Snow Nymph's photos:
http://community.webshots.com/album/127447799gyQiAL
Calhiker's photos:
http://community.webshots.com/album/127773517RKQeLG/0
Mosquito Flat/Little Lakes Valley Snowshoe/Backpack
March 20-21, 2004
Windwalker said "What are you doing on the 20th?" Unfortunately he wasn't able to make it in the end, but that's how the trip got started. A few other people expressed interest, and Ridgeline and Doug posted that they were going to dayclimb Mt Starr. That sounded like a good trip.
By Friday, it was down to me and Calhiker. Ridgeline and Doug went in on Friday. I went to REI to get the Sno-Park Pass only to find out they quit selling them a month ago. We bought one in the store at Tom's Place Saturday morning instead. We found out you can also get the Sno-Park Pass at the Rock Creek Road End ($5/day).
We started up the Rock Creek Road (8,800') at 10:35. I was having trouble with the heat, altitude and the weight of my pack. I've carried all of this gear before without problems, but maybe getting in late and not enough sleep got to me. I put the snowshoes on for awhile to get the weight off my back, but it didn't help. It took 2 hrs to go the first 2 miles so I took the snowshoes off for Calhiker to carry and put my crampons on. The snow was getting really soft, so the spikes helped keep the slipping to a minimum. The next mile took 40 min. We stopped for a 1 hr lunch break in a rare shady spot that overlooked Rock Creek Lake. We continued up the road and I postholed while looking for a tree (had to pee) and couldn't get up, so I had to call Calhiker who was down the road, for help. It caused a little sore spot on my knee. We were at the Mosquito Flat Trailhead (10,200') by 4pm. (5 miles from the start).
Some skiers had seen two people coming down from Mt Starr, postholing up to their hips, moving real slow, and even looking like they might be in trouble. We decided not to do Starr after hearing this, and instead decided to just hike around Little Lakes Valley. We found the hut where Ridgeline and Doug were staying and left a note since they weren't there at the time. We left the hut and started hiking to find a place to camp. Calhiker was ahead and greeted two weary looking hikers coming the other way. He asked, "Are either of you guys Ridgeline?" Turns out it was Ridgeline and his friend Doug, the same guys the skiers had seen earlier with their binoculars. They had been out all day trying to climb Mt. Starr but came up empty. Worn out from a day of toiling in the deep snow, they said they were looking forward to a warm fire in the hut so we said good-bye. We continued on, postholing knee to thigh deep where the vegetation was. The ski tracks went right over them, but with snowshoes and heavy packs, we sank. By 5pm we found a nice flat area (10,400') overlooking the end of Mack Lake, with views of Little Lakes Valley and the surrounding peaks. We found a really nice spot overlooking the lake, but then Calhiker postholed again, so we backed away from that area. I dug out a small area for Calhiker to put his feet while sitting down. The top 6-8" was solid, but below that the snow got really soft. I think that if I would have stood in it, I could have sunk to the bottom. We tried to pack the snow down as much as we could, and even put a snowshoe in it.
Right after dusk, we saw what looked like a bright, multi-color planet low in the western sky. At the time we didn't know what it was. It was actually five planets-Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn-in alignment, stretched across the evening sky, creating a spectacular night show. The conditions have to be just right for all five planets to be clearly visible at dusk or dawn. We then set up tents, melted snow for water, and enjoyed the beauty of the Sierra evening til temps dropped to 15 degrees. We were tired from getting in late Friday night and turned in for the night. I had my new Stevenson Warmlite, so I let Calhiker use my old one. He really appreciated its warmth after sleeping in a two season tent at Lower Boy Scout Lake a month ago.
Sunday was another beautiful day. Blue skies, then the clouds started coming in and were changing constantly. Temps were around 75 again, but got cooler with cloud cover. Calhiker carried the gear for our dayhike, including the ice axes and empty camelbacks. We hiked to Heart Lake, then Box Lake. We filled our camelbacks straight from the Box Lake outlet and then looked for a place to practice glissading. Finding nothing steep enough, we realized it was getting late. We headed back via Marsh Lake and looped back to Mack Lake, taking photos of everything along the way. We packed up, and reluctantly left our beautiful campsite. Another day in the area would have been nice. We left camp at 2:10pm, made a 15 minute stop at the Mosquito Flat Trailhead, then hiked down the Rock Creek Road. We ran into the skiers from Saturday again and talked to them for a little while. What we would have given for those ski's! By now we were sunburned, and the calves were pretty sore from the snowshoes and postholing. The back of Calhiker's left knee was beet red, along with his face and neck, and the postholing scraped the sunburn on his leg even more. The snow on the road was soft, so I put the crampons on for the last 3 miles, now I wanted the snowshoes on my back instead of my sore legs. We came across a woman skiing up the road and she told us that she had lost her watch. She asked us to leave it on her van if we found it. Lately I'm blind as a bat, but I spotted it while we were still some distance away. We arrived back at the road end at 5:15pm. This was a beautiful weekend to backpack the Sierra!
Snowy
www.snow-nymph.com
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