Rodgers & Electra From Isberg Pass And Twin Island Lakes

September 1st to 5th, 2017

Electra Peak (12,442')

Rodgers Peak (12,978')
Day 1: 16.1 miles, 4,400'
Day 2: 7.3 miles, 3,100'
Day 3: 7.1 miles, 3,600'
Day 4: 15.4 miles, 2,100'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

We did our usual late night drive up and after a fairly uneventful trip we spent a few short hours sleeping at the Clover Meadow Campground.


There were warnings as we came through Fresno that 41 was closed north of Oakhurst due to a fire. This is sadly not unusual at this time of year and we were just hoping to avoid the worst of the smoke.


We met Jeff a short way down the road from the Isberg Pass Trailhead.  There were a few cars but plenty of flat spots where it turned out we could have spent the night. There were bear boxes but no bathrooms.


The trail started with some gentle uphill for several miles and then started climbing in earnest.


It got particularly memorable at the lookout point before dropping down to Hemlock Crossing.



Hemlock has an old metal bridge and one of the most spectacular swimming spots I'd ever seen.


Unfortunately we still had another 4 or 5 miles (or so we thought) so we kept moving since it was already 3 pm.


Up until now we'd had fairly clear skies so far but looking back we could see smoke back the way we'd come.  It was likely from the Railroad, South Fork, Empire, or possibly Mission fires all of which were not far off and you could see it advancing up the canyon behind us.


The smoke caught us around 5 pm leaving us hiking through an unfortunate haze. In addition while the trail up until now had been well developed once we passed Stevenson Meadow it became far less distinct. We ended up losing it several times in the next section which wasn't helped by the fact we were running out of daylight.

And just to make it extra interesting we had to do a rather chilly boots of crossing right before we turned west to climb up to Twin Island Lakes.


The map shows a trail going up most of the way to Twin Island Lakes but be aware it's basically just use trail and not particularly easy to follow during the day much less at night.


Also these were everywhere.  Every rock we sat down on seemed to have at least one and I saw several when walking around.


Once it was dark we had a bright moon lighting up the towering rocks to the east and the ash falling through the beams of our headlamp. It made for a slightly surreal feeling and of course couldn't be captured in pictures.

The climb over the ridge was steep and in a few spots a bit scrambly. Even when we reached the lake it took some care since it was all boulder scrambling near the shoreline.

We aimed for the north side of the northern Twin Island Lakes since satellite shots seemed to indicate some promising campsites. Unfortunately when we arrived at 10:30 pm or so we found a few usable spots and a rather significant crossing to get to the far side of the lake thanks to where the North Fork San Joaquin River was flowing in.  North of us everything seemed to be grassy section and anything on the rocks above was either covered in snow or not flat.

In hindsight I'd have probably gone south to camp at my CouldCamp waypoint between the two lakes.  However to get there would have been another boots of crossing for us at the outlet of the northern lake so our camp worked.

We ended up setting our tents up and cooking a restrained dinner before collapsing into our sleeping bags a little before midnight.

Day 2: Electra

In the morning our camp location did look better than the surrounding options. We could see some rocks across the way that did look promising for tent sites but with the snow fields blocking the eastern side of the lake we would be crossing back over to this side every morning and evening. We decided to stay put.

After the rough day yesterday we decided to head for Electra with the plan of continuing and descending the western slopes and coming back over Rodgers if time and group energy allowed.  Privately I was skeptical considering how much yesterday had taken out of everyone but hey, at the very least we were going to get a spectacular and remote peak!


We were moving around 6:30 am and less than twenty minutes later we had our boots and pants off as we waded across the crossing I mentioned at the lake outlet.

At the ball wash. A hell of a way to start the morning

From there we followed the eastern shore of the southern lake.  This involved both some light 3rd class and a short icy snow crossing.


We went around the south end of the southern Twin Island Lakes and then followed ramps around to the drainage southeast of Electra.  Since Secor called this class 1 I was eager to find the bike path.


It wasn't exactly that easy but I'll take it.


Everyone was beat up from yesterday and for a while a few people were considered waiting below the summit or heading back to camp. Also during one of the breaks we were getting water out of a small stream when Kristen just happened to pitch in her iPhone. It turns out they really are waterproof...


Other than that it was fairly straightforward and we reached the summit of Electra at 12:30 pm.  I'd said I needed at least 6 hours of daylight to be able to make it down the far side and across Rodgers and we were just inside that window.  However the group was beat.


The descent down the east side of Electra looked doable though the traverse to Rodgers was a bit on the long side with a number of rather prominent snow fields we would have to cross to even reach the 3rd class eastern route on Rodgers.  And then we would be on a tight time schedule for getting back up and over having to descend more 3rd class on the far side to get to camp. So we decided not to try it.


Views of the Ritter Range were spectacular and I used the intermittent phone signal I had at the summit to send a shot to my friend Dave who would be leading Davis the following weekend.  (Davis is the bump on the left side of the picture above)


To the west we could see the area around Mount Florence which we had planned as a part of a buttkicker four day trip right at the end of summer.


Unfortunately we could also see smoke in the distance and once again it seemed to be heading our way.




Electra does have one of those old cast register boxes that are getting so rare these days.


We descended back the way we came.


Sure enough the smoke came up the canyon about the same time as it had the day before obliterating our nice views and making it slightly difficult to breath.



We made it back to camp around 7 with just enough daylight to have an actual group happy hour this time.

Day 3: Rodgers

Today we had a choice to make. We'd originally considered adding Forester and Ansel if we'd made the traverse from Electra to Rodgers the day before but all things considered we decided Rogers was deeper in and the peak we actually wanted. So we aimed for that.


Kristen started off the days climb in typical style with a very dramatic fall of all of two feet and a lot of laughter.


We followed the streams feeding into Twin Island Lake North which led into a spectacularly remote area with no signs of human passage. This area made a really big impression and made the entire trip for me.


The waterfall in the distance is what we needed to climb to access the southeastern ridge of Rodgers.


As is the way with these things it started looking a lot more doable the closer we got.  We picked the right side of the waterfall and took the diagonal you can see starting on the right side of the picture above.


It went pretty easy though a few parts had a slight bit of exposure of the sort that is perfectly fine on nice solid dry rock but you might not want to do during a rainstorm. But hey, what's the chance of that happening...


From there we picked our way up mixed rock and snow fields.




And then up the loose rock to gain the ridge. And as we did the clouds were starting to look a bit...interesting



We saw another person up above though he never got close enough we could talk before he disappeared down the north side of the ridge. We figured they had probably come in from June Lakes.



We made the summit at 1 pm.


The clouds around us were looking suitable concerning and we decided it was time to hightail it down. As we descended down the loose rock we could hear booming in the distance. Everyone was skeptical of me calling it airplanes and trying to keep them moving...


And sure enough it opened up on us right before the 3rd class downclimb.



As I mentioned the route we'd taken up required a bit of friction over some exposure and so I ended up taking us pretty much straight down instead which was steep but worked.





From there we could relax a bit as the rest was just basic cross country.



Back in camp we found indication it had rained a fair amount. Victor had bought his tent from another friend and former student of ours after she sold it partially due to a disastrous trip *last* labor day. She'd spent a fairly miserable weekend trying to keep it standing amid strong winds below Royce and Merian.

And this year it killed again. The vestibule had partially collapsed and there was water inside the main tent. Next year I'm putting a warning about that tent in the damned writeup...

Day 4: And Out

We knew we had another long day so we were up and out of camp by 6:30 am.



Retracing the route we'd taken to the lake proved to be a bit easier in the daylight.



We still ended up having to do a boots off crossing at the base but it was shallow and actually felt rather nice on our battered feet.



The trail from there was still a bushwhack even with the benefit of daylight.



Hemlock Crossing is the low point for the day and at the base of a 2.5 mile, 1200' hill. We were motivated to keep moving until we happened across a perfect swim spot we found just north of the crossing.




After that refreshing episode we forced ourselves back on the trail.


A bit further on we passed Hemlock Crossing itself where we noticed two people up in the cliffs to the west.  They seemed to be looking for something around point 2535 and at first we thought they were lost but when we got closer we could see they had seen us on the trail and that they had maps in their hand. We never did figure out what they were looking for.

As I mentioned at this point the trail climbs for the next 2.5 miles and 1,200'.  I was feeling good that morning and sprinted off ahead.



We all formed up at the top about an hour and a half later. Kristen and Victor had had an unofficial competition going on the way up that was apparently called off by Kristen when she started not winning but the details are contested.



From there it was just pounding out the miles on sore feet. We made the parking lot a little after 4 grateful to finally be out.



The smoke on the way out was significantly worse than anything we'd faced up the hill.





We had an always excellement meal at El Cid in Oakhurst and even made it home before 1 am!