A Backpacking Adventure in the High Sierras Part 3

A Backpacking Adventure in the High Sierras Part III
By Rocky Ferraro

Friday morning we woke up in the pre dawn hours to find clear skies. The moon
was still up along with a few twinkling morning stars. The cool crisp air felt good
on my face. I was finally getting in sync with nature and as is usually the case,
time to go home was getting near. We made our quick breakfast and proceeded
to do the morning ritual of packing up and heading out. One thing that is
reassuring is that this is the usual way I backpack, never staying in one place too
long and this is the way Tony and Mark are as well. I have to say to myself “What
a coincidence”.
We headed off on the PCT and arrived at Ruth and then Helen lakes, The Sisters
of Dorothy. That is why these lakes are called the sister lakes, that and they are
in a pretty close proximity to each other. We noticed that there were very few if
any rises at these lakes. Also the DFG had placed nets at an outlet. We noticed
the nets first and then the DFG cards attached to the nets. We were not sure if
they are trying to trap spawning fish or stop fish from leaving these lakes. I do not
believe these lakes are part of Yosemite so the DFG does have control of these
lakes. These are beautiful lakes within the usual scope of High Sierra’s scenery.
We then proceeded to climb to the top of a pass on our way to Mary Lake, which
was rumored to have trophy golden trout. We reached the top of an 11,000 foot
pass and the view was spectacular.

You could actually see where the glaciers carved these mountains and if you
looked closely you could imagine how the glaciers flowed in and out of this
hidden valley. Off to one side we could see Tower Lake. We took a while to look
and see what the best approach would be to our next pass without losing too
much altitude. Down and across a large boulder field seemed to be the best way.
You need to be very careful here as on slip on the granite with a heavy pack
could be extremely hazardous. I had found out how sharp this granite is from
earlier in the morning. While making the fire for breakfast I stumbled in the dark
and put my hand down hard on a granite rock. It cut my hand like a razor.
Although I only received a superficial cut, it was one that took off skin and meat,
ouch! Along the way there were small streams in-between the bolder field from
the melting snow and some of the green patches we traversed were real soggy.
As we rounded the mountain on the diagonal we lined up with Tower Lake and
headed up to our next pass. As we approached our pass we were amazed at the
wall of ice that was now in our path. To both sides were steep mountains which
did not look as if they could be easily scaled with large packs.

As we sat there pondering on how to cross this obstacle Tony started up one of
the steep mountains to find a route. Meanwhile Mark tried for a go up the ice wall.
The ice wall was not a viable option we soon found out. Then Mark went up the
cliff to try and find an alternate route on the same mountain Tony was climbing.
You should have seen Tony climb up this mountain. The guy is like Spiderman!
He looked like a spider with a backpack on, it was quite a sight. In the mean time I
was pondering on if I should try the boulder field next to the wall of ice which was
looking better all the time. Needless to say I ended up taking the route Mark
found. It looked pretty do able with a few tight spots. Kind of like one would think
of climbing a chimney in rock climbing terms. We eventually all made it over
unscathed took a short rest before climbing a small steep green patch at the top
of this cliff. We would definitely not come back down this way unless we lowered
our packs first, just way too steep. We got to the top of the pass and were shown
another spectacularly beautiful glacier carved valley with the pearl, Mary Lake, at
the bottom, we were here!

We had a short hike down to the lake over a vague trail. We could also not
believe that there were signs of either a mule or horse up here. It is extremely
rough, steep terrain. We found a nice spot to camp and proceeded to set up.
The weather was cold and ugly but we had come here to fish so as usual I got my
float tube ready and headed out. I had put together a make shift net made out of
a small stuff sack and a tulle reed. Mary Lake was feed by snow melt from the
surrounding glaciers. The water was very cold compared to all the other lakes
that we had visited. As I paddled around I thought I saw some fish on the bottom,
the water was extremely clear and pristine. I did not get a bite and I paddled the
whole lake. When I talked to Mark and Tony they both had gotten strikes but
never hooked any thing. The water might have been just too cold and the fish
were not moving. Also there was a weather front right on top of us the whole time.
It looked like it would open up on us at any moment. I fished until I was too cold to
care and then went up to camp to get some soup in me and warm up. We pretty
much left it at that, we did not see any rises that evening or the next morning and
the next morning we were off headed on our way home. We had a steep pass to
negotiate and the weather was unpredictable at best. On our way back we took
the bolder field along the ice field and that is were you see the picture of me
coming down the mountain.

Once we got to the bottom of this valley we made it over to Tower Lake which did
not have many rises and also had a DFG net strung across the outlet. At Tower
Lake there was a trail and we were on our way home. It was a long hike out. We
hiked about 16 miles. There were many beautiful streams and meadows along
the way. As we neared Leavitt Meadows we would encounter more and more
hikers along the trail. Once we got real close to our vehicles the families with kids
were on the trail. I encountered someone that looked like Roy Rodgers on the
trail, horse and all, except he was definitely not riding Trigger. The horse reared
a few times and I had to climb down off the trail in order for Roy to get his horse
through. Yes we were back to civilization a both welcomed and unwelcomed site.

High Sierras Backpacking Fly Fishing Part 3

Foster City Rod and Gun Club