Matthew and I (and various other parties I can't recall) had talked about the
Sweetwater Traverse for a number of years. The traverse of this smallish
range is not particularly
difficult and the hardest part seems to involve setting up a shuttle. Because
of the location on the east side of the Sierra and our favortism towards Sierra
peaks when we're in the area, we'd never quite had the right conditions that
would send us to the Sweetwaters. As a warmup for the Sierra Challenge, Matthew
had initially suggested a 20mi hike in the Ten Lakes area of Northern Yosemite,
but I eventually won him around to the idea of the Sweetwater Traverse. The
draw for me was five OGUL peaks and a county highpoint, and another nearby OGUL
peak we could climb the next morning. We could have made the shuttle effort far
easier if we'd just hiked the route in opposite directions, but that wouldn't
have been very sociable. So we agreed to meet at the Burcham Flat Rd off US395
and set up the shuttle earlier in the morning.
We were up at 4a, first driving both cars to Lobdell Lake where we left my van.
We then drove back out to US395, through Bridgeport and into Nevada around the
south and east sides of the range. We drove west on the dirt Risue Rd for about
three miles to reach the NE edge of the range. In all we spent about two hours
shuttling the cars.
A thin cloud layer in the early morning made for a
in shades
from violet to pink to yellow. Our timing had us hiking just as the first rays
of sun were hitting the
of the Sweetwaters. It looked like a
fine day approaching. Our first peak was East Sister, and we started following
the dirt described by Yamagata and others.
But rather than follow this
for some miles around the northwest side for the flanking manuever as described,
we took the direct route up the North Ridge. This was a fairly steep slope with
of bushwhacking, but nothing very difficult or serious. The hardest
part was dealing with
after another on what turns out to be a indeed.
By 8:15a we the of the day atop
East Sister and dutifully signed into the battered register.
The
of East Sister was a different affair altogether with lots of
brush covering the slopes. We picked our way down as best we could, but some
moderate amounts of bushwhacking seemed unavoidable. Once down to the saddle
with Middle Sister the terrain opened up and the cross-country was much easier.
In climbing
we favored the east side in order to be sure
we visited the Nevada's Lyon County highpoint which is a "liner" on that side of
Middle Sister. A large cairn was found on the stateline and just east of that
atop a
on the ridge we found placed by MacLeod and
Lilley. It contained the names of a number of highpointers including Andy
Martin, Bob Packard, Bob Martin, Edward Earl, Richard Carey, Bob Bolton, Scott
Surgent, Dan Baxter, and others.
As we continued up the East Ridge towards Middle Sister, we found
about 200yds west of the lower one, and this one held a
.
It had been placed in 1997 by John Vitz (another high profile highpointer) as
the Lyon CoHP, but as others pointed out on the scrap of paper, it was located
at the old Von Schmidt Line that is no longer the valid border between
California and Nevada.
Another fifteen minutes brought us to the summit of Middle Sister where we
arrived at 9:45a. We were higher by a good margin than
now to the north, but to the south, and a good further distance away, rose
,
our next objective. Like East Sister, we found thick brush on the
during our descent and some of this made for tough bushwhacking. But when we
finally broke through the last of it to the saddle below we were once again in
. It would also be the last of the heavy brush
on the traverse, much to our liking.
The brush had given way to talus slopes and
dotted with alpine grasses and sporadic small pines. Much of the vegetation
disappears altogether on the way to South Sister.
Cows could be seen grazing a short distance down on the west
side and there was evidence of cows up higher, suggesting they pretty much have
the run of the place. There were vestiges of a use
trail running the ridge from South Sister and it seemed even though we were
moving to higher altitudes it was becoming less wilderness-like. In truth that's
a pretty fair description since it is possible to drive to the higher peaks of
Patterson and South Sister. Only a few daring cyclists have managed to ride
down the northeast side of South Sister, and it looks like none have managed
to reach Middle Sister, at least not in a number of years, without walking.
It took us nearly two hours to get from Middle to South Sister, only about 300ft
lower than the range highpoint at Mt. Patterson. The register dated
,
placed by the Northern Alpine Section of the Sierra Club's Motherload Chapter
(the same one Pete Yamagata rails about on the message boards). There was a
from MacLeod and Lilley,
and tons of entries before and after. Some of
the entries denigrate those that arrive on motorized transport, other entries
ask for peace and understanding. Some of it is pretty funny.
Clouds off to the southwest as we picked up an old
and began following it to .
We noted colorful
on the north side of Patterson that drops down to the Nevada side of the range.
The wind was gusting strongly as we
to the Patterson summit around
1:20p. We dropped down on the north side to get out of the wind for a short
break. A tattered American flag was installed at
and rattling
furiously in the wind. We did not find a register on this summit.
Our last stop was a visit to
a few miles SE of Patterson. The high
ridgeline connecting them was broad, open, and windswept, prompting us to put on
most of the extra clothes we were carrying with us. About halfway to Wheeler we
came upon a party of
making their way towards Patterson on the road
coming up from the south. We chatted briefly before parting in opposite ways. It
had taken an hour to reach Wheeler summit which affords a fine view of the
Sierra's Sawtooth Ridge to .
Luckily the weather was holding off - no
rain or lightning, just lots of wind and clouds.
On our return from Wheeler Peak we decided to take a shortcut back to Lobdell
Lake via the Deep Creek drainage. Matthew was at first concerned about
brush and bushwhacking, but upon closer inspection from the ridgeline above, it
didn't look so bad. It turned out to be a fine choice as we made our way down
easy talus slopes, then traversed across
terrain, then found a (more of a cow trail)
leading down Deep Canyon to an and eventually
.
was delightful as were several
we passed through, and we got away
without any bushwhacking at all. More cows were found in the canyon and they
allowed us to rustle them down the canyon for more than a mile before they
collectively thought to move off the trail and out of our way.
By 4p we had reached the Lobdell Lake
which had very little water in it at this time.
We were able to cross the lake on a nearly direct tack
where
we arrived a few minutes later. Back in the car we drove back through
Bridgeport, stopping for dinner at the popular burger/ice cream takeout joint. I
began to test Matthew's interest in the remaining OGUL peak, Desert Creek Peak.
By the time we had driven back to his car at Risue Rd, I had hatched a plan to
spend the night where we were and climb the peak in the early morning before
driving to Bishop for the rest of the day. I had warm water in the van to
shower by and expected we could sleep in our cars. At first Matthew seemed
agreeable to this plan, but after more careful thought he decided to drive on
to Bishop to get a motel and a hot shower. I was a little incredulous - here
was a guy literally living out of his car for months on end and I somehow
managed to out-dirtbag him. It had a small feeling of triumph in it.
Left to my self, I started to rethink my plan. Maybe I could still climb the
peak tonight? I would most likely be returning by headlamp, but that shouldn't
be a problem with an easy peak and nearly a full moon. The idea rolled around
in my head and came out with a green light. I hopped in the van and drove
further down Risue another couple miles. I didn't have a printed map with me,
but I had fired up the laptop and with the help of TOPO! had gotten a good
picture in my head of the layout of the land surrounding Desert Creek Peak.
There was another summit, Black Mtn a few miles southeast of it and I figured
I could tag both in short order. My plan was to park as close to Black Mtn on
the road as I could, climb Black Mtn, then traverse to Desert Creek via the
connecting ridgeline. They were both desert peaks so I figured the cross-country
ought to be easy enough. This was the part of the plan that sort of fell apart
as things got going.
I left the car parked off the
shortly after 6:30p, crossed
a dry streambed and then started up the steep slopes towards Black Mtn. It took
about half an hour to cover the one mile distance and about 1,000ft of gain.
The brush had been heavier than I'd expected, but with some wandering back and
forth I was able to pick a way through it without much bushwhacking. The summit
of Black was a small pile of rock buried under some dry and dusty pines almost
completely devoid of any views. To my surprise there was a register tucked into
,
only one of the normal two cans usually used, and as such the small
notepad had been exposed to the elements and somewhat weathered. The original
entry was
and though the signer was too worn to read, there was a
reference to Pete Yamagata, leaving me to believe it was a Sierra Club member.
The
was from Eric Sierling in 1998, who like me had decided to
traverse from Black to Desert Creek. Mine was only the third entry in 20 years.
Getting to Desert Creek proved to be a lot tougher than it had looked on the
map. Just getting off the
of Black Mtn was a difficult affair with
no vestige of trail or route or any easy way down. Much thrashing ensued, so
much so that I had to pause a few times and consider whether I was getting
myself into trouble. I could have turned back from Black Mtn and simply
returned via the shortest route to Desert Creek Peak in the morning. But the
rashness of my original plan and the sense of impending doom captivated my
interest and kept me pushing on. It was almost as if I was inviting an epic.
A relatively safe, mini-epic to be sure, but an epic nonetheless. If I got
caught out in the dark I probably wouldn't freeze or get hopelessly lost, but
it probably wouldn't be pleasant either.
The ridgeline route proved too brushy to take after descending off Black Mtn. I
had seen
of Desert Creek Peak tantalizingly close, so I set off on
a more direct line to the summit even though it involved losing some elevation
in dropping down some on the east side of the ridgeline. I had long pants and
shirt and gloves to boot, so I was well-prepared for the heavy bushwhacking
that ensued. My hope was that I could reach the summit before nightfall and then
use my headlamp to find the use trail off the west side of the peak down to the
road on that side. It would then be a simple matter to follow the road back to
the van for two or three miles.
I watched shortly after 8p, the
but a few minutes
later. Things grew dim as I continued beating a path through the brush, and
shortly before 8:30p I had managed to find my way to the summit. I found a large
cairn with ,
(what was the CA Dept of Transportation doing
on a Nevada peak?), and a .
Ah, good, I thought - maybe there's a road down from the summit.
Alas, there was no road, no use trail to be found anywhere about as far as I
could tell in the failing light. I'd caught sight of the dirt road 2,500ft below
in the canyon to the west just before I had to pull out a headlamp. Now if only
I could get down there in short order. It had looked like there might be some
steep talus/sand slopes to get me down in a hurry, but they only managed to
hurriedly get me into a quagmire. The open talus/sand slopes all led down to a
brush
and tree-filled gully that became a difficult effort
. The moon was
of no use and my headlamp was only good enough to see about ten feet in front of
me. Downed trees, chest-high brush, unstable boulders and the like were there
to greet and confound me. I tried moving out of the gully, traversing the steep
slopes on either side, but that only seemed worse and I once again dropped into
the gully. It was hard to concentrate on the ground to keep from twisting an
ankle while at the same time trying to avoid getting poked in the eye by a
wayward tree branch.
Down, down, I went for what seemed a very long time. I was just about out of
water and had begun rationing my last ounces. They would no longer serve to get
me back to the car, but I hoped I would find water in Desert Creek next to the
road below. That I had crossed a dry streambed on the way up at the start did
not bode well, but I held out hope. Eventually, after an hour and a quarter of
toiling down from the summit, I stumbled onto
at the bottom of the
canyon. A bubbling
doubled my joy in finding my way out of the mess and
I drank enthusiastically. It was quarter to ten and I still had miles to go,
but the worst was over.
I followed the road south and then southeast for more than three miles until I
finally returned to the van at 11p. It had been a long day before this extra
outing, but I'd now gotten my money's worth before the day was yet over.
I drove the van down
to one of the many turnouts alongside the babbling creek to park for the
evening. I rinsed off in the cold creek water, then dumped the gallon of
lukewarm water I was saving over my body before toweling off. That there were
no mosquitoes to be found anywhere was an added bonus and I had no trouble at
all falling asleep in the van with the windows open and the sounds of the creek
to lull me into a coma. Eight summits in one day was a good haul and life was
good...
colorful sunrise
eastern flanks
4x4 road
mild amounts
one false summit
long ridgline
had reached
first summit
south side
towards Middle Sister
local highpoint
a register
another large cairn
second register
East Sister
South Sister
south side
easier country
open fields
above 11,000ft
to 1982
1992 entry
were building
mining road
Mt. Patterson
Sweetwater Canyon
made our way
the highpoint
Wheeler Peak
three ATVs
the south
open forest
use trail
old road
the lake
The creek
meadows
back to the van
side of the road
the rocks
from 1989
second entry
NW Ridge
the summit
the moonrise
sun setting
a register
a benchmark
radio tower
in the dark
the road
stream