My 15 day trip into the Sierra's got cut in half when my buddy in California (and his family) contracted covid, but we squeezed in some damn good country nonetheless
Day 1 started out with a $hit show trying to get "walk up" permits, walk up is in quotes as that's the way they have them listed- you no longer walk up but book them online. We messed around a half day before finally securing permits and headed for the Kearsarge Pass trailhead, late, but better than never!
Pretty good grind up through the pass, we dropped into the chain of lakes and called it a day.
Day 2 we head for 60 Lake Basin via Glenn Pass and then off trail over Rae Col. The backside of Rae Col proved to be extremely tedious w/ lots of hopping (carefully) from granite block to granite block. We found out that the lakes had been gill netted in an attempt to reestablish a near extinct frog population, so we swam instead
Day 3 we headed to the upper reaches of 60 Lakes to confirm out suspicions- gill nets in the very upper lake. We were now headed for the Gardiner Basin via 60 Lakes Col. Fortunately Gardiner Lakes still held trout- Golden Trout; we all caught fish (Tenkara rods) and had enough to make fish tacos
Day 4 we headed further into Gardiner Basin and then to Charlotte Lake via Gardiner Pass. This was a tough day (15-ish miles and mostly of trail) and didn't;t hit the lake until near dark.
cont'd
Day 1 started out with a $hit show trying to get "walk up" permits, walk up is in quotes as that's the way they have them listed- you no longer walk up but book them online. We messed around a half day before finally securing permits and headed for the Kearsarge Pass trailhead, late, but better than never!
Pretty good grind up through the pass, we dropped into the chain of lakes and called it a day.
Day 2 we head for 60 Lake Basin via Glenn Pass and then off trail over Rae Col. The backside of Rae Col proved to be extremely tedious w/ lots of hopping (carefully) from granite block to granite block. We found out that the lakes had been gill netted in an attempt to reestablish a near extinct frog population, so we swam instead
Day 3 we headed to the upper reaches of 60 Lakes to confirm out suspicions- gill nets in the very upper lake. We were now headed for the Gardiner Basin via 60 Lakes Col. Fortunately Gardiner Lakes still held trout- Golden Trout; we all caught fish (Tenkara rods) and had enough to make fish tacos
Day 4 we headed further into Gardiner Basin and then to Charlotte Lake via Gardiner Pass. This was a tough day (15-ish miles and mostly of trail) and didn't;t hit the lake until near dark.
cont'd
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