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| Hiking | 11.29 Miles |
2,627 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.29 Miles | 5 Hrs 4 Mns | | 2.42 mph |
| 2,627 ft AEG | 24 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | On the second day of my long weekend getaway I headed over to South Lake with my sights on the Bishop Pass area. I started my day camping at Blue Lake. I packed up my gear and started making my way down around 7:30am. I cruised down and passed by Sabrina Lake and was back to the overnight parking lot around mid morning. I loaded up and headed over to the boat house where I enjoyed an omelette and ice tea. After that, I drove over to South Lake and found the area very busy. I ended up parking about a half mile away by Weir Lake. Note to backpackers, you have to park very far away at just over a mile. No shame in hitchhiking.
It was roughly 10am and rain and thunderstorms are in the afternoon forecast. I would like to be done around 3pm so I headed in and set a respectable pace. The trail heads south as it climbs & passes the east shoreline of South Lake. This is another impressive lake that is dammed on the north end. I continued up and came to a junction with Chocolate Lake. I decided to detour to this lake & this turned out to be really fun! The route passes a handful of lakes starting with Bull Lake, then Chocolate Lake and finally Ruwae Lake on it's way back to the main trail by Long Lake. The descent to Ruwae Lake was truly magnificent! It was a bit rugged with route finding and very scenic.
Once back on the main trail, I continued up & passed Spearhead Lake, Timberline Lake, Saddlerock Lake and finally my turnaround at Bishop Lake. This stretch of trail is very special! The lakes are breathtaking and the geology has crazy colors that include reds and browns. It's quite the contrast to your mostly white granite. I was in awe up here! I took a break at Bishop Lake and filtered water. It was early afternoon and the clouds were starting to darken. I knew I would have to race rain back to the car so I started my return soon after.
My return went well. It was nice heading back and looking down on several lakes. I took a variety of pics and passed several backpackers on their way in. This is a busy area! I continued down and heard thunder in the distance. I got back to the main parking and a light rain started to fall. I finished the last half mile back to the rental as the rain picked up. I loaded up and headed down the hill as it poured and lightning flashed. I timed it just perfectly!
This is a spectacular area and I'm really glad I got a good taste for it. The lakes are unreal and the area is surrounded by peaks topping out at 14K! For the future, I want to hike the North Lake / JMT Evolution / South Lake loop. This will complete a major loop along the JMT I've been thinking about for several years. The Sierras are pretty okay. |
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