Hiking in the Eastern Sierra, June 2014

Popping over Tioga Pass for a few days of hiking has been a favorite of ours for several years. Given the drought we’re in, it seemed best to go now. We found we needed to curtail the length of some of our hikes due to age related health issues. I wish it weren’t so, but this will probably be the new normal.

We arrived at Tioga Pass early enough on our drive to Mammoth Lakes that we stopped for a short hike up to Bennettville. This old ghost town was a complete bust in mining any ore, but it did bring the original road up to Tioga Pass. We hiked past the two remaining structures up to Shell Lake. It appears a use-trail follows Mine Creek up the broad canyon for a few miles.

We stayed the night in Mammoth Lakes and since I am newly diagnosed with celiac disease obsessed over finding a restaurant with gluten-free dishes. We finally chose Toomey’s and ordered grilled fish tacos with GF tortillas. I’ll not do that again—the tortillas were like leather.

Mine Creek flows from Shell Lake with a great view of Mt. Dana

On Tuesday, we drove south on 395 to Tom’s Place and then up Rock Creek to the Little Lakes Basin trail head at the end of the road. We love the beauty of this area. It doesn’t get old so we keep returning year after year. We usually hike to Gem Lakes but this year we needed to make the hike a little shorter.

For dinner we set up the Coleman stove in a local park instead of trying to find another restaurant with GF dishes. It was too breezy for my comfort, but it worked out OK.

Heart Lake in Little Lakes Basin

We checked out of the motel at Mammoth Lakes on Wednesday morning and headed north to do an easy hike into Parker Lake. There were quite a few wildflowers along the trail, and we particularly liked all the wild Iris in bloom beside the creek. After this hike we made a quick stop at Obsidian Dome for a short hike to the top to find a geocache.

We stayed the next two nights in a motel in Bishop. For dinner we walked across the street to Holy Smoke Barbecue—really good and GF without the cornbread.

Parker Lake

We had thought to hike to Blue Lake out of Lake Sabrina on Thursday but realized that might be too far/too much elevation change. Instead we chose to hike out of South Lake and head up the Bishop Pass trail to Long Lake. We thought this was a nice area.

Long Lake on the Bishop Pass trail

We headed home on Friday, but first we stopped at Saddlebag Lake near Tioga Pass and hiked into Twenty Lakes Basin. We usually visit a half-dozen lakes, but by the time we got to Greenstone Lake (the first one) we realized we were just too tired to go further.

North Peak from Greenstone Lake in Twenty Lakes Basin

Links
—Photo gallery for Eastern Sierra June 2014
—Bennettville hiking track
—Little Lakes Basin hiking track
—Parker Lake hiking track
—Bishop Pass Trail hiking track
—Shell Lake hiking track