Tue, Aug 10, 2021
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Day 5 of the Sierra Challenge saw us heading to the Sierra Crest between Mts. Darwin and Haeckel, for a minor summit in the middle of the Evolution Traverse. Our route starting from Lake Sabrina would cover about 15mi and 4,600ft of gain, a bit on the easy side, or so I thought. It would be a tougher outing than expected, taking nine and half hours. Our starting group of 12 included four of the fisherfolks who showed up just for the photo op - they would start up the trail almost an hour later, after a relaxing breakfast in Jim's RV. Jim was kind enough to bring a box of donuts to the TH to share with the group. Somehow I was busy with various tasks and never did get one...
Per usual, we set off from the Lake Sabrina TH at 6a. In the
early morning, it's
a shady climb along and
above Lake Sabrina for the first hour to
Blue Lake, then another
half hour to
Dingleberry Lake. We met the
Schaper brothers
sitting on a rock above this lake, having started earlier than the rest of the
crew. It was 8:15a by the time we reached the end of the trail at
Midnight Lake. There are various ways to reach
Haeckel Col (and our peak), but the direct route up from the west end of Hungry
Packer Lake is not one of them due to cliffs. The standard route appears to be
using the ridge dividing Midnight and Hungry Packer Lakes which can be gained
from either side of the ridge. I've found the side from Midnight Lake to be
the easiest, your mileage may vary of course. The hike south from the east end
of the lake climbs
class 2-3 granite slabs, fractured, broken, and
enjoyable. Once on the ridge, it is followed southwest and west into the
cirque west of, and above
Hungry Packer Lake.
I had dropped and picked up various companions over the first three hours, and
when I arrived at one of the higher lakes, I was with
Tom, Jeff and Chris. They paused to refill water here while I continued
on my own up the cirque. It was a last minute decision to head to the bonus
Jaekel Peak first, just north of Haeckel Col. I'm not sure why I chose
to do so, but I think I was going for the easier win first, since it was 400ft
lower than Dawkins. Jaekel was named by Andy Smatko, apparently a play on the
name of nearby Mt. Haeckel in the way of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I made my way
around the north side of the largest and
highest lake in the cirque,
lying at the base of Jaekel Peak and Haeckel Col. The permanent snowfield on
the north side of Mt. Haeckel was not so permanent anymore, having been reduced
to a few remaining remnants in the shadows. The climb up to Jaekel is not
pretty, not exactly fun, but all class 2, until near the top where the fun
begins. The route becomes class 3 over blocky granite pieces climbing higher,
then a sinking feeling in the stomach when it appears the highpoint is a large,
near-vertical blade of unclimbable rock. Holding out hope, I continued
up to check out the backside of the feature and was rewarded with a hidden
class 3 route to the highest block, a very cool find. I was hoping to
find an old register dating back to the first ascent in 1964, but found nothing,
having to settle for the consolation of
leaving one of my own. I stayed
at the summit for a short while to take in the views. There is a stunning one
to the south of
Mt. Haeckel, and a nearly-as-good view looking
north along the Sierra Crest to Mt. Darwin (Mt. Dawkins in the
foreground). Looking to
the west side of the crest, an array of peaks
can be seen, including Mt. Goddard in the distance to
the southwest,
along with a half dozen emerald lakes, carved out by receding glaciers in eons
past.
I next turned my attention to the higher peak to the north and the route to
reach it. Following right on the crest appeared to be no more than class 3,
but that didn't seem efficient thanks to a number of notches along the way.
Instead, I kept to the east side of the crest, traversing around the
small peaklets in going from one notch to the next. The views down the west side
from these notches were quite dramatic as it is much steeper on that side, but
at
least one of these offered a potential scrambling route up from (or
down) that side. After about half an hour along the ridge, I met up with the
first of our party coming the opposite direction from Mt. Dawkins.
Clement was his usual calm self, enjoying a casual walk in the park on
his way to Jaekel, Haeckel, and eventually Mt. Wallace. He (and Chris) would end
up collecting the most peaks on the day, yet finish only an hour behind me. A
few minutes later I
came upon Tom, also on his way to Jaekel. We talked
briefly, as he explained the others were enroute to Jaekel or heading back. At
this point I was less than ten minutes from the summit. After a final push
through the large summit blocks, I had the place to myself when
I arrived just before 11a. Finding no register here, I pulled out
another of mine and
wrote down all the names of those that had already
left as dictated to me by Tom. My memory wasn't perfect and I think I added
Trey's name who, in hindsight, I don't think had joined us today.
Looking north to Mt. Darwin, it was clear that this next stretch was
one of the tougher sections of the Evolution Traverse. I would have loved to
make the 2/3mi traverse to pay Mt. Darwin a visit, but this route was way above
my pay grade.
I was only about 5min off the summit when I ran into
the last party on their
way up, consisting of Mason, Gong, and youngster Matthew, only 18, who was
joining us on his first Challenge. They were making steady progress and in fine
spirits, and would return to the TH only about 30min behind me. I made a
descending traverse down
the south side of the peak's SE Ridge,
eventually returning to the small lake where I'd left Tom, Chris and Jeff
earlier in the morning. I
found Jeff here a second time, quietly
sitting on a rock, snacking and filtering water. He looked
to almost be enjoying himself too much. Further down, along the ridge
on my
to Midnight Lake, I came across
David Schaper on
his way down. We hiked together a short while before splitting up in
the maze of class 3 options to drop down to the lake. Knowing that the
fisherfolk were planning to fish at
Midnight Lake, I decided to detour to the lakeshore to see if I could find them
there. It wasn't hard. I saw Jim walking north while I was still well above the
lake. I was slowly gaining on him, hoping to catch him unawares and surprise
him, but when I got down to the lake level I
spotted Iris off to the
side, fishing from a rock. Love my brother, but Iris looked more interesting in
the moment. We
chatted away, though I don't think our conversing was
of any help to Iris catching fish. I enjoyed relaxing in the sun by the lake,
and we even got
a few dives into the lake when the fishing soured.
In the hour I was at the lake, I also met up with Jim,
Evan and
Scott,
all having various degrees of luck in the cold lake waters. I eventually
packed up my stuff and
continued back down the trail, taking another
two hours before getting myself back to
the trailhead at 3:30p.
Jersey Strategy:
Clement was working his magic to keep both the
Yellow and Polka Dot jerseys, with more than a three hour lead for the Yellow
and a two peak lead for the Polka Dot. I had a many-hours lead for the Green
jersey, while Sean was making a fine showing for the White jersey with his
fourth Challenge peak. It would be a few more days before any changes to the
status quo...
Continued...
This page last updated: Fri Dec 3 07:40:08 2021
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