Onion Valley to Mount Whitney - Day 3

Onion Valley to Mount Whitney - Day 3

We recently completed a five day, four night backpacking trip from Onion Valley to Mount Whitney. This trip covers the southernmost section of the John Muir Trail. 

Day three: Lake below Forester pass to Lake South America to Wright Creek.

Distance: 14 miles.
Elevation: start: 12,000 feet. Highest: 12,000 feet at start and at Lake South America
Total gain/loss :  1000 feet total gain, 3000 feet total loss.  

Sunrise outside camp.

Heavy frost on the ground. It got really, really cold that night.

Condensation on the tent froze overnight, despite being on a tent which was occupied.   It was cold.  Forester pass in the background.

We pulled the damp sleeping bags out of the tent to dry them out, only to find the dampness had transformed to ice in the 20 minutes it took to prepare and eat breakfast.  Like I said, cold.

This is a side trip off the main trail to a lake called Lake South America.   The creek, lake, and meadow below were the majority of the 3 mile each way hike (the distance between the closest green to the farthest was over 2 miles), with a short but very steep climb up to the lake.

Lake South America, because of the shape.  King-Kern divide in the background (many peaks in the 13-14000 foot range).  The lake was actually 300 feet below and over 1/4 mile away from this photo.  We saw some deer here. Again, this place was huge and amazing, but my camera is just not big enough.

Area below lake South America 

We got caught at a spot similar to this, right at the timber line, in a hailstorm with lightning.  All the trees had burn marks, apparently from prior lightning strikes.  The trees there are really old, but still.  We decided to hike downhill to a low spot, covered ourselves with the rain fly, hunkered down, and waited about an hour for the storm to pass. Hail, sleet, lightning, thunder, exposure, cold.  It was a bit terrifying.

The remaining ice after about an hour on hunkering down .

These photos were taken a couple hours after the storm, while passing through an area called the Bighorn Plateau.  This is a massive space with no trees, and lots of grass. The guidebook we used pointed out that this area is actually not good bighorn sheep habitat.  Having spent time in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, my theory is that it was named after the Bighorn mountains not the bighorn sheep that occupy some of the more rocky areas in the Sierra Nevada.

Retreating clouds display ominous hail pockets.

Big trees on the way down from the Bighorn plateau. It seems like the largest trees right concentrated just below the timberline.

Camp, night 3 , Wright creek.  The diffused light offered by the large pines and white noise of the nearby creek helped make this site which lacked impressive views compared to the others more valuable in terms of providing a restful place. We slept a long time here.