Continuing our week of exploring the Desolation Wilderness, it was moving day again. Time to pack up and depart Pyramid Lake. We certainly enjoyed our 2 nights in this spot:
I think I took this picture for the teeny-tiny pine cones?
If my research is correct, these big beautiful trees are Sierra Junipers:
We climbed over the same small pass as the previous day to find the scenic American Lake:
John helped us down the big steps of the ledges now that we were carrying our normal pack loads:
We had scouted the creek crossings and were ready to switch to sandals and carefully wade across. I'm pretty sure John helped me with my pack here too. The second channel had a helpful rock wall built up so the traverse wasn't anywhere near as deep as it could have been:
We crossed Desolation Valley in a more straightforward route this time and soon we were on a proper trail. A short ways up the trail and we merged with the PCT briefly - hello PCT! Thanks for the fun photo, Robyn!
Ambling along the east/north side of Lake Aloha, on our way toward Mosquito Pass (on the horizon):
Diverging from the PCT, well it was fun while it lasted:
Switchbacks up toward Mosquito Pass (should we have our head nets on?)
Goodbye Lake Aloha, it was great fun going most of the way around and seeing it from different directions:
Just on the other side of the pass we encountered an obstacle. Never one to leave a tree in the way of a trail if it might be possible to move it, John worked out how to lever it around on the rocks and Robyn jumped in to help (while I continue in the position of documentarian):
An excellent improvement, thank you both!
On down the trail for a glimpse of Clyde Lake plus the saddle we'd previously come over from Island Lake:
I was walking down the trail, minding my own business, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye flying toward me - some kind of bug which had amazing aim (or more likely bad luck) because it flew right at my ear. If only I were wearing a head net at that moment. But no, for some reason it wanted to be inside my ear and there was no convincing it otherwise.
So the next few minutes were spent trying to figure out what to do about this flapping thing that took up residence in my ear canal. We trying watering it to see if it would crawl out in lieu of drowning. I pulled out all my med kit items and found I was carrying 3 tweezers for some reason (I'm a desert girl at heart, apparently), but John and Robyn couldn't see the dang creature. I think we added peroxide or something to the watering process. Still it kept fluttering.
Finally the noise stopped. All was still. The bug's suicide mission was over. I couldn't feel it after that, so we packed up and continued down the trail. At the next intersection, where we could make a left if we wanted to start heading back toward the trailhead, we sat for a moment to discuss this turn of events. Both Robyn and John seemed unconcerned - alright, let's move ahead with our original plan!
Crossing the Rubicon:
Trail love:
We climbed up to 4-Q Lakes, found a nice campsite, and settled in for the night (still wondering about the bug but nothing seemed amiss so I guess I won't worry about it)
Day 5:
Goodbye, Aloha!
There is a bug in my ear
They say it's OK
One last day hike day! We headed northwest on the McConnell Lake Loop to see what we could see.
Along the way, Robyn found a pretty pink feather:
We climbed up the trail to Horseshoe Lake and then set off cross-country to Lake Zitella:
Gaia showed some sort of trail, but we never found it. We scrambled on a rocky traverse for a while and eventually reached our arbitrary destination - Highland Lake. It turned out to be a gorgeous place to hang out and eat lunch:
Checking out the old manmade dam at the outlet:
A piece of rusty... something:
And some kind of water release mechanism:
After lunch and various versions of rinsing off, we started up the slope above the lake. Do I look cleaner?
John and Robyn trekking up a granite slab:
Off-trail love:
Starting down the other side of the spur toward Horseshoe:
And a blue feather plus another pink one:
Snack time in the trees:
Granite love:
Day 6:
Days are warming up
Highland Lake lunch and a dip
Trail and off-trail fun
We packed up and headed back down to the Rubicon creek, starting in the general direction of our eventual exit from this beautiful place. Somewhere in our next climb we came upon the aftermath of what I assume was an avalanche:
Our packs taking a break, I think near Lake Schmidell (we repeated that name quite a lot that day):
Then it was some kind of an upward haul to reach Lake Lois and our next campsite. The lake was quite pretty and I'm not sure why we didn't take a picture. I guess you get the gist by now!
Since we still had an afternoon to play with, I did a trail run back past Schmidell and up to a pass for a nice view. It appears to be raining over yonder - good thing we've over here at the moment:
John and Robyn did some off-trail roaming up to the Red Peak ridge where they could see Lake Tahoe, and also the dark clouds on the horizon. Oh! This is probably Lake Lois below them (our tents are in the trees):
Day 7:
Two Schmidell miles up
Roaming and exploration
Lovely Lois Lake!
One last day, hiking out of the wilderness. It started out rainy, so I didn't bring the camera out for a while. If I remember right, we were lucky with a window of dryness around breakfast time and we got packed up before the sprinkling began. At least it was the final day and we could dry everything out later.
The weather turned out to be not-too-bad as we hiked over Rockbound Pass. The ascent was easy in that direction, but it would have been a different story on a hot day climbing up that steep trail on the other side.
Somewhere on the way down, Robyn slipped and ended up lying upside-down on top of her pack. She was fine, and that move made it into the haiku (see below).
Down the hill to granite slabs, happy to have our rain jackets off:
One more, and rather elaborate, expression of love for this place. I cannot recall if "JB" was already there or if I made modifications:
On our way out toward Wrights Lake, thank you Desolation Wilderness and thank you Robyn and John!
No notes:
Day 8:
Morning rain walking
Rockbound vertical turtle
Miss our Tramily
Afterward: In San Jose I bought an otoscope and imaged my ear canal - super cool, by the way - and in the process was able to gently drag the dead bug out of there. Another adventure complete!
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