Three of us left Horseshoe meadows on Thursday July 6th for a week's adventure of backpacking, fly fishing and finishing off with a summit of Mt. Whitney. We made it and had some good times on the way.
We overnighted at Long Lake and went over New Army pass on the 7th. Did a geocache at the top. Long Lake was crowded, bummer. We caught trout at LL and that began a week of trout meals. Yumm.
Second night we stayed at lower soldier lake which has a number of camp spots but they were commandeered by just a few campers (on the point) and we were given the cold shoulder by the folks camping there that didn't want any neighbors despite plenty of space. We were happy to camp at the other end near were people traverse to Miter basin (good reports on that area). While we were there we hiked up to upper soldier lake on a little used trail, no luck fishing but very quiet spot all to ourselves. Back down to soldier lake, encounter with the rock creek ranger and a couple who were evidently tripping in the wilderness. He had a lions mane of dreadlocks, she was dressed Ina full zip up lioness suit. Both looked high on nature...
From soldier lakes we hiked to Guyot creek with a stop at the ranger station for some foot maintenance and fishing. The creek gave up so many golden trout in such a short time it was amazing! We ate lunch of pan fried golden trout. The hike out and up from rock creek is steep and brutal. Camp spots near guyot creek are nice when you get away from the trail.
The next morning we made for Wallace Creek and rested and spoke to a gu from Atlanta section hiking the PCT, he had been out ten days on his own and was lonely and was looking to exit Forester pass early. Nice break and then we took a very limited trail up to Wallace Lake. 1500 ft elevation and about 3.6mi hike into an area of solitude and utter beauty! First two nights of solitude (finally) in the wilderness. Fish aplenty in the stream and lake. Big too! 14.5 inches...
Took a semi rest day and hiked up to the base of Mt. Russell and sat above Tulainyo Lake. The highest large lake in the Sierras. It had snow along the edge, with large chunks floating like mini icebergs and the water was spectacular. Another night of trout and solitude at Wallace. Whitney is 2.91mi from Wallace Lake, but we did it in 11 and change and stayed Wednesday night at the 11,900 ft tarns. Lots of space to sleep there, but the water in the lower tarn was quite low and muddy. After one pump we decided to hump over to upper Hitchcock and pump and fill for the ascent Thursday. Quite a few folks at Guitar lake and the 11,300 ft tarns. We were all alone at the 11,900 tarns. Finished the trout that evening.
Thursday, July 12th, we left out camp at 6:20am after watching some early dawn hikers lights crossing the switchbacks. We were up at trail crest pack drop much quicker than expected...guess we finally got out hiking legs under us.
The 1.9 miles from trail crest to the top hit me hard. I was fine up to trail crest, but that last pitch was hard and required numerous stops to keep from blacking out. Lots of folks struggling at this point. The stench of wag bags in the rocks was sickening at spots, with other bags sitting on the trail. Made the summit and felt great, did the usual summit stuff and did the geocache at the top. We decided to head all the way down to the Portal and skip another night in the wilderness. That is a long hike down. I don't know how you day trippers do it!
Met Jack, on his 112th ascent, at the Portal burger and drove home. Knees and feet hurt. Bed was lovely and it was nice to sleep well after two tough nights at elevation with no sleep. Thanks for the resources of this forum and others!
