Trip Report: Convict Creek- Smoky to Clear, Dogs and Fish: Aug. 26-30

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Harlen
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Trip Report: Convict Creek- Smoky to Clear, Dogs and Fish: Aug. 26-30

Post by Harlen »

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Convict Lake Trailhead is 10.5 miles south of Mammoth Lakes on Hwy 395. From Convict Lake you hike 5 miles up a steep, rocky canyon. Part of the trail is over large rock-slides, which are now more or less stable. There are at least 3 new trail washouts along the way-- see recent HST Post: http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... 34&t=21884 for details. Once above the canyon, you reach a 1.5 mile long flat valley with Red Slate Mountain soaring 4000' above the valley floor. There are quiet campsites about 1 mile up this valley, and many fine day hikes can be made from there, including the climb up the gray marble slopes of Mt Baldwin. Or, you might head up to the higher lakes to the west, like Dorothy, which has well-developed campsites on the northeast side. Dorothy is a great base for exploring the lakes at the foot of Bloody Mountain to the NW, or you could visit the nice lakes to the south, and slightly above Lake Dorothy. Red Slate Mountain is an easy, first sandy, then bouldery climb from the the basin above Lake Wit-so-nah-pah. I once encountered an ecstatic population of colorful Yosemite toads by Wit-so-nah-pah, copulating like mad, one on top of the other as far as the eye could see! No doubt, you will find something exciting up there too.

The last time I passed through Convict Creek with my dog Bearzy, we happened to be on a long trip north, to an HST meetup at Minaret Lake. I thought the meadowland, and the shallow waters around Mildred Lake were a dog's paradise. I told my wife about it, and we planned to return to stay awhile, and not just to please our dogs. Convict Creek leads one into a wonderland of some of the most colorful rock formations in all of the Sierra.


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Red Slate Mountain- 13,163'


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Lizzie, literally rockin her new Granite Gear Pack.


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We fished in all of the 8 lakes we visited, and caught Brook Trout in 7 of them. Our friend Ryan fished his homemade Tenkara rig, and he caught fish in the streams, and lake margins too.


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Just a light bamboo pole, with cord wrapped all around it-- that's to save the fish and gear in case a big fish breaks the pole. More cord, and then a tapered fly line extends maybe 12' off the tip. He seems to have great control of both the placement, and the action of the flies. And the simple, forward flip of the line saves all of that cursing frustration from getting stuck in the willow way behind you.


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The rest of the dog pack-- “Arlo,” and “Indie.”


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Arlo of the sore paws.



We all had a great time, though Ryan’s big dog got a few torn pads in the rough rock of the canyon trail, and we amended the plan to camp higher due to that injury. On our first day hike up to to Bright Dot Lake, Ryan turned back with his limping dog, and Lizzie and I carried on to the lake. We moved to a quieter camp a mile up the lower valley from Mildred Lake, and made a plan to alternate long day hikes, and hanging out with the resting dog Arlo. I stayed with Arlo the first day while Lizzie, Ryan, and the rest of the dogs spent the day at the upper lakes. To better enjoy a day lying about in camp with Arlo, I made a headlamp-half moon climb up Mt Baldwin. I was on the smoky summit by 7 AM, and back in camp by 8:30.


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The old weathered marble of Mt Baldwin makes for exquisite friction climbing.


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Nearing the top, I intersected a trail coming from McGee Canyon. It is a sandy mess, and I tried to stay on the solid rock.


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View south with Red and White Mt. on the Silver Divide. This morning was the worst smoke of the trip, but it made for a surreal, orange cast on the landscape.


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The really amazing view for me was this look along the ridge to Mt Morrison. What a wild link-up that would be.
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Last edited by Harlen on Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:59 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Harlen
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TR Convict Creek- Smoky to Clear, Dogs and Fish: Aug. 26-30

Post by Harlen »

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The smoky view west.


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Bloody Mountain, and the pass leading to Laurel Creek.


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The route up to Bright Dot Lake was interesting. Parts were desert-like, and we found amazing calcite crystal deposits.


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Bright Dot Lake.


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The Brook Trout were pretty interested in our spinning lures. We caught these 8-10” fish in just 20 minutes.


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Hiking in the main valley amid large rock slides.


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Bearzy cooling his heels, note all of the blue Gentian flowers. They were all over the lower valley.


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Mt Baldwin’s neighbor peak, with either tortured strata, or the illusion caused by differential weathering of tilted layers, or a bit of both-- Giantbrookie?


The next set are Lizzie’s photos from the day trip up to Lakes Wit-so-nah-pah, Bighorn, and Dorothy.


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Lake Wit-so-nah-pah.


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Bighorn Lake.
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Harlen
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TR Convict Creek- Smoky to Clear, Dogs and Fish: Aug. 26-30

Post by Harlen »

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The lakes and ponds are very low in this dry year. The growing shoreline of Bighorn Lake.


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Dropping down to giant Lake Dorothy.


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This was Indie’s first Sierra trip.



Lizzie and I made our 9 mile day trip up to Dorothy, and then north and west on nice trails to Lakes Genevieve, Edith, and Cloverleaf. We fished them all, with pretty good luck. We first moved camp back to Mildred Lake. Ryan wanted to make the hike out as short and easy as possible for the sore pawed dog. The area around the lake is beautiful in the early morning, and I took a few more pics.


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You drop down about 350 feet to Lake Genevieve.


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“Grass of Parnassus,” or Parnassia.


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Re: TR Convict Creek- Smoky to Clear, Dogs and Fish: Aug. 26-30

Post by sekihiker »

Wow. Great photos of impressive geology. Nice dog portraits. Nice fish. Looks like you had a great time.
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Re: TR Convict Creek- Smoky to Clear, Dogs and Fish: Aug. 26-30

Post by austex »

:p Nice to see Wofie enjoying the life of Bearzy... Those brookies were dying to get out of there an in your bellies.... :p
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Re: TR Convict Creek- Smoky to Clear, Dogs and Fish: Aug. 26-30

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Thanks for photos of Bright Dot and Mildred Lake. I had planned to visit both on my trip earlier this year but transportation fell through so instead of going out Convict Creek I had to go back to McGee Creek. Now I am motivated to see those lakes, as well as doing Convict canyon. By the way Convict Lake itself has some good fishing and big fish.
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Harlen
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TR Convict Creek- Smoky to Clear, Dogs and Fish: Aug. 26-30

Post by Harlen »

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Both of our dogs did fine this time on the sharp rock trails. We do need to look into the dog booties again. Wolfie is so light (15 lb) that perhaps he doesn't put the same stress on his paws as larger dogs?


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On this trip, for the first time, Wolfie took a great interest in the fish.


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We had to quick get the hook out, and kill the poor fish before Wolfie got to it.


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Some of the nice Brookies from these lakes. We packaged them up very nicely, and put the 2 bags of fish in the shade. When dinner time came around, we realized that we had left the biggest bag of the best fish on the far side of Cloverleaf Lake--Curses! It was nearly 4 miles away, but we so hated the idea of the fish rotting in plastic, and the attendant litter, that I resolved to race back to get them in the early morning. Another headlamp run/hike. I left before 4 AM, and found them still intact. I cleaned them, dried them, and rolled them into my HST t-shirt, and wrapped that in my Tivec ground sheet. They cooked up fine back home.
[I also put them on block ice for the long drive.]


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Cloverleaf Lake.


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Fireweed in flower.


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And Fireweed in red leaves.


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View east to the Mt Morrison ridge.


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The late afternoon return to the valley was beautiful.


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Pointing to the summit of Mt Baldwin.


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The route I took on the way up is marked in blue, and the trail route I found for the way down is in red. The red line is uncertain, I know it led me to that ridge on the left, I may have met it where the dashed line is, or more likely, lower down.


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Lizzie was really happy to be back in the Sierra.
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Harlen
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TR Convict Creek- Smoky to Clear, Dogs and Fish: Aug. 26-30

Post by Harlen »

Our final day was amazing due to the perfect clarity, and the morning light on the peaks above Convict Canyon. We started the day at Mildred Lake again, so the dogs could be wet and cool for the dry descent.


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Our own wildlife. I wonder if Wolfie scared away all the Bears?


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One of the mountainous peaks of the Sevehah Cliff.


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Lizzie took a great liking to this sharp peak, and took this photo. This peak is at the top of the east side of the canyon


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Back in the fir forest, and almost down. Convict Lake came none too soon, and we all swam. By the way, Arlo's paws healed remarkably in the 2.5 days of rest. He was like a new dog on the last day.
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Re: TR Convict Creek- Smoky to Clear, Dogs and Fish: Aug. 26-30

Post by Harlen »

Wandering Daisy and sekihiker, you're too fast, and I'm too slow. NOW, I have submitted the whole report. And Bill, what do you make of the geology? I found a nice geologic map for the area online http://personal.denison.edu/~greened/ge ... rrison.pdf, but all of the talk about "Hornfels" is a bit baffling. Is it a rock per se, or not? And what about that seemingly folded strata? I was once warned not to be fooled by the erosion in tilted beds? According to the map, Sevehah Cliff does have some folding and faulting.

*the map can be enlarged, and moved about with bars on the bottom and side.
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Re: TR Convict Creek- Smoky to Clear, Dogs and Fish: Aug. 26-30

Post by wildhiker »

Great photos of amazing geology and sharp peaks! I have to get up there some day.
-Phil
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