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| Hiking | 8.30 Miles |
1,824 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.30 Miles | 8 Hrs 32 Mns | | 0.97 mph |
| 1,824 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This was my fifth day hike on a 13 day car camping trip traveling south on HW395 in the Eastern Sierras of California. I drove up to South Lake the day before my planned hike and setup camp in the Willow Campground about 2 miles from the South Lake trailhead. This is a small tents only camp ground nestled in the aspens along Bishop Creek. Despite the designation of tents only, a pickup truck with a large camper parked in the campsite next to me after knocking a couple limbs off the surrounding aspens. Most of the campsites are not level with the picnic tables sloping at odd angles. But that was OK, I used the top of the Bear Box, which was level, for a cooking and eating surface.
The next morning I arrived at the trailhead at 7:30am. After an unplanned detour down a fishermen's trail to the lakes edge I got back on trail and was on my way. I had planned on only hiking on trails that I had not hiked on my previous trips to the Eastern Sierras. But my memories of the exceptional beauty of this trail convinced me to repeat this one. I was not disappointed. It was by far the most beautiful hike of the six major hikes I would take on this trip due to both the scenery and the excellent weather with clear blue sky dotted with white clouds. I encountered several backpackers headed down to the trailhead throughout the morning and then several headed back up the trail on my way out. Everyone encountered on the trail were in high spirits due to the awesome beauty of the Sierras and the good weather. I decided to turn around at Bishop Lakes and not wear myself out going up that last 700 ft elevation gain to the 12k high pass. I'd been there 5 years ago and recalled that the views were not worth the pain. I relaxed in the warm sun and had a snack on a small hill overlooking Bishop Lakes after snooping around a Snow Survey Shelter cabin before starting the return hike.
The return hike went quickly being all down hill but there were several delays to talk to other hikers along the way. The most memorable encounter was a gentleman about 8 years older than me and his wife who were relaxing just off trail near the north end of Long Lake. After we'd talked for a while swapping stories he asked if I'd like to join him for a smoke. Thinking he meant tobacco, I declined saying I didn't smoke. His wife was sitting with her back to me but I could tell that she was cringing at his offer. It was then that I realized he was offering to smoke pot.  Tempting, but I still declined. He said he'd been a recreational pot smoker for 50 years and now that it was legal in CA he felt comfortable smoking it in public places like along the trail. I'm still chuckling about that encounter.
The next morning while packing up to leave camp I had an encounter of a different kind. I went out in front of my car to talk to a fellow camper leaving the bear box door open with my cooler in it. 15 minutes later when I went back to get the cooler it had fresh black paw prints on the lid. The black stuff on the critter's paws was probably from pawing through the charcoal in my fire pit where I had dumped greasy water from my frying pan. Fortunately nothing had been taken. I'm not sure what kind of critter but it was a very sneaky one. Maybe a raccoon because there was a stream nearby. A bear would have ripped open the ice chest lid, grabbed some food, and been gone in a flash. |
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