The Adventures of...: Days 56-57

Day 56, 7ish miles, endpoint partway up the Bishop Pass Trail (off the PCT)

This morning was our laziest yet. We slept in, cooked breakfast, and hung around the tent for hours. I read the book Norman had given us at the Onion Valley trailhead and enjoyed his stories about mountain climbing in the High Sierra. Josh took a nap. We took pictures of the deer and grouse that wandered through our campsite. Needless to say, there was no sense of urgency.

Finally, at 11:30am, we decided to do some hiking and hit the trail. About a mile and a half up the PCT we reached a junction with the Bishop Pass Trail, which was the route for our side trip to Mt. Agassiz. We turned right and immediately began a relentless climb, switchbacking up from 8,750 feet at the junction to 11,000 at our final camping spot. The uphill came with a reward though: the best scenery we have seen in the Sierras yet.

After passing a pounding waterfall, we arrived at a magical setting of lakes. We didn't pass a single hiker and felt like we had the entire place to ourselves. Our camping spot, in the Dusy Basin close to the top of the pass, sits on a cliff overlooking this magical scene of rivers, lakes, and trees. I have never seen anything quite like it.

Tomorrow we plan to continue the trail up to the top of the pass at 11,972 feet, then start a scramble up Mt. Agassiz, which sits just to the right of the pass and tops out at 13,893. It will be and up and down day; after that it will be the long downhill all the way back to the PCT, where we will then resume the uphill towards Muir Pass.

Our friendly bird in camp... a grouse?

And a curious deer as well.

Trail views.

Not a bad place to take care of chores.

A rare footbridge... happy we don't have to walk through the water.

Trail views.

Camping above the Dusy Basin... you're right, this spot doesn't suck.

Other view from camp.

Carla @ sunset.

Sunset.

Bedtime.

Day 57, 14 miles, endpoint PCT mile 836

Mt. Agassiz was a bust. We finished the last of the uphill to Bishop Pass first thing in the morning, hoping to climb to the top of Mt. Agassiz just next to the pass. Bishop Pass was our fifth big pass of the Sierras, and at 11,900+ was one of the highest. Once we made it to the chilly, windy, bleak and barren pass we began wandering around rock fields and snow looking for the route up the mountain. The terrain up there was open, void of trees, cold, and not very scenic. After scoping out the mountain base and freezing in the sharp wind, we realized the best route up Mt. Agassiz still had a heavy layer of snow on it. Feeling like we would rather be down the trail in the pretty lakes basin, we decided to bag the climb and headed back downhill the way we came.

After the long drop down the Bishop Pass Trail we were reunited with the PCT at about mile 831. We started uphill on the approach to Muir Pass. We have heard one consistent theme about the pass from southbound hikers who have already gone over it: snow. Two miles of snow on the south side, and three miles of snow on the north side, according to anecdotal trail rumors.

Believing the rumors to be true, we have camped about two miles below the pass, with a view of a pretty lake and about six or seven different mountains, all towering above 13,000 feet. This location will make it as easy as possible to get to the pass in the morning, when the snow hopefully won't be icy but also won't be too soft. Here's hoping Muir Pass won't be another Glenn Pass or Mather Pass!