This started out as a recon mission for the SHR. We wanted to take an extended weekend and do a loop trip that put us on parts of the High Route. The plan was to park the car at North Lake, hike the road to Sabrina and then hike up the Hungry Packer Lake Trail cutting to Moonlight Lake before the end of the trail. Then follow the valley up to Echo Lake and over Echo Col, hitting the JMT before Helena Lake. The return plan was to take Snow Tongue Pass through the Wahoo Lake Basin and exiting out the Piute Pass Trail. It didn't quite turn out that way, but was a successful and very enjoyable trip, none the less, and I can't wait to get back up to the Sierras again.
We left OC after work on a Thursday and arrived at Sabrina Lake campground at around 11pm. We thought spending a night at elevation would help with acclimation. As the ranger's station didn't open till 8am and we needed to get our wilderness permit, we got off to a late start, not departing from the car at the North Lake Trailhead Parking till 9:45am.
After hiking the road from North Lake to Sabrina Lake, a little over 2.5 miles, we got to the trailhead at 10:30am.
It was a perfect cool fall day for a hike; sunny, but not hot with a brisk light breeze. The climb up to Blue Lake from the trailhead was just over 3.5 miles and was a moderate but continuous elevation gain from 9K up to 10.4K. It included a couple stream crossings and a walk trough some Aspen trees displaying their fall colors.
Besides a quick stop for a few picks and a stop on the way up due to a whiskey mishap, we made it to the lake at a pretty good pace arriving at the lake at just after high noon. Blue Lake was gorgeous:
From Blue Lake the trail leveled out quite a bit and after about another mile and a half we stopped on a ridge above Dingleberry Lake at about a quarter to 1pm. For a much deserved lunch stop.
When we got going after lunch, altitude was taking its toll on Scott and he was experiencing symptoms of AMS. He tried to power through it for about a mile but in the end the best decision was to stop and rest. As it was already after 2pm we thought it unlikely that there would be enough time to get a good rest and then restart down the trail so we decided to make camp for the night on the west side of the meadow just before the trail split to Midnight Lake and Hungry Packer Lake. After having dinner I secured camp for the evening noticing lots of animal signs in the area (e.g. animal stool, game trails, prints, digging, etc.). I was nervous about protecting our food supply since only half of it was in a bear canister and the rest in odor proof sacks just 50 feet from our tents on the ground as there we no suitable trees for hanging.
The next morning brought new life. Scott's AMS symptoms had lessened and our food and camp had been untouched by the locals. After breaking down camp and having breakfast on a frigid morning, proven by the ice in our water bottles, we left the meadow about 9:30am and headed up to the trail split, taking the spur towards Hungry Packer Lake. At about a quarter of a mile past the split we lost the trail at a stream crossing. After searching a bit we found what we thought was the trail and passed what we thought was Sailor Lake (ended up not being Sailor Lake, picture to right) only to realize that we had found the Midnight Lake Trail (not Hungry Packer) after reaching the lake.
We headed cross country down the east side of the valley hoping to find a good cut over to the correct valley but never did and end up backtracking all the way to the trail. In total it was about a mile detour which set us back about 45 minutes. We were happy to have found the trail and headed up it for about a mile past Topsy Turvy Lake. We cut off the trail before Sailor Lake (the real Sailor Lake this time) and headed up the valley to the east of Hungry Packer Lake navigating around the east side of the lake. After crossing a stream at the south end of the lake we encountered a fairly decent size bolder field that we had to hop over to get up to Moonlight Lake (to left). At Moonlight Lake the comment was made how many trout we saw in all the lakes and streams we encountered. We traveled on the west side of Moonlight Lake and hit a second, smaller bolder field which we navigated up to a valley with another beautiful stream and meadow running through the middle.
Noticing we had another climb of a 600 feet in elevation up a step slope to get to Echo Lake and it was already approaching noon, we stopped for lunch and after debating it for a bit made the safe decision to reroute and stay on the east side of the Glacier Divide not attempting Echo Col. We had noticed a picturesque campsite on Sailor Lake on the way up and decided we would head back to Sailor Lake to make camp for the evening. On the way back I snapped the picture to the right of Moonlight Lake looking north.
We got to Sailor Lake around 2pm (guessing the short day totaled out just shy of 8 miles) and it was getting a bit breezy so we decided to chose a campsite that was more protected from the wind on some benches to the north west of Sailor Lake. It was a great choice: Sailor lake to our west, the Thompson Ridge to our east, a pond and stream laden valley including a waterfall which opened up to Topsy Turvy Lake to our north, and all the great peaks and ridgeline to our south which included Echo Col, Clyde Spires, Mt. Wallace, Mt. Haeckel, Mt. Spencer, and Mt. Darwin. One of the most enjoyable afternoons in recent history:
Another cold night with the added element of wind made for some restless sleep. Both of us were well geared for the cold, however the noise from the wind on the tent was sleep-prohibitive; maybe some earplugs next time. The next morning we woke up to more wind and thickening clouds. We decided to skip a cooked breakfast and headed out around 8:30am. We left Sailor Lake going cross country towards Topsy Turvey Lake. It was enjoyable hiking; through meadows and slabs of granite. We navigated around Topsy Turvey's west bank and continued south past Pee Wee Lakes, still off trail. We continued down the valley till we hit a some what steep ravine that took us down to Dingleberry Lake. We hit the trail at Dingleberry and pounded trail back to the truck that was parked at North Lake, arriving at the truck at 1pm and the route taking us close to 11 miles. Not bad for a couple of old trappers . . .
