Tyee Lakes

Tyee Lakes.  Now there is a location that brings back memories.  And not happy ones.  Years ago we went with friends and went up Tyee and down via George Lake on a car shuttle.  Mosquitoes covered us when we got to Table Mountain.  Even with rain gear on we were running down the mountain to escape them. 

Yes, I knew all this and went anyway.  And the mosquitoes were thick.  I only headed up to the third lake before I decided that I'd had enough.  

An avalanche at the first lake has filled the water with debris.  

A Yosemite ramble

Hikin' Bill and I headed up to Yosemite.  We were expecting snow, lots of snow.  We found heat, lots of heat.  It was 86 degrees when we got back to the car.  Whew!  I guess we know what happened to the snow.

Horseshoe Peak

Horseshoe Peak, now that is something you won't find on a map.  It is a local name for a high point by Mulkey Pass.  I went with the local hiking group and we split into two groups.  My group headed up to Trail Pass, then along the PCT to Mulkey Pass and up to the peak.  It was a lovely day.  Easy hiking and a good group.  We beat the thunderstorm back to the car, so we didn't need the raincoats we packed.

Our hiking crew.  Photo courtesy of Paul Decker.

Gina and Shawn

Langley.  Photo courtesy of Shawn Peters

Shawn, Gina and Bob Joy

I go lake bagging

Eastern Brook Lake bird list

Little Lakes Valley bird list

I had never been to Eastern Brook Lakes or Serene Lake.  Now I have.  And I see no reason to ever go back.  Boring scenery, mosquitoes, and a lack of birds would be the reasons.  But hey, I've now bagged those lakes.

After that, I headed up the Little Lakes Valley.  It had just as many mosquitoes, and even more people, but it was lovely.  At the stream crossing before Long Lake, the crowd disappeared.  No one wanted to get their feet wet.  I pressed on and found a lovely spot to enjoy my lunch in solitude.

Bishop Pass

Hike track link

Bob and I decided to head to Bishop Pass, or at least in the direction of the pass.  We really had no big plan to make the pass as there isn't much of a view of the far side.  So, we wandered up the trail and came to Bishop Lake when our stomachs decided it was lunch time.  We admired the snow and the frolicking ground squirrels below our rock perch and then decided to head back via Chocolate Lakes.

South Lake

We do this about every five years and in the intervening years forget how awful the trail is. It is fine through Ruwua and even the Chocolate Lakes, and then things aren't so great. So, after admiring another side of Cloud Ripper, our third for the year, we headed towards Bull Lake.  Then it all came flooding back; how we cursed this trail the last time we did it.  This time we had the additional pleasure of snow. Groan. We carefully picked our way down to Bull Lake and through the crowd of backpackers. This was over the holiday weekend and they were stacked up like salmon at the base of a waterfall. The obstacle they didn't want to surmount was the snowy ravine we just came down.  I don't blame them.

Long Lake

Spearhead Lake

Saddlerock Lake

Any place without snow is spring!

Bishop Pass

Bishop Lake and Pass

Heading to Ruwua Lake

One of the Chocolate Lakes and Cloud Ripper

Looking down at Bull Lake.  There is a trail in there somewhere.

One of areas we had to slide down to get to Bull Lake

Bull Lake and Chocolate Peak

More Bull Lake