Minarets – 8/9/19

[Rick W]

Caltopo Route

Gear List

[Rick W]

I sneak out of the office early and get on the road.  I don’t finish all of my work, but enough to get me out of the door, and into wonderful SoCal traffic.  Even at 2:30, there was plenty of stop-and-go.  My kingdom for a hoverboard!  Any feelings of guilt I have for leaving work early disappear by the time I turn off of the 15, and onto the 395.  Although it’s not the most scenic spot, it has significance and promise.  Around 9:00 p.m. I pull into Mammoth and meet Ryan, who’s had his travel trailer set up there for the past week.  Working remotely has its perks.

After a lazy morning, and some breakfast at Schat’s, we pick up our permit.  The line is long, and once we tell the ranger where we’re headed (Section 4 of the Sierra High Route), she responds “Oh, you guys know a guy died there this week?  I’m not sure what your experience level is, but you should be prepared for steep/icy conditions”.

That’s a pretty serious warning.  We knew there would be snow, but I suppose neither of us expected much ice.  And although I doubt we would reach the same fate, there’s the simple fact that Ryan didn’t pack his microspikes.  When it’s 106°F in Moab and you hurriedly pack your gear, microspikes aren’t really on your mind.  Neither of us are big fans of dying, and he has two Corgis at home that need him back safely, so we decided to look for a new destination.

Requirements:

• No steep ice
• Places we’ve never been before
• Have to leave from the same trailhead (by Devil’s Postpile)

We decided to point our arrow at the Minarets and figure out the rest from there.  This had the Corgis’ approval, so we went on our way.

Minaret Falls

The mountains were green and somewhat forested at that elevation, and it was a beautiful day.  The hiking was easy, and after sharing the trail with some JMTers, we broke off towards the Minarets.  It seems like there are so many scenic areas of the Sierras, that every time I go to a new place, it becomes my new favorite spot.

Ryan found some tent poles on the trail near our destination, so we decided to bring them to camp in case their owner happened to be camping there as well.  After reaching Minaret Lake, we asked the first guy we saw if he was the owner of the missing tent poles, but alas, he was not.Along Minaret Creek

We set up camp in the windy conditions, which is super fun.  I love my ZPacks duplex, but watching me set up my tent in the wind must look like a guy without arms or legs trying to get out of a bathtub.  After rockin’ out, we got our tents up, and hear a guy across the lake yell for his tent poles.  “Yeah, we got ‘em!  Come on up!”  Those are some valuable tent poles in these windy conditions, and we probably saved him from having to get cozy with his hiking buddy that night.

The Minarets are stunning up close!  They’re stunning from far away too, but once you get close, they just draw you in, and dare you to climb them.  It’s a special spot in the Sierra, and one I’ll go back to.

Ryan – Takin’ a selfie like a true millenial

Rick – figuring out how much to bet someone that he could throw a football over them mountains

This trip had changed quite a few times already, so it wasn’t all that surprising that it had changed again.  We were originally going to do the first section of the Sierra High Route, out of Road’s End, and loop back through Bubb’s Creek.  But Ryan decided to grab life by the horns, move to Moab, and start working remotely.  (Which doesn’t make me jealous in the slightest!)  So, now it made more sense to do something out of the Eastern Sierra.  I got a permit out of Devil’s Postpile to tie into Section 4 of the SHR, which we would take all the way to Tuolumne Meadows over the course of a week or so.  This East side plan was not only more convenient, but we would also avoid some of the high off-trail passes that could treachorize us after a big snow year.  This got the approval of my two dogs.  But then life decided to grab me by the horns, as one of those dogs decided to chew up his leg to the point of requiring lots of hands on care, and ultimately shortened the trip into 3 days.  So, we were now planning on just doing the section of SHR4 from Devil’s Postpile to Thousand Island Lake, which was much less exciting than our original plan, but still worth an outing.  And in case you were wondering, my dog is available for adoption with a $0.00 re-homing fee!  A cringe-worthy pic of his leg is included at the bottom of this post, to spare anyone who doesn’t care to see it.

Regardless, we were still having a great time, hiking in the Sierras, having some drinks, and enjoying the views.  The next morning, we decided to head towards Ashley Lake.  After breaking off of the JMT, we hardly saw anyone.  Just two people and one bear.  It was a small black bear digging for grubs, but actually had brown fur, which might make people who didn’t know that California has no Grizzly bears (other than on our flag) be more scared than they need to be.  It was fun watching the brown black bear from the distance.  It’s always a treat to see wildlife, especially a bear.

Me: Little brown bears everywhere
Ryan: You’re nasty Rick
Me: I don’t care

Ashley Lake was another beautiful spot, and although it was windy again, we had the whole place to ourselves.  I took a dip in the water, which didn’t last very long.  It had to be the 2nd coldest lake I’ve ever jumped in.  I didn’t test the water to see how cold it was (on purpose), and I would’ve probably not gone in if I had (OK, I would’ve still gone in…).  I just found a deep spot and took the plunge.  After hanging out for a while and eating dinner, I was going to start complaining about how cold and windy it was, until I remembered that Ryan had slipped in the water and was hanging out in wet shoes and socks.  After our evening tradition of bourbon and Lindt balls, it was an early night, and I was sawing logs by 8.

At Ashley Lake

The hike out was quick and easy, with remarkable views and beautiful weather.

Best and worst of the weekend:

• Best – Ryan decided to take one for the team and surprise me with crowlers at Minaret Lake. In case you don’t have a drinking problem, a “crowler” is a 32 oz can of beer.  Just a little bit classier than drinking a 40.  That’s 4 lbs of consumable weight that this gram wheenie would never bring!  When we got to Minaret Lake, we saw a snowbank and decided to test out the laws of thermodynamics.  An hour or so later, after obeying all laws, we had icy cold beer!  Not only were the cans large, but it was an 8.1% IPA, which was delicious, but between that and the altitude, I had to stay away from any cliff edges that evening.
• Worst – Wind and mosquitoes. The wind was no fun.  I don’t mind the cold much, but once you add wind, it’s a different beast.  The nice thing is that it kept the mosquitoes away, which is great.  However, in the areas where it wasn’t windy, there were plenty of mosquitoes.  And they all know that I have precious O negative blood, which is like champagne to those little suckers!

This got my stamp of approval

Poor guy just had an itch that wouldn’t let up 

[Sharon J.]

Poor pup! Hope he’s feeling a little better now. Great scenery; enjoyed the write-up, too.

[Adam White]

Thanks for sharing! Great report and photos. I commiserate with the need to be so flexible.

Ashley Lake looks like a gem.

I learned a new word–crowler–which seems like a good word to know.

Did you consider Nancy Pass as a more direct way of going south from Minaret Lake?

[Paul Wagner]

Really nice report.  Sorry about your pup!

[Rick W]

Thanks guys.

Adam – yeah, we talked about going over Nancy pass, which would’ve certainly been more direct, and we had already scoped it out, so we were prepared.  But I decided to leave it for later, and go over it as part of a SHR trip instead.  Basically, I don’t want to do a part of the SHR unless I can do it as part of a much larger section.  That way, the SHR will remain unspoiled for me, if that makes sense.

[Adam White]

Ha, that does make sense Rick–you are waiting for your wedding night, so to speak :)

[Rick W]

Ha! Exactly

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