TR: Phipps Peak the LOOOONG way
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2017 4:42 pm
On Friday 08/11/17 I decided to head out into Desolation and hike up Phipps ( 9,234') and Rubicon ( 9,183') starting at the Bayview trailhead (I should have started up Lonely Gulch and finished at Bayview). Started out about 7:10am and started the climb up to The Velmas, surprisingly nobody was on the trail at all until we got to The Velmas but probably because it was still so early in the morning. From Middle Velma we hit the Tahoe-Yosemite trail Northbound and up towards Phipps Pass. Basically just south of Phipps Peak we scurried up the hill to the top...Great views from the summit into Rockbound Valley and Desolation. We proceeded to head down towards Phipps Pass and make our way to Rubicon Peak. Now here's where things got interesting. The individual I was with, a co worker, hikes a lot but doesn't do any cc travel or off trail scrambles so as we got closer to Rubicon she was asking me about the "trail to the top of Rubicon" which I explained doesn't exist from this side and only our descent down lonely gulch will have a trail. As we approached Stony Ridge Lake it became clear she was not comfortable with the ascent and as we were so far along the trail already I decided to just trail pound it out to Meeks Bay. According to CalTopo we traveled just over 18 miles all for Phipps Peak lol. It was a long but very beautiful hike and lots of wildflowers everywhere.
