Day 16 was by far the hardest day on paper, with 15 miles and 4200 ft of climbing, but it didn't seem like the hardest at the time. The trail took be over Bear Ridge, down to Mono Creek and then back up 3000 feet to Silver Pass. I camped on the north side of Silver Pass at the first convenient spot.
The trail up to Bear Ridge saw many changes in vegetation. It started in the pine forest, then turned to Manzanita and Aspen as it approached the ridge. This was also the first place that I saw the Incense Cedar. It is a beautiful tree, tall and elegant with segmented leaves and thick, soft, redding bark.
Incense Cedar
There were a lot of wildflowers on the way up to Bear Ridge. This is the Woolly Mule Ear, perhaps the best flower name I have heard yet.
Once on top of the ridge, Lodgepole Pines took over again. These are the most dominant trees on the trail. The traverse across the ridge goes on for a mile and a half, but seems longer because of the unchanging scenery. I was glad to get to the far side.
Lodgepole Pines on Bear Ridge
The pine cones dropped by Lodgepole Pines are numerous and sharp. You have to clear a spot to sit or lie down and walking is painful.
Lodgepole Pine cones littering the ground
The trail down the north side of Bear Ridge is a seemingly endless two and a half miles of switchbacks that drop 2000 ft to Mono Creek. I was glad to be going down and didn't see any smiling faces walking up.
Steep descent on the north side of Bear Ridge
The views on the way down from Bear Ridge were infrequent due to the tree coverage. It did open up enough to catch a glimpse of where I was headed. By the end of the day I would be down to bottom and then back up to the left, behind the ridge coming down diagonally. The peak to the right of the green tree is Mount Isaak Walton. The dark peak on the right is Red and White Mountain. The ridge is Vermilion Cliffs, at the east end of Lake Thomas A Edison, another hydro-electric power reservoir.
The way to Silver Pass from Bear Ridge
All of the water this year meant that there were many log jams where dead trees had been washed downstream. This was one of the bigger ones I saw and give a fair indication of how much water was flowing earlier in the spring.
Mono Creek Log Jam
Near Mono Creek I came across two mounds in a small grassy area with reddish mud and cool water bubbling out of them. I found out later at Tuolumne Meadows that they are called soda springs. High pressure underground dissolves carbon dioxide in the water. When it gets to the surface the carbon dioxide comes out and causes the water to bubble.
Mono Creek Soda Springs
Without this bridge across Mono Creek you would have to walk upstream quite a ways to find a crossing.
Mono Creek Bridge
In 2013 I had hiked past this point from Duck Lake, over Silver Pass, down to this trail junction and then on to Mono Pass. This time I came from Selden Pass and went on to Silver Pass.
Mono Pass trail junction
Silver Pass Creek and the North Fork of Mono Creek come together in Pocket Meadow at about 8900 ft elevation. It is a beautiful spot and I stopped and enjoyed it for a while.
Pocket Meadow
Above Pocket Meadow the trail crosses first the North Fork of Mono Creek and then Silver Pass Creek.
North Fork of Mono Creek crossing
The Silver Pass Creek crossing is right below this cascade. Earlier in the season there were reports of so much water coming over these rocks that people would take an alternate route over Goodale Pass to avoid the creek crossing below these falls.
Cascades above the Silver Pass Creek crossing
Silver Pass Creek crossing below the falls
Silver Pass Creek flows out of a meadow behind this ridge, then down this granite face to the falls shown above. Pictures don't do this part of the trail justice.
Silver Pass Creek
This meadow is at 9600 ft elevation along Silver Pass Creek. When I came over the pass in 2013 I stayed at the far end of this meadow. It was a dry year and the creek seen here was almost completely dry.
Meadow along Silver Pass Creek, 9600 ft elevation.
I passed these two guys, each herding two llamas up the mountain, at about 3:30. They said they were going to camp at Silver Pass Lake which is just below the south side of the Pass. When I got to the lake about an hour later I met a woman who seemed very impatient and asked me if I had seen two guys with four llamas. I said that I had and told her that they expected to camp at Silver Pass Lake. "Well, this is Silver Pass Lake, isn't it?" she said. I said it was. She stormed off and I heard her say something about them having her tent. Good luck fellas.
Two guys using llamas as pack animals
When you get to the top of Silver Pass from the south, you will notice that the trail continues to go up. In fact it goes up another 200 ft of elevation to one side of the pass before you get to the crest of the trail. The view from Silver Pass looking north is spectacular. The entire Ritter Range is laid out before you with Mount Ritter and Banner Peak being the two dominant peaks on the right.
This was also my first indication that there was a fire. Before I left, the Detwiler fire made me change my exit plans, but it had since burned out and these were new fires. The wavy "clouds" low over the mountains are not clouds, but smoke from the fire.
The view north from the ridge above Silver Pass
Camping spots were limited on the north side of Silver Pass so I had to keep walking for longer than I had hoped. It was probably 6:30 before I made it into camp.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment