I needed some fresh air and solitude and decided to drive up to the Mammoth/Yosmite area for some hiking/camping.
After leaving LA my first stop was Palmdale for breakfast. I normally stop in Mohave but Chelly’s was worth the trip.
Below is my machaca breakfast.
Back on the road I noticed pretty quickly that there seemed to be a lot of snow on the Sierras. Normally I see some during the summer/fall but I could tell there was more and it was also a lot farther than south than normal. The pics here are outside of Lone Pine.
Arriving at Rock Creek Lake. There was snow at the lake (~10K feet) so I knew my plans of making it up Mt. Morgan were in serious jeopardy. It was also about 20-30 degrees colder up here than back in town. I set out anyways.
This is how the trail looked right out of the parking lot.
Not impassable… but I knew it was only going to get worse.
Some places didn’t have much snow…
This picture explains why I didn’t make it up to Mt. Morgan. The snow was pretty uniform and deep through this pine forest which was exactly where I needed to go… I had no idea what the conditions were like higher up on the Mtn but I would’ve had to camp somewhere in there first… no thanks.
Decided to head over to Lake Dorthy. The last time I was here 2 years ago it was filled with water. Looks like the drought is taking a toll.
I set up camp and enjoyed my afternoon tea. That is Mt. Morgan in the distance. Tons and tons of snow. I would’ve come up from the slope on the right. The view would’ve been a lot nicer up there but this wasn’t too bad. Beats the LA urban jungle for sure… and not people to boot.
I did have a good dinner out here. I tried freeze dried food for the first time ever and it wasn’t half bad considering I was all the way up in the back country. Add some boiling water and wallah… instant fajitas.
Here is my bivy sack set up. I had never used it before and it turned out to be a disaster once the temp fell below freezing. After I fell asleep I awoke later on to find condensation all over the inside. Since it was so cold I thought water was my enemy and slept outside.
In the morning there was frost over everything.
The frosty way back to the truck.
Few hours later I had breakfast back in Bishop. I stop at this restaurant pretty much every time I’m up here. Note how green everything is here. Pretty amazing how different it was up in the Mtns where I camped up.
My western frittata. It was alright.