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Old Farts
“I want to go hiking!” The Lady was adamant. We’d been at the house long enough. At the house we are surrounded by stupidity and fear, two of the three great forces Albert Einstein told us rule the world – stupidity, fear, and greed. "Fake news!" are their two magic words that make reality disappear. A little over a week and it was time to get back out on an adventure and return home.
“I want to go hiking!” A call to action. I suggested a return to the Rubies in Nevada and make it over Liberty Pass. The Lady suggested the Eastern Sierra. What way would this go? The tub whisperer decided the deal when it was found one night at tub 5 was open.
We tend to visit the eastern Sierra only in the shoulder seasons. Where we would go this trip and hike would be determined by what we found open away from crowds. Restored, refreshed, rejuvenated with our night at Benton, the next day we traveled up highway 120 west of Lee Vining. We found the small campground at Saddlebag Reservoir near empty and settled into an excellent campsite. With camp set up, mid afternoon we hiked around the reservoir and included a circle of Greenstone Lake.
Hiking along the west side of Saddlebag. The sky was hazy with smoke from the Garnet Fire in the southern Sierra Nevada.
Approaching Greenstone Lake.
Crossing the inlet into Greenstone.
We entered the Harvey Monroe Hall Research Natural Area established in 1939.
Along the north side of Greenstone Lake with Saddlebag Reservoir in the distance.
The Wilderness Ranger cabin.
For our evening walk, we climbed high above the dam for a view down Lee Vining Creek. The sharp peak in the upper left is Mount Dana in Yosemite National Park.
At the end of our fly fishing trip that included many long hikes, my Lowa boots were officially worn out and needed replacement.
These were the fourth pair of Lowa Cevedale boots I’ve gone through. Unfortunately, they’ve now been discontinued. A pair lasts me 4 years so I’ve had 16 years using this model Lowa. I love them. And now the chore and hassle of finding a similar boot in the Lowa line. Note – I bought my first pair of Lowa mountain boots in 1969. The pain in the butt hassle would include doing this all through Internet orders and shipping/returning because brick and mortar stores carrying high end backpacking/mountaineering items is a thing of the past. Here’s the best match I found. They are not available in bright blue or orange.
Lowa boots fit me perfectly and I’ve always been able to put them on brand new and hike anywhere I want without issue. Made in Italy and Germany, the price has gone up with the tariff I’m now required to pay.
We were out on our coffee walk the next morning when first light illuminated the classic granite of the Sierra crest.
The peak on the far left is False White, a great spring backcountry ski when highway 120 opens early and provides access, as it did in May 2016. Weather and a sudden road closure kept us from skiing Mount Dana during the May 2016 trip linked above. “We still need to do Dana,” the Lady repeated whenever we passed through this area. Today we’d get that done.
The Park does not maintain a trail to the summit, nor is there a marked trailhead. It is a use trail to the top that starts at the Tioga Pass entrance station. It’s 3 miles and 3100 feet elevation gain. Elevation is gained quickly providing amazing panoramas, although today’s was tinged with smoke.
As expected, it is steep, rough, and rocky.
The Sierra crest to the northwest. Saddlebag Reservoir is in the upper right. The center peak is Mount Conness. North Peak is to it’s right.
Mount Conness is named in honor of John Conness, a US senator from California during Lincoln’s presidency. Conness introduce legislation to protect Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove of sequoia that was signed into law by Lincoln. Remember always that history surrounds us.
Up is the desired direction when going to the top of a mountain.
The summit view to the south.
The largest snowfield in the upper left (above) is the Kuna Glacier that we hiked to in September 2016 to investigate a crashed World War Two bomber that is melting out of the glacier.
View west including Tuolumne Meadows.
And east to Mono Lake.
The old farts made in to the top at 13,061 feet in two and three quarter hours and we had the summit to ourselves for over an hour.
View to the north with Saddlebag in the upper left.
Mount Dana is named in honor of James Dwight Dana, the preeminent geologist of his time.
The growing clouds cast dramatic shadows across the landscape during our descent.
The descent was also two and three quarter hours down this steep rocky use trail.
We talked with the young man in the entrance station upon our return. He’d welcomed us into the Park that morning. “You were alone on the summit!” he exclaimed. “There were 30 people on top when I went up this year.” As I said at the start of this narrative, this is a busy place.
Back at camp and after dinner we climbed above the reservoir to take in the changing light as night came.
Our destination for the next day was to hike up into the Conness Basin. If possible, we wanted to get up to the Conness Glacier. We again hiked along and past Saddlebag.
And past Greenstone Lake.
We found the use trail that leads up into the basin.
A view down from the ledges.
Clouds built early in the day signaling changing weather. Even with the dreary skies, this is an exciting basin to wander in. Visible are the remnants of the Conness Glacier on the northeast face of Mount Conness.
Conness Lakes
The winds were building and the temperature was dropping. We found a sheltered spot with a large granite boulder for a wind break at the higher lakes and took a break.
We decided on climbing higher.
“The higher lake’s that way,” the Lady pointed. “But I want to go up here first!” And up the ramp she went – the little spot in the middle right.
She came to the end.
And quickly took a look around to see where she could climb to next.
Her route took us above the highest Conness Lake, it's waters colored with glacial flour.
We frictioned up the steep granite until an exposed down climb to access talus stopped us. We evaluated the route ahead. We wanted to get up around the corner to the bottom of the Conness Glacier. After the talus, another smooth granite slope was above. The wind buffeted us. So much so I did not attempt photos with the camera. We were hit with a few rain drops. It was time to turn around. We’ll climb back up here in better weather conditions.
Conness Glacier is disappearing and is another place we want to visit before it is gone. Here's a link to Disappearing California Glaciers. Here's a link to historic photos documenting the shrinking ice of Conness Glacier.
We retreated down to the highest lake.
And worked our way to the outlet.
We continued our way down the talus slope below, wishing we'd stayed on the smooth granite.
We paused at the lower lake where we were hit with rain.
Back on the use trail heading to the ledges
Now lower, the rain subsided on our trek back to camp.
Rain returned and pounded the camper through the late afternoon and night. It still pattered on the roof the next morning. There was enough of a break late morning to start out on a hike.
Dramatic vistas greeted us as we hiked the east side of Saddlebag.
But clouds billowed over the crest.
We knew we had a rainy day ahead for us.
We climbed up above Cascade Lake in North Peak’s northeast cirque.
We searched out shelter and settled in to watch the storm and the landscape.
Why do we carry the larger backpacks you see us with? So we are comfortable and at home in any kind of weather or situation we find ourselves in. Old farts know things.
More high country in the upcoming Part Two.
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