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| Hiking | 13.37 Miles |
1,902 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.37 Miles | 6 Hrs 42 Mns | | 2.29 mph |
| 1,902 ft AEG | 51 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Dayhike from our camp at Big Whitney Meadow to the spectacular Rocky Basin Lakes. The first part of the hike climbs gently before getting a bit steeper and reaching a crest before dropping a few hundred feet down to Baringer Stringer and a junction of trails to Little Whitney Meadow, Golden Trout Creek, and Rocky Basin Lakes.
From the junction, the trail climbs one mile to a signed junction where the trail splits. The left fork is labeled the "horse trail" and the right the "foot trail". We opted left, with the intention of returning on the foot trail. It's almost 2 miles more to get to Rocky Basin Lakes, but along the way, we passed by two smaller lakes we weren't expecting.
After arriving at the basin, we took a few breaks and enjoyed an off-trail route around the various lakes, each with different views of this beautiful area. At the outlet of the largest lake, it was easy to find the start of the "foot trail" that follows Baringer Stringer downstream. A couple of smaller lakes were very full and caused some route-finding issues, and we lost the trail completely for a segment through a hillside of boulders. Once we were back on track, we saw that the trail was well-cairned and would have been more difficult to lose if hiking it uphill.
On the way down, we opted for the extra two mile trip on the trail to Golden Trout Creek instead of going directly back to Big Whitney Meadow. This trail is in a totally different location than where it is marked on maps, but was a pleasant trip through a new area for us.
The last couple of miles back to camp we split up, and I hiked along the creek in the middle of the Big Whitney Meadow. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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Barigan Stringer |
Medium flow |
Medium flow |
| | | Above normal flow from spring snowmelt. | | _____________________
| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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