent workout, but the scenery makes every mile worth it. I also like that there are plenty of creeks along the trail, so bringing a water filter helps keep my pack lighter.

The weather was classic Sierra, blue skies in the morning, then clouds, wind, and even a little hail in the afternoon. That's Sierra magic.

I made a short video from the hike. I'll leave it in the comments if anyone wants to check it out.

I've done this hike in late spring and summer now. Maybe it's time to come back in the fall next year.

No matter how many times I come back, I never get tired of the Sierra.

I'm heading out to Cottonwood lakes over the weekend and am wondering if it's safe to attempt Langley. I have a lot of experience backpacking and hiking in the Sierra but am not a technical summit bagger by any means so am looking for people who are familiar with the area.

Questions:
-Does anyone know if Old Army has reached summer conditions as of this week?
-Is New Army - Langley trail the best route?

My plan was to hike the 6 miles to lake 4 + 5, camp, and attempt to summit in the morning.

I took my 10 yr old daughter on her first backpacking trip to Kearsarge Pass. We did 2 nights and that was perfect for us. We didn’t have to push ourselves too much in one day. Both nights we stayed at Matlock lake and the views were beautiful. I was a little nervous with it just being us two but I’m glad I did it by myself with her! It all worked out and we had a great time

Incredible trail - roughly 19 miles, started from High Trail at Agnew Meadows on Saturday (6/27), stayed the night at Thousand Island lake, back through JMT on Sunday. Temps went down to slightly below freeze at night but not too cold, just perfect weather and scenery. Mosquitos are out but not too bad at all, we used the head-net around the lake but it was not crazy. If you're heading there make sure to research the shuttle and road conditions though. We decided to drive early morning, arrived at the entrance gate by 6:20am (about 10 cars ahead of us), but the gate opened at about 8:15am, and the shuttles were also quite packed, even the first one at 7am had no room left.

On June 19, I ascended Mount Lyell, Yosemite’s highest peak, which stands at 13,120’. I hiked 12 miles into Lyell Canyon on June 18, and spent the night near the split between the JMT and the off trail route up to Lyell. I started my climb at 6:30 and was treated with perfect snow conditions. Soft enough to easily kick in steps, but firm enough to support my weight. Most head up the Lyell Glacier to the Maclure-Lyell saddle and try ascending the ridge from there. Many fail after getting into class 4 territory on the lower part of the ridge. I instead climbed as high as possible on snow and ascended class 3 rock on Lyell’s south face to reach the summit ridge. This avoided the challenging lower section of ridge on Lyell’s standard route. Picture 4 shows the route I took. Here is a link to my YouTube video: https://youtu.be/gXEPaPt9WgE?si=8Ljj87AgKsnWODkC