High Sierra Topix

Pretty sure I labeled the Pano above correctly but if someone sees a mistake, let me know...Was looking for a cool peak to climb and decided with Blue lakes Rd only being open to Charity Valley that Markleeville and The Nipple would be a good 2fer then the locksmith guy calls the day before and I had to be home early so it ended up being only Markleeville Peak which was still fun. Got to the closed gate around 7am and the PG&E guy was opening the gate to go check on things so after a quick chat with him we parted ways. Started out from the "4th gate" and headed SE ish up the drainage and it was buggy. I was getting eaten up while I was still down low, even hiking on snow I was getting swarmed but once I got up higher and to the ridge there was a breeze and the bugs vanished which was nice. Markleeville Peak apparently is not climbed very often even though it is so close to the road and a very easy hike. Saw nobody all day until I came back down to the road and then there was all sorts of people, bicyclists, people walking their dogs etc...Lots of seasonal streams flowing with lots of water and bugs, the pack trail just south of the peak is a full on river. Although I have not summited Jeff Davis Peak I always like hiking near it because IMO it is a cool looking peak. 1 thing I do not understand is how the People's Republic of California has not protested and demanded that the name of the peak be changed to a different name considering who Jefferson Davis was.

Thanks for the report. How much of the time were you on snow?

There was not much snow and if there was it was on North Facing aspects. You can easily avoid any and all snow if there is even any left by now.

SNOOOOW wrote:1 thing I do not understand is how the People's Republic of California has not protested and demanded that the name of the peak be changed to a different name considering who Jefferson Davis was.

I agree 100% and I believe I have posted the same feelings here as well.

Thanks for the report.

-Russ

Thanks for the images of the area! I was thinking of hiking from sonora pass to carson pass at the end of july. It looks like water won't be a problem on the trail. That's awesome! How were the bugs? Do you think it is peak bug season out along the pct form sonora to carson pass? Thanks.

I think no matter what it will be buggy but there's only 1 way to find out