This was a three-day trip primarily aimed at students who had taken the Sierra Club Wilderness Travel Course though it was open to anyone who follows Sierra Club outings.


This trip came about because Olancha Group Leader Garry McCoppin had been here in the 1980s with a precursor to Wilderness Travel Course when he broke his leg during a glissade gone wrong. He's now in his 70s (and kicking more ass than you'd think possible at that age) and wanted to get up there again to see the area.

I'm always up for an adventure with Garry and we planned a moderate sounding three-day adventure. The first day would be an easy-ish hike into camp where we'd spend the afternoon relaxing and maybe get in a lake swim or two. Then on the second day we would follow the trail up to Mesan Lake and climbed a chute to access Mount Mallory and Irvine. (We didn't make the latter due to weather but I'm not overly heartbroken as it really looks like it's better done from Arc Pass.)

And then we threw in Lone Pine Peak on the last day because it's a) a fun climb and b) so damn impressive from 395 that many people assume it must be Mount Whitney.

July 20th to 22nd, 2018

Mount Mallory (13,845')

Lone Pine Peak (12,944')
Day 1: 5.1 miles, 3,500'
Day 2: 6.3 miles, 3,700'
Day 3: 8.4 miles, 2,500'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

Temple Crag is one of those peaks that is very well known and yet relatively seldom climbed.  It straddles the North and South Fork of Big Pine Creek areas and is probably right up there with Whitney and Lone Pine Peak in how commonly people post pictures of it online and for good reason.


This is the view of Temple Crag from 3rd Lake in North Fork from a trip a few years back.  It pops up early on as you're climbing up the drainage and just dominates the sky.

It's yet another peak I'd tried to plan periodically but never made it up.  The closest I'd ever come was maybe 1/2 of the way up Contact Pass after a failed attempt at the North Palisade U Notch turned into Sil and Gayley with time to spare.  That time my battered knees and the horrible slog up the pass caused me to turn back and eventually make plans for this weekend to get it via South Fork of Big Pine Creek along with Randy de los Santos and Gracia Plascencia.

July 14th & 15th, 2018

Temple Crag (12,976')

7.2 miles, 4,300'

9.3 miles, 3,100'

[Pics] [Caltopo] [Map]

Mount Emerson is a relatively accessible mountain on the Sierra Peak Section list located off to the north of Loch Leven as you climb Piute Pass. I climbed it years ago via the standard 2nd / 3rd class route on my way to climb Pilot Knob and Four Gables and I remember at the time looking at the description of the 5.4 technical route and looking down at what looked like a very gnarly ridge. Since I generally prefer the overall experience of backpacking in the Sierra over shorter day hikes it's sat there on my list of things to do eventually.

Then this weekend rolled around and Jen and I were looking for something interesting to do after coming off the San Juan Islands paddle trip on Wednesday. I'd flown back into town Thursday morning to work for two days while Jen was driving back from Seattle and would be passing by the Eastern Sierra. We didn't feel up to planning anything too involved and hit upon the idea of knocking out two easier technical alpine climbs which turned into Crystal Crag Saturday and this on Sunday.

The route description for Emmerson lists it as a 5.4 but I would caution against underestimating the difficulty. This is an alpine route and while the pitches aren't incredibly difficult they are awkward in places and the anchor options are very limited. I know of one bailout and one major accident that happened up there and after having done it myself now I can understand a little better what might have happened. In addition once you reach the ridge there is an intense 4th class scramble that requires some not insignificant route finding. But the reward is an intense route up a peak that's fairly pedestrian by other routes.

Thursday morning I'd just gotten back from a 5 day kayak touring trip up in Washington. So after two days back at work I found myself at another weekend trying to decide what to do.

If you're expecting me to say I stayed home and caught up on sleep you've probably not been reading this blog very long!

Instead it was off to the eastern sierra to meet Jen Blackie who had driven straight through from Seattle. I'd had just enough time to do laundry and load up the rock climbing gear in the Jeep for two days of alpine climbing starting with Crystal Crag in Mammoth.

Crystal Crag (10,377') - North Arete 5.7 Route
4.15 miles, 1,700'

This trip is a little different from my usual mountain related activities but it's something that I've been talking about doing for quite some time. Ever since Kristen, Jen, and I bought our sea kayaks we've been wanting to do more kayak touring and destination paddling in general.

So this 4th of July weekend off to Washington we went! 5 days! Winds! Currents! Islands! And a Gilligans Island style stranding / minor marine rescue which put us in danger of not making our flights back home!

June 30th to July 4th, 2018

Day 1: 11.75 miles - Smugglers Cove To Jones Island

Day 2: 8.6 miles - Jones Island To Turn Island

Day 3: 12.4 miles - Turn Island To Posey Island

Day 4: 18.5 miles - Posey Island To Stewart Island

Day 5: 12.5 miles - Stewart Island To Point Gilligan

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

This was the last of the Southern Sierra trips for the season as it gets pretty hot and dry down there after about mid June.  We had just enough time to sneak in one more Sierra Club "I" provisional which this area works well for thanks to faint or missing trails, ample opportunities for cross country travel, and the lack of useful landmarks in the distance.

It's also an area I hadn't been back to since I did these peaks originally in 2010 and I had really fond memories of hiking through the meadows and the views from the peaks.  When Lubna mentioned in when looking at provisional options I jumped at the chance to go back.

Originally Jen and I intended to lead this officially for the Sierra Club and we'd grabbed a 9 person permit to that end only to realize we'd likely need ice axes and crampons this early.  So instead it became a private outings and our first real trip to high altitude this season with all the associated joyous struggles that that entails.

Our plan was to hike in via Pine Creek and cross Italy Pass to camp at Lake Italy.  Day two we'd climb Hilgard and Gabb and then we'd have day three to hike out.  What happened instead is we camped on the closer side of the pass due to the amount of snow we hit and only got Hilgard but it still made for a great weekend.

June 15th to 17th, 2018

Mount Hilgard (13,361')

Day 1: 7.1 miles, 3,800'

Day 2: 11.5 miles, 4,800'

Day 3: 7 miles, 150'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]

Hockett Peak is a named peak on the USGS topo that is located in the Southern Sierra along the Kern to the west of Jordan Hot Springs.  After passing by it a number of times over the years Kristen Lindberg and I led a WTC trip to climb it in 2017 to great success.

Hockett towers above Trout Meadows which is one of those incredibly green and scenic meadows you find all over in the Southern Sierra.  It's full of nice camp spots with legal fire pits, ample wood, and multiples options for access to water.  The best trailhead is Jerky Meadows, aka the same trail we used for this years Massacre trip and one that opens reliably early every year.

This was also another Sierra Club provisional this time an "I" rating for Victor Gomez.  The I rating is for cross country travel so we had to do something that had a decent amount of it and where the navigation wasn't obvious.


Hence why our summit day for Hockett would be a little more circuitous than the route we took last year.  Instead of climbing the western flank we'd come around from the south and hit a few points along the way.  This would make for a fairly long day considering we had to return to camp, pack up, then hike out which involves an uphill climb to the cars.

Victor also had us camping at the Trout Meadows FS Station after verifying with the Kernville rangers that it was ok.  This gave us a reliable water source, a nice fire pit, logs for sitting, and even two rather nice outhouses.  It was almost too comfy...

June 9th & 10th, 2018

Hockett Peak (8,552')

Day 1: 8.7 miles, 1,800'

Day 2: 16.8 miles, 4,300'

[Pics] [Caltopo] [Map]

I'm a little late to the party here since this product was released years ago and can currently only be found at a few retailers.  In fact it had been on my radar as a curiosity that I wanted to try out for years but I never pulled the trigger until I realized it had been pulled from the market.

As of early 2018 the website (http://www.patsbcb.com) seems to have gone offline and you can only find the product in stock in a few online stores.  What appears to have happened is they shut down Pat's and reformed as Sustainable Beverage Technologies focusing on using the same technique to sell soda like beer dispensers to resteraunts.

According to someone I corresponded with on their end they currently do not offer the backcountry kit and while they may do so again at some point in the future they currently have no plans.  So if you're interested in experiencing this particular backcountry oddity best do it soon!

Pat's Backcountry Beverages Beer Kit

I came out of last weekend's three day Memorial Day Massacre trip sore but feeling surprisingly strong compared to previous years.  That left me ready for another significant trip and as it turned out this weekend was one of those rare ones that I didn't have a solid commitment for.

After debating options I decided to do a solo backpack out in the Golden Trout Wilderness.  It's rare for me to do trips solo as I'm fortunate to know a ton of people who are always up for adventures of various sorts and I think this was probably my first full solo since my JMT fastpack back in 2013.

I'm a huge fan of the Golden Trout Wilderness since it's relatively lightly traveled, it's low enough to allow campfires, and there are some really spectacular camping options along the various streams and rivers.  And the meadows out there are just spectacular!  After looking at different options I eventually settled on going out of Cottonwood Pass and aiming for some remote named peaks called Overlook and Tower that I'd had my eyes on for quite some time.

June 2nd to 4th, 2018

Overlook Mountain (10,220')

Tower Rock (8,520')

Day 1: 13.8 miles, 1,000'

Day 2: 14.9 miles, 3,200'

Day 3: 18.4 miles, 3,700'

[Pics] [CalTopo] [Map]