(
click on any photo to enlarge) After a quiet and uneventful night we woke up at about 6:30am and left camp at about 8am. I knew we had a long, tough day ahead of us. In hindsight we should have left earlier. After about 5 minutes on the trail we came upon Miller
LAKE.
What we thought was the lake, the night before, was really only a feeder pond and the REAL lake was just down the trail. Today's hike was to be the hardest of the trip (we ascended the most vertical but it wasn't the biggest mileage day) We had 18 miles to do leaving the Yosemite National Park for a bit to enter in to the Hoover Wilderness. Christi and I have hiked this section before and enjoyed the terrain and scenery but hated the mosquitoes. The Sawtooth Range has a real High Sierra feel to it. The range is a couple of thousand feet lower than the Palisades, but the peaks tower over everything around so they
seem big. We ascended the long southern approach of Matterhorn Canyon culminating with Burro Pass. As you travel up and over the pass, you are treated with a broad Western view of the entire range. Its quite a place.
In the four miles between Burro Pass and Mule Pass, you encounter meadows, streams and tufts of grass with the looks of a 'Sound of Music" scene. Beautiful sweeping views with granite spires dominating the skyline behind. I wish my photos could do it justice.
Christi and I reached Mule Pass in the late afternoon. We still had 5 miles left to do and were getting tired. Christi has this thing in her that doesn't like to hang about when there is mileage to be done. I'd be fine taking swim and photo breaks all day and getting to camp in the dark. Not my wife. So onward we went.
The Funks were taking their time and were a couple of miles behind us. So we left a note at one of the trail intersections with directions and encouragement and scampered up yet a another climb to our destination for the day, Peeler Lake. Last year when Christi and I came to the Hoover Wilderness to climb the Matterhorn, we had one of our worst bloodsucker episodes
ever! Between Barney Lake and Mule Pass the mosquitoes were just relentless. We hoped that this year they wouldn't be as bad. We were wrong! They were still everywhere! The only thing good that comes from them is that your hiking speed picks up dramatically . I stopped to take a photo of the emerald pools around Richardson Lakes. For the minute it took me to snap a couple of shots, I received probably 20 bites. Christi was practically running down the trail.
We stopped running when we reached the last, steep 1 mile climb up to Peeler Lake. We were both slowed to the end-of-the-day-survival-crawl. Luckily the mosquitoes weren't as bad on the climb. We came up over a rise to finally see the lake. We walked around the Northern shore and found 2 sites right on the West end of the lake. As soon as Christi and I had the
TarpTent up, the Funks rolled in as weary as we did. We all cleaned up, ate and crashed out in succession. What a day!
(click on any photo to enlarge) After a quiet and uneventful night we woke up at about 6:30am and left camp at about 8am. I knew we had a long, tough day ahead of us. In hindsight we should have left earlier. After about 5 minutes on the trail we came upon Miller LAKE.
What we thought was the lake, the night before, was really only a feeder pond and the REAL lake was just down the trail. Today's hike was to be the hardest of the trip (we ascended the most vertical but it wasn't the biggest mileage day) We had 18 miles to do leaving the Yosemite National Park for a bit to enter in to the Hoover Wilderness. Christi and I have hiked this section before and enjoyed the terrain and scenery but hated the mosquitoes. The Sawtooth Range has a real High Sierra feel to it. The range is a couple of thousand feet lower than the Palisades, but the peaks tower over everything around so they seem big. We ascended the long southern approach of Matterhorn Canyon culminating with Burro Pass. As you travel up and over the pass, you are treated with a broad Western view of the entire range. Its quite a place.
In the four miles between Burro Pass and Mule Pass, you encounter meadows, streams and tufts of grass with the looks of a 'Sound of Music" scene. Beautiful sweeping views with granite spires dominating the skyline behind. I wish my photos could do it justice.
Christi and I reached Mule Pass in the late afternoon. We still had 5 miles left to do and were getting tired. Christi has this thing in her that doesn't like to hang about when there is mileage to be done. I'd be fine taking swim and photo breaks all day and getting to camp in the dark. Not my wife. So onward we went.
The Funks were taking their time and were a couple of miles behind us. So we left a note at one of the trail intersections with directions and encouragement and scampered up yet a another climb to our destination for the day, Peeler Lake. Last year when Christi and I came to the Hoover Wilderness to climb the Matterhorn, we had one of our worst bloodsucker episodes ever! Between Barney Lake and Mule Pass the mosquitoes were just relentless. We hoped that this year they wouldn't be as bad. We were wrong! They were still everywhere! The only thing good that comes from them is that your hiking speed picks up dramatically . I stopped to take a photo of the emerald pools around Richardson Lakes. For the minute it took me to snap a couple of shots, I received probably 20 bites. Christi was practically running down the trail.
We stopped running when we reached the last, steep 1 mile climb up to Peeler Lake. We were both slowed to the end-of-the-day-survival-crawl. Luckily the mosquitoes weren't as bad on the climb. We came up over a rise to finally see the lake. We walked around the Northern shore and found 2 sites right on the West end of the lake. As soon as Christi and I had the TarpTent up, the Funks rolled in as weary as we did. We all cleaned up, ate and crashed out in succession. What a day!
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