Bullfrog Lake, East Vidette
Written: July 3, 2021
The idea that birthed this trip was to get into the Sierra early. Before the end of June. The idea was to visit when there was still snow on the passes, peaks, and when early summer melt had the creeks running strong.
However, this was a 16 percent snow year. California and much of the southwest is still in the midst of a long drought and it only seems to be getting worse. As a result, conditions on this trip were more like late July in a normal year. Nonetheless, the Sierra is always a wonderful place.
More and more Sierra summer traffic is PCT hikers. These people hike the JMT (which coincides with the PCT), entering from the south as soon as Forester Pass is passable. It seems that official policy somehow allows these hikers to bypass the usual quota system. There is some kind of quota on PCT trail people, but the quota gets increased every year, which makes little sense. The quota should be based not on demand but on how much impact the wilderness can tolerate. Not many years ago the PCT quota was 4000 hikers, which seems fairly outrageous, but I am told that this year it was increased to 7000.
In popular spots like Rae Lakes, there must be several turds under every rock. With 7000 PCT hikers passing through these areas, it seems that it is only a short matter of time before PCT hikers are required to carry "wag-bags" through all of SEKI, much like the Whitney Zone regulations.
The flip side of all this is that if you hike as much as 1 mile off the PCT corridor you find yourself in almost complete solitude. Several years ago I visited Bench Lake (near Taboose Pass) expecting to find it popular and crowded and we were the only party camping there. I have found the same thing in many other places which I hesitate to name. In my case I treasure solitude, though I am by no means antisocial. Most PCT and perhaps even JMT hikers are out to cover 20 miles a day and any detour is at odds with that schedule. The aim seems to be to find a camp spot no more than a stones throw from the trail.
My aim is simply to be in the Sierra. I enjoy revisiting old and familiar places, but I also enjoy new places. I like to visit side canyons and lakes that I passed by on previous trips. Sometimes I like to just identify a new plant, or admire a familiar plant as an old friend. I enjoyed watching fish swim in lakes and noisy Clarks Nutcrackers in the trees. I am getting better at identifying the various conifer species and in particular on this trip made progress identifying trees by just looking at their bark. And by no means least, there is the geology, both the effects of glaciers and the varieties of granite itself.
Then it was on to Lone Pine. Near Randsburg I realized that I was nearly out of gas. That is how it works when you last got gas in Parker, Arizona. We got gas at the Texaco in Johannesburg, but a more attentive man would probably have gassed up in Barstow. We drop in at the multi-agency center just to find out what the latest policies are. The policies are that everything is handled online now. You can make a reservation online and then pick up your actual permit at the center, but if you have not made a reservation, you will be turned away. Over the years the regulations have changed many times and surely this is simply how it is at this point in time, but there you go. Note that walk-in permits are also handled online by releasing them 2 weeks prior to the date in question.
By around 2PM we are at Onion Valley and hitting the trail. Even at 9000 feet, you can still tell it is hotter than usual. We hike up to Mattlock Lake then decide to go cross country to Bench Lake (searching both for solitude and something new and different). We find all of that. A wind makes our campsite a bit tricky, but we set up our 2 tents without seeing them get blown into the lake and have a decent night. I have made it a policy to not cross Kearsare Pass the first day unless I have somehow already gotten myself altitude acclimatized. Altitude sickness is no fun, and camping at one of the eastside lakes has worked out well and entirely avoids that unpleasantness. Patience has its rewards.
Tom's hiking pages / tom@mmto.org