This is proudly my first trip report. I flew into L.A. and rented a car Saturday July 21st, went to Thousand Oaks for some camping equipment and promptly headed up to East Fork for the night.
Sunday I got up; had breakfast at Tom’s and drove to fish some lakes out of Mammoth. Fishing was good with a few Brookies and a bit of hail/rain for weather mixed in. On the way back to RCL, 395 at the Mammoth Airport had hail on the side that was sticking. Went to Convict where I got skunked but it was raining. But I came all that way to fish! Stopped by McGee Creek Campground as they had table covers which I could pitch a tarp over as I did not have a tent. Decided to go back to East Fork for the night. There was hail in the shadows when I got there and the weather had cleared so I threw out my pad and sleeping bag on the ground as usual.
Woke up at about 6a to a sprinkle on my face. Put away my bag and evaluated the weather for the hike to Golden Lake by the way of Half Moon Pass. I decided a go as it was early enough and fit my loose schedule abet it being drizzly. I drove to the pack station; parked and loaded up my gear. I walked through the corrals and turned down the trail along the side of the corrals rather than the trail out from the corner. The wrong trail meant I burned an hour going the wrong direction without seeing the use trail to half moon. It was now 9. I found the right trail and followed it up. I lost it and found it a few times. Duks are hard to discern in rock fields. There were a few rain delays spent under trees and rocks. After boulder hopping and climbing I was at the base of the pass. With precautions for altitude sickness and dehydration as well as spending two nights at East Fork because I’m a flatlander; I made it to the saddle of the pass and could see Golden over my right shoulder and RCL on my left. At that point I was very elated. Got to Golden at 1p. Took a 15 min combat nap.
Fished for 3 hrs and hooked up 4 goldens in the 14-16 in range. Landed only one; a nice 16 incher with a small hooked jaw. Note to self: buy a net and stop using fluorocarbon leader. Could have landed all four and saved hardware.
The hike down took almost 3 hrs. From Golden back to the top of the pass was 45 mins. I tied off two ropes to help on the way down on the Golden side and it helped on the way back. Went to upper Pine Grove, ate and crashed. Tuesday drove to Virginia Lakes and hiked to Cooney Lake, a few brookies and very nice weather. Drove to North Lake in Bishop drainage and staked out a site there.
Déjà vu. I was driving to the pack station to fish the lake and saw a hiker heading my way. When he heard my car he stuck his thumb out for a ride. I rolled up beside him and asked if he needed a ride. He said yes. He put his pack in the trunk. He hopped in and I asked if he was going to the pack station. He said no that he needed to get to the South lake trailhead. He asked that I just take him to 168. I said “buddy; I’m taking you all the way to South Lake.” He began to tell his story about his buddy and his blisters still up Piute Pass. He was amazed by how high the road out of North Lake is. Also, how far South Lake was from where he was. He offered Cliff Bars as payment. I said no thanks but offered him a beer. He enjoyed it on the way. I told him Karma! Well, a similar thing happened many years ago when I was camping with a friend at North Lake. About 10p a guy stumbled into our camp and said his buddy broke his leg up the trail and he left him to seek help. I took him in my truck all the way into town. First, stopped by the fire station. Well, being a volunteer organization; nobody home. So I took him to the police station and they helped him. Well the next morning about 7 a Huey thumped overhead up the canyon. I guess help was on the way.
Enjoy the pictures even though no goldens in them the one that I landed spit the lure out before I could get a picture. Also stopped and talked to the guy surveying the road and said he would be done the 2nd week of August and had no idea when the improvements would start if at all. He was anxious to get back to Denver. I want to publicly thank Sierra Slam for the info and inspiration to have a great adventure.
By
fractus2 at 2012-08-04
By
fractus2 at 2012-08-04
By
fractus2 at 2012-08-04
