East Side Sierra Nevada – September 2022 – Part Two

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Please click here for – Part One

 

Thirty-nine Years and Still Celebrating

 

The clouds built as we descended from the ashrama even giving us a few drops of rain at camp in the late afternoon. We were thrilled to find this piece of solitude with its commanding view of the surroundings.

 

 

 

 

Yes, we can tend to look like a gypsy camp as we get cleaned up and air out hiking clothes, boots, and socks. The Lady was adamant on where our evening walk would take us – high spots with wonderful views where she could adequately survey her domain.

 

 

 

 

There was the possibility we would be blessed with colorful evening light.

 

 

 

 

It turned glorious.

 

 

 

 

We wanted a get an early start so we woke well before dawn the next morning. I tried several multi second long exposures in the predawn light.

 

 

 

 

The rising sun began to make its presence known.

 

 

 

 

Alpenglow washed over the high peaks.

 

 

 

 

And passed within a few seconds.

 

 

 

 

The spire on the crest, I believe, is Mount LeConte.

 

 

 

 

This is the northeast face on Mount Langley, one of California’s 14teeners.

 

 

 

 

The morning sun warmed camp as we packed up.

 

 

 

 

I have been hearing from the Lady about Lone Pine Lake since 2016 when our friend GroovyDad posted about his hike to Lone Pine Lake.

“I want to hike to Lone Pine Lake!”

 

The hike starts at Whitney Portal, the trailhead for hiking Mount Whitney. It is an incredibly busy place. Although early in the morning, we took one of the last parking places.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day began with partly cloudy skies that pointed to bigger build and possible storm later in the day. The start bell rang and the Lady was out of the gate!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve visited many other areas of the John Muir Wilderness

and it is always, “Into the Johnny Muir!”

 

 

 

 

This is delightful and spectacular landscape to travel through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was an easy and relaxing one and a half hour hike up to the lake. We were greeted with beautiful light that lasted about 15 seconds and then was gone.

 

 

 

 

Just before reaching the lake, we stopped and chatted with a solo woman packing up her camp in preparation to move higher toward Mount Whitney and summit the following day.

“You must have had a wonderful night up here all alone!” the Lady began the conversation. “You have the only camp here.”

“No, I did not.” The woman responded. “I hardly slept. I was so afraid because I was all alone. But if I had seen anything coming down the trail, I probably would have screamed. I was so uncomfortable.”

The woman was bluntly honest about her feelings. The Lady gave her encouragement and hoped, as she gained experience, she would grow more comfortable. We wished her well on her summit attempt.

 

We stayed at Lone Pine Lake for a couple of hours. Clouds built and moved fast across the sky, providing drama and ever-changing vistas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It finally turned to solid cloud cover over the crest of the Sierra.

 

 

 

 

The Lady insisted we circle the lake prior to hiking back to the trailhead. There are incredible views down Lone Pine Creek Canyon from the end of the lake. The Lady took them in. I documented.

 

 

 

 

On this hike and the hike near White Mountain we were not alone. Not by a long shot. No solitude for us. At White Mountain we met 40 people along the trail, Julie kept count. Here, up from Whitney Portal, we met 60 people along the trail. But it was fun to chat up people and let them tell their stories. An interesting item was that there was a large group of Hispanics hiking White Mountain Peak, the majority of them were women. Not meaning ill, none were the usual “hiking physique” we generally meet along the trail. Since we were there later in the day, all were returning from the summit. They were so enthusiastic and proud to have made the top. Smiles all around. It was great and we shared their good cheer!

 

The Whitney Portal trailhead is well designed and moves hikers past well done, informative and necessary signage.

 

 

 

 

“There’s a scale! I want to know what my pack weighs!” the Lady exclaimed.

 

 

 

 

“If that’s important, shouldn’t you have weighted it before the hike?” I asked.

“No. I wouldn’t have taken anything out. I’m just curious. There’s a scale. This is fun!”

We had fun.

 

 

 

 

The Lady got her three wishes on how she wanted to celebrate our 39^th wedding anniversary – a stone corral, a stone house, and the hike to Lone Pine Lake. For our fortieth, I expect something very similar will fit the bill. She is a whole heap of fun to enjoy life with.

 

We had a grand time but it was time for a big dose of solitude. We headed north on 395 for one more night out before returning home. Heavy clouds streamed across the Sierra crest. Upon reaching one of our favorite overnight spots, the clouds remained heavy in the sky.

 

 

 

 

And right at sunset the sun brightly streamed below the clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found a fox skull. No other remains were about. It was an older animal with most of its teeth on the opposite side gone.

 

 

 

 

The day ended with grand style.

 

 

 

 

The skies were bright the next morning.

 

 

 

 

The local herd of feral horses joined us on our morning walk with coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our journey home, we detoured over to Sagehen Peak. We’d heard it was about the only place with aspen in fall colors. There is nothing like aspen leaves in fall colors to put us in a good mood and signal a change in the seasons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hope your anniversaries are as grand as this!