Mount Crocker From McGee Creek *AND* Mosquito Flats

August 25th & 26th, 2018
Mount Crocker (12,458')
Hike In From McGee: 5.9 miles, 2,300 ft 
Hike In From Mosquito: 20.3 miles, 5,200'
Summit Day & Out: 11.9 miles, 2,400'

We drove over to the trailhead and let everyone know the news. Mostly people were amused and said to have fun but Victor and Justin both readily agreed to join me..


So while the main group meandered their way up McGee Pass and arrived at the lake by 2 pm took a vehicle over to Rock Creek and started hiking at 11 am from the Mossquito Flats trailhead. We had full backpacking loads on our backs and a big day ahead of us.



We sent to the end of the road and took the first right up to Mono Pass. We chatted with a few other folks on the way up several of whom expressed incredulity that we were going to make it over the two passes.


Mono Pass was nice and easy and gave us an impressive view over Pioneer Basin.  And here we had to make a decision. We could either climb up Pioneer Basin and then over the Crocker / Stanford saddle to Steelhead or we could continue west and cross Hopkin Pass.

We settled on Hopkins because while it was longer there was theoretically a trail vs we expected to be boulder hopping from the saddle down the Steelhead. And also I wanted to see a new segment of trail!

In hindsight it probably would have been a bit easier to just go up Pioneer and drop down though the descent to the lake would have been nasty with full packs. See day two for pictures.


We followed a well-defined trail down to Mono Creek and the base of the Hopkins Lake drainage where we enthusiastically set off for the main climb of the day. And promptly went the wrong way as there are at least two trails running parallel.


Once we got that sorted out we followed the correct use trail up to around Upper Hopkins Lake at which point it faded out and we were hiking cross country with occasional ducks here and there. This entire drainage was beutiful and didn't have near the foot traffic of the trail below so if you get the chance to camp here I'd highly recommend it.


The last hoof over Hopkins Pass was a bit of a struggle but hey, it was supposed to be *mostly* downhill from here.


We reached the pass at 7 pm meaning we didn't have a ton of daylight left to us. We didn't find a trail so much as a loose but workable route though it is possible something better existed further to the west.


Rather than burn more daylight we shouldered our packs and dropped down the chute.


And we were finally back in McGee Creek.


We made it basically down to the trail before dark only donning our headlamps for the last little bit. Unfortunately while we'd now done the hard part we weren't done.

We were lagging a bit as we descended down McGee to where the trail to Steelhead splits off. In particular the last howevermany switchbacks before the junction felt it was never going to end with the stream sounding tantalizingly close in the darkness.


And then we just had to do the climb up to Steelhead Lake. It was only about 700 ft or so and maybe a mile but it was brutal. There's a trail but it was steep and we'd been hiking for 19 miles or so with full packs at this point. We put our heads down and powered through it though both Victor and I later commented we'd been half out of our head during the climb.

Finally, we turned a corner and saw Kristen's pack waiting for us on the side of the trail. There was no sign of Kristen or the others but we assumed the pack had been left as a sign to leave the trail here to find the group. So we did and ended up wandering through the dark trying to find our folks without yelling since we didn't know if there were other groups at the lake.

Turns out the pack had been left to the side of the trail as a sign to continue along the trail to find where Kristen and the others were waiting. Apparently. Don't ask me to explain the logic behind that one.

We finally rejoined our group at 10:30 pm victorious if slightly exhausted. Turns out Victor had been carrying the tent he and Lubna were going to use so she had had to sleep out while waiting for us. She and Kristen were quite nice preparing hot food for us since the three of us mostly wanted to get off our feet and into something warm.

The other group had arrived at the lake at 2 pm and by all accounts had a lovely afternoon relaxing. There had been a bit of a wind so no one was in the mood for swimming but other than that Steelhead made for a pleasant camp.


Needless to say the next morning was a bit of a rough time. We started hiking arond 6:30 am and I was struggling right out of the gate.

I'm not sure what was wrong with me other than being a bit tired from the day before but I only made it up the relativly gentle Crocker because if I didn't the group would have had to turn around due to Sierra Club rules. I was in the back dragging the entire day.


The drainage south of Steelhead Lake is a boulder field which ends at this headwall which looks nasty from a distance...


But works -ish once you are there. We just went up the middle and spread out to avoid rockfall issues.


Once we reached the saddle it was an easy walk for about 3/4 of a mile before things got interesting.


The route is described as 3rd class but you can basically keep it 2nd class except for one short little section.


Near the big rockface in the center of the ridge we had to cut left and climb a short chute to get back to the ridge.


It is 3rd class but on the easier end.


After that we cut to the north side of the ridge and followed a ramp across the northern face and up the northwestern ridge.


We had some folks along with less experience on loose Sierra chutes who weren't huge fans of the route but I would say it's about average for this sort of thing.


The last of us made the summit around 10:30 am and the views were amazing particularly of Red Slate and Baldwin which Kristen and I had led last season.




We went down the same way we'd come up just having to take a bit of care. And for me I had to try not to fall over as I was struggling to make every step and I'm fairly sure I was hallucinating a bit at one point.



We were down off the boulders by 12:30 pm which just left the descent of the chute before everything was downhill and on trail.


The descent was rough for some of our folks. There was no easy way just choices that sucked in slightly different ways. You could try your luck on the loose sand and plunge a bit but boulders would come loose. Some folks tried sticking more to the side so they could hold on the larger rocks but those were rotten as well.


Eventually we made it down and by 3:30 pm we were on the trail headed out.


McGee Creek is a beautiful hike but I admit to being a bit out of it and not appreciating the views to my usual levels. Mostly due to me dragging we made it out to the parking lot by 6:30 pm.

I was really hoping that whatever was affecting me Sunday was just simple exhaustion and would clear itself out. Granted it felt like something more serious to me but I didn't have anything to point to except for a low grade cold and a busy schedule.

The next weekend was Labor Day which is always a longer 4 day trip for me followed by two provisional trips so I was highly stressed at the idea of not being up for trips. Sadly I'd end up bailing out of Labor Day earlier and dropping out of the two provisionals due to some sort of illness that lasted through half of September.

So next up is a slightly sad writeup of a failed trip up Sawmill Pass and then see Silliman and Piute a few weeks later as I recovered and got back to business as usual -ish.