October day hiking trip: McGee Creek, 20 Lakes Basin

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c9h13no3
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October day hiking trip: McGee Creek, 20 Lakes Basin

Post by c9h13no3 »

My wife and I have been doing a lot of hard stuff lately. It seems like we were always waking up at 4AM, putting in head lamp time for one reason or another. So we decided to take a "nothing hard, only fun" trip. Type 1 fun, if you're familiar with the concept. We got a nice AirBnB in June Lake, with the plan to have a relaxing weekend taking in some fall color. The June Lake loop is really scenic btw, Silver Lake is worth a visit on its own.


LobdellGrove.jpg


We swung by Lobdell Lake road on the way in, and hiked through the aspen groves (yeah, I know, the Sweetwater mountains aren't technically the Sierra). It seems that this fall season, the trees aren't in sync, and you'll have patches of green aspens next to ones that are completely bare. It makes for less dramatic photos than in previous years, but it's still some fabulous hiking scenery.

McGeeAspens.jpg

The next day, we packed up a picnic and headed to McGee creek. No headlamp start here, we woke up at 9 AM, and got to the trail head around 10ish. The place was packed, and I had to get a little creative to park the car. The hike lived up to the hype though, about 3.5 miles of aspen groves with Red & White mountain looming overhead. After ~3 miles, we hiked a bit off trail to a spot with a nice view near the creek, and threw out the picnic blanket. We dropped canned champagne into the icy creek to chill, snacked on cheese & crackers, napped, and then got a little tipsy for the hike out. Didn't see anyone during our picnic, and even though the parking lot was packed, the trail never reached Yosemite crowd levels. Swung by Rock Tub hot springs on the way back (meh).

LundyCanyon.jpg

On Sunday, we had much the same plan, except to visit Lundy canyon, and hike up to the 20 lakes basin. Things started out much the same, and then we started gaining elevation up the trail towards Lundy pass. The trail then deteriorates badly, apparently some of the switchbacks through the talus have been avalanched or washed out. What's left is a class 2 gully of loose & eroding crud, not a kid friendly trail. The waterfalls were excellent though, and I made a note to come back in spring when they weren't half frozen.

Topping out over the pass, we got a great view of Mt Conness & North Peak. We walked around several lakes, and met up with a family of four looking at something at the bottom of one of the tarns between Steelhead and Shamrock. Turned out to be a tent!


LolTent.png


We then found a nice spot to picnic above Steelhead Lake where we watched two climbers negotiate the 'schrund heading up the North Peak couloir. Normally, I would've been jealous of them. But today I was happy to be letting them get after it instead.

Hiked back to the car, and we were back in the Bay Area by 8 PM. A great weekend in the mountains, even if we didn't summit, cover 40 miles in a day, or sleep outside.


IceClimbers2.png
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davidsheridan
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Re: October day hiking trip: McGee Creek, 20 Lakes Basin

Post by davidsheridan »

Very relaxing... Tranquilo, thanks for the 'type 1 fun' trip report. Great fall colors and great day hikes.
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Re: October day hiking trip: McGee Creek, 20 Lakes Basin

Post by balzaccom »

Lovely. This is our favorite time of the year for day hikes...
Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-R ... 0984884963
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torpified
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Re: October day hiking trip: McGee Creek, 20 Lakes Basin

Post by torpified »

Mr t and I also walked up McGee Creek Saturday! We left the TH around 9:30 and returned around 3:30, with lunch at Big McGee Lake in between. I don't think our paths crossed, because I don't recognize the person pictured in Lundy Canyon.

Mr t (depicted below, in case our paths did cross and you're more attentive than I am) is one of my (closest) furniture-loving acrophobic friends. At the lake, we had the following conversation:
Me: if we were backpacking, we could keep going, and going, and going---and then wake up and do it again tomorrow!
Mr t: Yeah, but then we'd have to go over that horrible pass.

October Sierra(ish) dayhiking was a revelation: no biting bugs, smaller crowds (both in town and on the trails), minimized snow and creek crossing complications (unless it's actually snowing, which is something whose likelihood is pretty easy to gauge from an AirBnB in Mammoth). In retrospect, all of this is obvious, and maybe it's intuitively obvious to most of you, but I had to experience it directly to appreciate it. We also visited the Dana Plateau, Convict Canyon, and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. The last, although composed of ancient bristlecone pines, is also a national forest, and therefore dog friendly. We saw more than one sweater-wearing yorkie peeing on a 4000 year old tree. (I was too abashed to take pictures.)
purple pine conces.jpg
dana plateau.jpg
McGee.jpg
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sedersmith
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Re: October day hiking trip: McGee Creek, 20 Lakes Basin

Post by sedersmith »

c9h13no3 wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2019 10:23 pm My wife and I have been doing a lot of hard stuff lately. It seems like we were always waking up at 4AM, putting in head lamp time for one reason or another. So we decided to take a "nothing hard, only fun" trip. Type 1 fun, if you're familiar with the concept. We got a nice AirBnB in June Lake, with the plan to have a relaxing weekend taking in some fall color. The June Lake loop is really scenic btw, Silver Lake is worth a visit on its own.



LobdellGrove.jpg



We swung by Lobdell tutuapp Lake road on the way in, and hiked through the aspen groves (yeah, I know, the Sweetwater mountains aren't technically the Sierra). It seems that this fall season, the trees aren't in sync, and you'll have patches of green aspens next to ones that are completely bare. It makes for less dramatic photos than in previous years, but it's still some fabulous hiking scenery.


McGeeAspens.jpg


The next day, we packed up a picnic and headed to McGee creek. No headlamp start here, we woke up at 9 AM, and got to the trail head around 10ish. The place was packed, and showbox I had to get a little creative to park the car. The hike lived up to the hype though, about 3.5 miles of aspen groves with Red & White mountain looming overhead. After ~3 miles, we hiked a bit off trail to a spot with a nice view near the creek, and threw out the picnic blanket. We dropped canned champagne into the icy creek to chill, snacked on cheese & crackers, napped, and then got a little tipsy for the hike out. Didn't see anyone during our picnic, and even though the parking lot was packed, the trail never reached Yosemite crowd levels. Swung by Rock Tub hot springs on the way back (meh).


LundyCanyon.jpg


On Sunday, we had much the same plan, except to visit Lundy canyon, and hike up to the 20 lakes basin. Things started out much the same, and then we started gaining elevation up the trail kodi towards Lundy pass. The trail then deteriorates badly, apparently some of the switchbacks through the talus have been avalanched or washed out. What's left is a class 2 gully of loose & eroding crud, not a kid friendly trail. The waterfalls were excellent though, and I made a note to come back in spring when they weren't half frozen.

Topping out over the pass, we got a great view of Mt Conness & North Peak. We walked around several lakes, and met up with a family of four looking at something at the bottom of one of the tarns between Steelhead and Shamrock. Turned out to be a tent!



LolTent.png



We then found a nice spot to picnic above Steelhead Lake where we watched two climbers negotiate the 'schrund heading up the North Peak couloir. Normally, I would've been jealous of them. But today I was happy to be letting them get after it instead.

Hiked back to the car, and we were back in the Bay Area by 8 PM. A great weekend in the mountains, even if we didn't summit, cover 40 miles in a day, or sleep outside.



IceClimbers2.png
Hi buddy, am still saving and planning to visit by 2020 first quarter. Heard a lot about this place on youtube too.

Regards,
Sloth Smith
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