Given that yesterday was a 13 mile hike up to Sam Mack meadow, and tomorrow is a planned hike to the summit of 14K ft White Mountain, today needed to be a kick-back day. After a leisurely breakfast and then coffee and goodies at Erik Schat’s Bakkery, we headed up to Tom’s Place and then up Rock Creek.
What a zoo! So many people. We took the last parking spot in the overflow area a quarter mile from the trailhead. We ambled up the trail, enjoying the views of the various lakes. At Heart Lake, the trail crosses two creeks in rapid succession. Earlier this year, the first creek crossing was difficult for Karen because of high water—most of the stepping stones were underwater. For the first time, I realize that the topo map shows this creek as very short (maybe a quarter mile long) and apparently originating in a spring. On our next visit, we need to go investigate this.
The second creek tumbles down a steep slope. We climbed up a little ways along this creek, just exploring where it came from. Interestingly, the topo map shows it originating in Ruby Lake, easily reachable by taking the trail to Mono Pass. Next time up there, we need to check out Ruby Lake.
We hiked on to Long Lake, sat on the bank, and ate our lunch. Treasure Lakes are above Long Lake. I wonder if there is a use trail—will have to check it out.
After hiking back to the trailhead, we stopped at Pie in the Sky to see if they had Pecan Chocolate Chip Pie (they didn’t) and then drove on to Mammoth Lakes and had an early dinner at Angel’s Restaurant.
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