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| View east from near the Black Rock Pass |
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| Sunrise at the second of the Big Five Lakes |
There was no human in sight near me. If people did walk by my tent at night, they didn't stay at my night camp lake. I got down to the shore to fill my bottles and was taken by the beauty of the reflection in the calm water. 
Honestly, I could sit there for hours and do nothing but meditate by the water. I didn't have the luxury of time though, and I had a long day ahead so I filtered my water and went back to my campsite to make breakfast and break camp. By the time I was done the sun was completely out and the soft morning light filled the entire basin of the lake. There was no cloud in sight, no wind, and the temperature was perfect.
I had a big day ahead of me. Today I would go west, up and over Black Rock Pass, descending into the heavenly gulch of Cliff Creek. The total distance I would be only 6.4 miles but the elevation change would be whopping: a gain of 1,500 ft going up, then dropping 3,000 ft on the west side descent. At 11,512 ft, Black Rock Pass would be the second highest point of my trip (the first being Franklin Pass, at 11,743 ft).
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| My hike from Big Five Lakes to Pinto Lake (6.4 miles) as captured by my GPS |
My hike started with a mild uphill slope, getting from my night camp lake to the main trail. I walked through a light forest of pines and firs with wide gaps between the trees and lots of sunshine on the forest floor. Between the trees I got glimpses of the nearby mountain peaks, fuel for thoughts of future trips.
The trail between the Big Five Lakes complex and the Little Five Lakes complex arches around a round ridge and undulates up some mild slopes and down through cute little green meadows. Little creeks of clear water cut through these forest meadows and there were some ponds of standing water as well. I applied my bug repellent in anticipation of the mosquitos.
The meadows and little creek sides offered lush wetland areas for water-loving plants, and I saw many of them in bloom. Some of them were pretty large bushes.
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| Western Labrador Tea, Rhododendron columbianum |
Others were tiny little plants that were hard to get good photos of, especially while carrying a heavy pack that hampered easy stooping.
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| Sierra Spring Beauty, Claytonia nevadensis |
Not all the pretty little things I saw on the forest floor were flowers. I do enjoy the beauty of bugs, as long as they are not harassing me. And I confess to being an arachnophile - I love seeing spiders. They fascinate me.
As the morning progressed, so did the clouds overhead. At no point was the sky completely overcast, but the passing clouds did get larger more crowded. The trail curved to the west and descended mildly along a narrow valley which I followed toward the west two of the Little Five Lakes complex. A nice, wide meadow opened up before me, and the gap in the trees revealed the ridge to my north. A few snow patches still lingered on the ridge's south-facing slopes, hanging on to the granite against the all too early summer's heat.
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| Mountain Meadow |
Eventually I met a little creek, the creek that originated from the nearest of the Little Five Lakes complex. The I still had water in my bottles and I decided not to fill up there but to go on.
The little creek originated at the Little five Lake I was going to so for a little while I was going upstream. Eventually I saw the lake and stepped away from the trail for a few minutes to look at it. It was a lovely, calm alpine lake, one that would be and probably is a very nice camping spot.
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| A Little Five Lake (second from the west) |
Dragonflies and damselflies buzzed in the air all around me. I caught one damselfly as t paused briefly on the ground before taking off again.
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| Damselfly |
I didn't stop at that lake for more than a few minutes. Going on, I was also going uphill again continuing my hike westward. 
The loose forest flanking the trail comprised of several conifer species. My favorite however, was the foxtail pine. Those pines truly have character.
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| Foxtail Pine, Pinus balfouriana |
As the clouds shifted in the sky I kept moving from shade to sun. The air was ambient and nice, I didn't need my jacket and I was going too slow to get hot. I didn't hurry. Not yet anyway. And there were plenty of pretty flowers to look at and enjoy.
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| Mountain Pride, Penstemon newberryi |
The light gray granite is a wonderful background for the colorful wildflowers. The mountain praide penstemon I saw here and there but the beardstongue penstemon, a smaller member of that genus, that one was everywhere I looked.
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| Sierra Beardstongue, Penstemon heterodoxus |
In between the very familiar penstemon mats I saw other plants in bloom, some of them completely new to me.
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| Creeping Sibaldia, Sibaldia procumbens |
All that time I kept going uphill at a mild, yet steady grade. I left the green, forested area near the lake and followed the trail as it curved south, going almost exactly along the treeline.
The slope its contours I was following was made of broken and weathered granite bits that rolled down the mountain ridge and settled wherever they landed and anchored with vegetation. Wherever some soil accumulated there were plants growing. And it was Sierran spring time.
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| Pine Wood Violet, Viola pinetorum |
Among the wildflowers I've seen growing there was the sanddune wall flower, one which I see a lot on my Sierra Nevada hikes but I've never seen on any sand dune. It seems to like rocks better, despite its common name.
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| Sanddune Wall Flower, Erysium perenne |
The trail became less even, gaining height by natural steps of granite, meandering between and over larger rocks. Well over 10,000 now, I was starting to feel the altitude. My head was high but my legs felt heavier and so did my pack. I sat down for a short snack break. I was also drinking a lot now, and I counted on filling up on water at the western of the Little Five Lakes which would be on my way, according to the map.
As I got higher I also got a clear view to the east. The toothy bumps on the horizon looked familiar to me. Could that be... Yes, it was. I verified later that the jagged ridge far to the east was indeed Mount Whitney, the tallest peak within the contiguous USA.
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| View east to Mount Whitney |
My trail was curving west again, and the slope grade increased. It snaked between boulders and piles of eroded granite, through tiny meadow patches and small ponds of standing, mucky water. In some places only wet soil was left of what used to be a snow patch that melted into a pond. The trees were few and far between now, and nearly all of them were stunted and twisted into bonsai-style shapes. I was back in the alpine zone.
Closer than Mount Whitney, to the northeast was Kaweah Ridge, another luring mountain range, separated from me by the Big Arroyo gulch. It looked very reachable, but today I was going the other way.
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| Kaweah Ridge |
Ahead of me to the west was the ridge I was about to cross. Beyond it was the deep gulch of Cliff Creek, a place I remembered from my 20216 trip to be absolutely heavenly.
I reached the western and the highest lake of the Little Five Lakes complex. I counted on this lake to fill up on water before going up the mountain pass. On my map it was marked very close to the trail but to my dismay I found that it was not at all easy to reach it. I would have to scramble down a pathless, jagged slope to get to the water and then of course clamber all the way back to the trail again. I had no choice though, I needed the water.
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| A Little Five Lake (the most western) |
Luck favored me. After a short climb down I came upon a tiny creek and decided that this was far enough. I dropped my pack and sat down to filter water. I also took the time to eat and to have a good rest before starting up the trail again. I also had to apply some bug repellent because the standing water ponds in the area had matured their crop of mosquitoes.
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| Sierran Woodbeauty, Drymocallis lactea |
From above, the area looked almost barren. At a closer view however, there were many wildflowers to see. Many of them were well hidden below and around rocks, making them nearly invisible unless at the right angle.
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| Ledge Stonecrop, Rhodiola integrifolia |
After a nice break I hoisted my water-heavy pack and returned to the trail. With renewed energy I started once again trotting uphill, toward Black Rock Pass. The slope steepened more and before long I was looking down at the lake that I just left behind.
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| A Little Five Lake (the most western) |
Up above me towered the Black Rock peak, looking ominous and imposing. My gusto pace slowed down again and I moved on and a more realistic pace. More realistic for me, that is, because a couple of backpackers came up behind me and passed me on their way up to the pass without ever slowing down or even panting.
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| Black Rock Pass |
The altitude was affecting me again. I was feeling goo, not sick at all, but I was slowing down, walking in short steps and taking frequent breather breaks. The wildflowers were certainly a good excuse for these stops.
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| Lupine, Lupinus sp. |
A reasonably level area just before the final ascent allowed me to increase my gait a bit. There was more vegetation there too, in this small and desolate alpine plateau, where the earth is a bit more stable. Far to my south I noticed a rock pillar at the top of the ridge. It was the same pillar that I saw on the horizon when I came up to the first of the Little Five Lakes. Now I was seeing t from a different angle.
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| Alpine Plateau |
Almost invisible, and not only because of their size but also because of their perfect camouflage colors, pussypaws plants bloomed all over around me. They are hardy little plants that thrive in places that are too harsh for most other plants.
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| One-seeded Pussypaws, Calyptridium monospermum |
Some of he flowers were even more shy than the pussypaws. I'm already in the habit of looking for these tiny beauties but they are really easy to miss.
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| Rock Cress, Boechera sp. |
I may have been walking slowly but my elevation gain was quick. I looked at the little snow patches that remained stuck to the east-facing slope and once again had a twinge in my heart, remembering that it was mid June and that snow should have covered most of the area.
As it steepened even more, the trail also became more difficult to tread because it was no longer solid ground but a path curved in loose stones and coarse gravel. Plants became more scarce and the area looked truly empty, almost devoid of life.
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| Going Up the Black Rock Pass |
The place only looked devoid of life. When looking closely however, there was certainly life to be seen all around, and not merely plant life.
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| Spider |
Among the few hardy plants that did grow in this altitude were clumps of sedge, a plant I associate with wetland. Perhaps it was wetter underground but there was no evidence if open water anywhere near the sedge.
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| Sedge, Carex sp. |
I turned to look back and was amazed at how much I could see now. Below me lay the lake where I stopped to fill up water and it looked very small. All around it were high ridges and deep gulches. The power of this landscape is stunning.
I was pretty high, well over 11,000 ft now, and there was more altitude to gain. I was feeling all right, even elated. The altitude only slowed me down, but other than that it had no negative effect on me. My sw pace was also caused by the trail's consistency, which was unstable loose gravel and stones. I passed on the way one of the small. leftover snow patches but I didn't leave the trail to go and touch it. That was the closest I got to snow since I crossed Franklin Pass two days before.
Black Rock is one of the lower peaks on that ridge and the pass goes right below it. The moving clouds shifted the illumination of this crumbling rock buttress and when it was illuminated I could see that only half of it was back - the other was a rusty red. I had a lot of time to observe and to contemplate the shape and color of the pass area because it took me so long to get up there. But eventually I did.
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| Black Rock Pass |
At the top I turned to look east and inhaled the view. Standing on top of the world, I could see all the way to the Eastern Sierra range. Below I could see three of the Little Five Lakes. I took a number of photos and placed one without the clouds at the top of this blogpost.
I focused my camera on the toothy ridge far on the eastern horizon and zoomed to maximum. Yes, there it was - Mount Whitney. I waved to the far away, yet so close, mountain. Then I turned west and walked across the ridge and over Black Rock Pass.
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| Mount Whitney, viewed with maximum magnification from Black Rock Pass |
As expected, there was a strong breeze on the top of the pass. I found a sheltered corner just below the pass and sat down for a quick break. Beside snacking I also had another reason to stop - to get my feet ready for the huge downhill stretch that I was about to do. Learning from my friend's experience on the Ohlone Wilderness Trip, I brought with me petroleum jelly and I now applied it to my feet to minimize the risk of blisters.
As I write about this trip I also made a decision to split my post of this day to two. The western, downhill part was so beautiful and rich with sights that I simply have too many photos to make a single post of the entire day's hike. The sharp drop in elevation and the fast transition from Alpine to subalpine and riparian zones made the downhill part of the hike particularly fascinating and well deserving its own post, and that will be coming very soon.
Very beautiful flowers and views. I'm impressed by your determination and ability to do these hikes
ReplyDeleteOh, you would have enjoyed this one too :-)
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