Bloody Canyon to Lake Mary - Sept. 2015

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• published: 13 Jan 2016
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I drove up to Mammoth for a great 10 day backpacking trip with my mom! We started at the Bloody canyon trailhead. Lower Sardine lake provided a nice spot for a quick break for some trout fishing before heading up to the pass. From Mono pass we took the Parker pass trail up to Parker pass lake where we made our first camp. The lake was especially beautiful with multiple hues of light turquoise and royal blue! Once camp was set we headed up to Mt. Lewis. The climb was easy and we got to see a heard of bighorn sheep on the way up. We enjoyed the great views from the peak and then headed back down to camp encountering a group of bucks on the way down. Lots of fun on the first day of this trip!! After a cold first night we packed up and headed up over Parker pass and began climbing up to Koip peak pass. We dropped our gear and made the climb up to Koip peak. The climb up was steep but simple. From there we traversed the west ridge to Kuna peak. The views from the peak were even better than from Koip peak. Overlooking the Yosemite high country to our north, Mt. Lyell, and Lyell canyon out to our west. We traversed back over Koip peak and down to the pass. Mom headed down to Alger lakes where we planned to make camp, but I decided to head up to Parker peak first. It was a really easy climb. It got pretty windy on the summit, but the views were great with a wide open view out to Mono lake! Then I headed down to meet mom at Alger lakes and setup camp and do a little fishing before sunset. In the morning we headed over Gem pass and down to Gem lake. Then started climbing again up to Clark lakes. From there we met the PCT and followed it up to 1,000 Island lake. It is such an impressive lake, with Banner peak standing over it. About a mile down the northern shore we found a great spot to setup camp for the night. From 1,000 Island lake we followed the JMT to Shadow creek. Then we left the JMT and headed up Shadow creek to Ediza lake where we made camp. We swam in the lake, did some fishing, and went over our plan for climbing Mt. Ritter!! In the morning we headed towards the mountain, choosing the Clyde variation on the SE glacier route. It was a easy climb up the lower sections and we decided to traverse under the low pinnacle rather than above it to avoid the icy glacier. From there we climbed the Owens chute to the final slope leading to the summit! It was a super fun climb, and of course the views were totally incredible, despite all the smoke coming from the Rough fire out in Kings Canyon. After enjoying the summit views we descended back to Ediza lake for another night there. In the morning we packed up our camp and climbed up to Cecile lake which sits right at the base of the Minarets, making it very impressive! From Cecile lake we dropped down past Minaret lake and then traversed over to the Minaret mine. There were some old cabins and other cool remnants from the miners up there. After exploring the area we headed down to Minaret creek where we found a great spot to camp near some waterfalls. We got our camp setup and went for a swim in the creek. It was another amazing day! In the morning we and headed down to Reds Meadows. There we resupplied our food for our next few days. From there we headed down the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin river to Rainbow falls. The upper falls is much bigger, but the lower falls has a huge pool where we had some fun swimming for awhile. We headed a few more miles down the trail and found a great spot to camp near a fork of Crater creek. Our camp was on an open granite bench high above the river giving us a great view. And where our creek spilled over the edge there was some awesome waterfalls pouring down and a great swimming hole carved into the granite. I couldn't help jumping in a few times before the sun went away. It was a pretty easy day, but it was packed with fun! The next day we left Crater creek and dropped into Fish valley and hiked alongside Fish creek all day to the upper end of the valley where we found Iva Bell hot springs. We setup camp and spent the whole afternoon soaking in the hot springs! The water temperature was perfect!! From the hot springs we climbed up into Cascade valley. It was an easy stroll through the valley, past waterfalls and golden meadows. Then we climbed up again to Purple lake where we found a great spot to setup camp for our last night. I did some fishing in the lake and then around dusk we had a family of deer come and hangout in the meadow next to our camp, we made our dinner and watched them eat grass. On our last day of the trip we followed the JMT over to Duck creek. From there we headed up the Duck pass trail to the incredibly beautiful Duck lake. Then up and over Duck pass our last pass for the trip. From there it was all downhill past Barney lake and Skelton lake to our final destination, the trailhead at Lake Mary!! -music by- Homeless Balloon -https://homelessballoon.bandcamp.com/