through Yosemite
on SR120, with only one or two other cars found on the 50+ mile
stretch through the park. It was nearly 3a before I pulled into the parking lot
at Saddlebag Lake, so it should be no great surprise that I was not awake at
sunrise. It would matter little since the outing was not expected to take all
day and the extra sleep was most welcome.
I was not ready to leave the cozy confines of the van until nearly 8a, by which
time the sun had been up for more than an hour. It had not yet reached the lake,
but most of the Sierra crest further west was aglow with the morning sun.
The summit of Tioga Crest is just visible from
the trailhead, not too many miles
away. It would be a piece of cake by High Sierra standards. I followed the trail
around the south and east sides of the lake until I was at the peninsula near
the middle of the lake. Here I headed cross-country on an upward traversing
path almost due north. Grassy in the lower reaches, the slopes eventually become
an unbroken talus slope that seems to go on for much longer than the mile that
it actually is. If the scrambling is nothing to write home about, at least the
views are quite nice, 
Conness and North Peak in particular, with
the lake down below. I wasn't sure which of two points was the
highpoint, so to play it safe I headed to the left. I found some
communication equipment installed on the
ridge where I first reached it. Another ten minutes brought me to the
western highpoint, but it was immediately obvious that
the eastern point was a good deal
higher - they really weren't as close as the topo map suggested. The northern
aspect of the ridgeline is called the Dore Cliff and makes for a spectacular
sight. From above, one has a bird's eye view down to
Lundy Canyon. The cliff
itself is composed of rotten rock and would make for a dangerous route on either
ascent or descent. Continuing east along the ridge I found a rock-lined
bivy site
at the saddle between the two peaks. For whatever reason, these always
bother me. Sometimes I disassemble them and scatter the rocks, but more often
it seems this is a great deal of work (almost as much as building them) and as
in this case, I simply passed by and let it be.
It was 9:30a when I reached 
the summit,
a bit more than one and a half hours.
There are fine views in all directions as one might expect with 1,300ft of
prominence - the Sierra crest and the higher summits of Yosemite to
the south, the Sierra crest of northern Yosemite to
the west, Dunderberg towering high to 
the north and Warren
doing likewise to 
the east. The register did not date back very far,
consisting of a few sheets of paper, the earliest from 2010. I
recognized a few names including 
Avery Wear and more recently
Brian French who
had climbed it a few months earlier from Lundy Lake. Upon leaving the summit,
I followed 
the ridgeline connecting it to Mt. Scowden, staying atop
the ridge as much as practical. The first third of a mile or so had the most
interesting scrambling of the day, some of it 
stiff class 3
that 
I found very enjoyable. It came to an end almost abruptly,
becoming 
a more benign ridgeline of talus and
broken rock, easy enough to follow along on its western flank. There is a drop
along the ridge where one can 
first see Mt. Scowden to the north
looking rather
uninteresting from its backside. Undoubtedly it looks far more impressive from
below in Lundy Canyon. An old trail can be seen skirting the west side of the
ridge through the talus fields, an old mine located just south of Mt. Scowden.
It was to this trail I headed to make the hike through the talus-fest more
palatable.
The trail led nicely to an old mineshaft and 
the ruins of a
rock and wood cabin that once stood nearby. Old 
square nails used in
construction stood out on the wooden planks. Parts from an 
iron stove
were interspersed with scattered wood. There were also the busted remains of
a hand winch used to haul rock and ore
from the mineshaft, all in all an interesting little history lesson. Another
ten minutes brought me to the summit of Mt. Scowden, a straightforward class 2
hike up the south side. There was no register that I could locate.
The summit did not provide the outstanding view of
Lundy Canyon that I had hoped. The large lake is completely blocked from view
by 
the Northeast Ridge which extends down from the summit. There is a
nice view of 
the upper half
of Lundy Canyon with the colorful rock that comprises
Excelsior Mountain, and it was in this direction I next turned my attention.
Rather than return via the ridge to Tioga Crest which would have made for the
quickest return, I decided to drop down into Lundy Canyon and hike the trail
up over Lundy Pass and back to Saddlebag Lake. I had been in Lundy Canyon only
once before to climb Gilcrest Peak and had never ventured into the upper part of
the canyon or to Lundy Pass. It would make for a nice change. I descended the
southwest side of Scowden and then across a high plateau found on that side.
I came across old claim 
boundary markers, a 
fire ring and
other evidence of human activity in the area. Dropping off the west side of this
plateau, I found 800ft of very unpleasant talus, unstable and annoying in the
best Sierra tradition. It did offer a good view of 
the Dore Cliff and
offered up some old rusty 
mining gear mixed in with all the rock as
well. Eventually the rubble gave way 
to forest, making the last
1,300ft of descent more pleasant at least,
with less rock and softer, more stable footing. It was almost 12:30p by the
time I stumbled 
upon the trail near the bottom of the canyon, having
the effect of suddenly transforming my outing back to 
a pleasant walk.
I found 
Lundy Canyon a delightful adventure for the eyes, with tall
grasses, pines, and the enchanting Lundy Creek that fell through several fine
falls and 
cascades that I had no idea would be found there.
I came across several small parties of 
day hikers that had come up
from Lundy Lake to view the falls. At the upper end of the canyon past the
falls, much less frequented by visitors, the trail climbs steeply on the east
side of 
an impressive cascade that tumbles down from Lake Helen above.
The trail is poorly maintained here, perhaps no longer maintained at all, but
it was not too hard to find the old tread and make my way back up more than
1,000ft to Lake Helen. Even before reaching the lake one is treated to a fine
view of North Peak to 
the southwest, while a small alpine meadow in
the foreground lines the stream leading to Lake Helen. 
The lake
itself is more starkly set above this with shores composed of rock and
talus and only a few small, stunted trees. 
A trail junction here is
marked by a very old sign. The topo map no longer shows the branch leading to
Steelhead
Lake, but one can see the faint trail leading off to the southwest. I turned
south and followed the primary trail back towards Saddlebag lake, first climbing
past 
Odell Lake before passing through the
rock-lined Lundy Pass and into 
the Tioga drainage.
This too, seemed a popular day hike as I found several parties
making 
the trek out from Saddlebag Lake to visit Lake Helen.
I reached 
Saddlebag Lake shortly after 2p. I passed by the
empty ferry dock as I made my way around the west side of the lake,
though I soon spotted the ferry coming to 
the north end of the lake
to pick up a handful of passengers and take them back 
across the lake
to the other side. The water level was particularly low and by the time I made
my way to 
the dam 45 minutes later I found it mostly high and nearly
dry - a massive concrete rampart holding back a few feet of water. I finished up
back at 
the TH by 2:45p, almost seven hours for the 11
miles I covered - not a speedy day overall, but a most enjoyable one.
Continued...