TR: Shepherd, Williamson Bowl, Wallace Lake and Wrights basin (w/ some peak bagging).
Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2019 1:29 pm
Part 1 (will post 2nd half of hike later).
Day 1: (just a couple of hours of hiking really): Made the drive out from the bay area, met my hiking buddy Henry at Tenaya Lake. We had talked about a day "Hike," there to stretch the legs, but there was some confusion about what that meant. Henry had also mentioned possibly climbing, what he meant was by hike was "approach," but I didn't make the connection and bring my harness or shoes. We ran into Doug Nidever, a notable Yosemite climber and guide, who Henry had met before while backcountry skiing. It was really interesting talking with him, but we were soon interrupted by an afternoon T-storm so we made our way to Lee Vining and picked up our permit. On to the Bishop Brewery to fuel up. We hit the Shepherd trailhead sometime after 7 pm. The plan was to hike up to somewhere between the ridge that separates Symmes/Shepherd creeks and Mahogany flat. We stopped on the ridge. There was another guy camped there too, who we, unfortunately, woke up. Apologies. We had thought we were far enough away, but it was very quiet up there.
Day 2: The hike up Shepherd's was as pleasant as it can be. The trail is in great shape after some trail maintenance BTW. Along the way, there was a huge cairn on the trail thru the talus field. Maybe it was the altitude, but we found it amusing. At the pass proper, we choose to go up the trail to where it crosses the snowfield at a 90-degree angle. No need for crampons, the top layer of snow was soft enough to kick steps. We continued on into the Williamson Bowl. Our planned route for today was to include traversing from Trojan Peak to Mt Barnard, but cleary weather was moving in. I had read a 10% chance of rain. This was to become a bad joke. We elected to set up camp in the bowl, as it looked like it was about to pour or T-storm or both. Hopefully, the weather would get better and we could continue. No. There we sat. The whole afternoon. Rain off and on with a little bit of T-storms. It cleared early evening.
Day 3: We optimistically told ourselves the weather was improving so after a quick breakfast and coffee, we set off. Lake Helen of Troy was beautiful, mostly iced over with snowfields all around. We put on crampons and I took out my ice ax. Henry who has tons of alpine experience, left his ax stowed. I would describe the traverse around the lake and up towards Trojan as low to moderately angled. It was a fun walk. We got to a point just above the lake, a bench and took a break. As we were about to continue, it started raining/hailing heavily. We both looked at each and immediately decided to set up shelters and wait out the storm before continuing up Trojan. Henry had a tent, but I had my alpine bivy. Setup was obviously easier for me, but oh it was so small. We sat around for a couple of hours. Henry served up tea. Thanks man!
Lake Helen of Troy: https://youtu.be/c0juPoAe7Dk In my video, I mean "Colorado" not California when referring to the cutthroats, but not even sure which lakes they're in up here.
We packed up and headed up the snow slope then on to some easy class 2 to the Trojan summit. We had intended to follow the ridgeline to Barnard, but it was getting later in the day so we elected to drop down via a rock and talus band. The talus on the south side was loose, at least what we went down. We moved across the sandy slopes between the 2 peaks. We went up class 2 terrain to the top of Barnard. If you stay far right (north) then you get some exhilarating views and a bit of exposure towards the top. Break at the summit, then down the south slopes to Wallace lake where we set up camp.
Barnard summit video: https://youtu.be/pXqHHkS8wfE
Day 1: (just a couple of hours of hiking really): Made the drive out from the bay area, met my hiking buddy Henry at Tenaya Lake. We had talked about a day "Hike," there to stretch the legs, but there was some confusion about what that meant. Henry had also mentioned possibly climbing, what he meant was by hike was "approach," but I didn't make the connection and bring my harness or shoes. We ran into Doug Nidever, a notable Yosemite climber and guide, who Henry had met before while backcountry skiing. It was really interesting talking with him, but we were soon interrupted by an afternoon T-storm so we made our way to Lee Vining and picked up our permit. On to the Bishop Brewery to fuel up. We hit the Shepherd trailhead sometime after 7 pm. The plan was to hike up to somewhere between the ridge that separates Symmes/Shepherd creeks and Mahogany flat. We stopped on the ridge. There was another guy camped there too, who we, unfortunately, woke up. Apologies. We had thought we were far enough away, but it was very quiet up there.
Day 2: The hike up Shepherd's was as pleasant as it can be. The trail is in great shape after some trail maintenance BTW. Along the way, there was a huge cairn on the trail thru the talus field. Maybe it was the altitude, but we found it amusing. At the pass proper, we choose to go up the trail to where it crosses the snowfield at a 90-degree angle. No need for crampons, the top layer of snow was soft enough to kick steps. We continued on into the Williamson Bowl. Our planned route for today was to include traversing from Trojan Peak to Mt Barnard, but cleary weather was moving in. I had read a 10% chance of rain. This was to become a bad joke. We elected to set up camp in the bowl, as it looked like it was about to pour or T-storm or both. Hopefully, the weather would get better and we could continue. No. There we sat. The whole afternoon. Rain off and on with a little bit of T-storms. It cleared early evening.
Day 3: We optimistically told ourselves the weather was improving so after a quick breakfast and coffee, we set off. Lake Helen of Troy was beautiful, mostly iced over with snowfields all around. We put on crampons and I took out my ice ax. Henry who has tons of alpine experience, left his ax stowed. I would describe the traverse around the lake and up towards Trojan as low to moderately angled. It was a fun walk. We got to a point just above the lake, a bench and took a break. As we were about to continue, it started raining/hailing heavily. We both looked at each and immediately decided to set up shelters and wait out the storm before continuing up Trojan. Henry had a tent, but I had my alpine bivy. Setup was obviously easier for me, but oh it was so small. We sat around for a couple of hours. Henry served up tea. Thanks man!
Lake Helen of Troy: https://youtu.be/c0juPoAe7Dk In my video, I mean "Colorado" not California when referring to the cutthroats, but not even sure which lakes they're in up here.
We packed up and headed up the snow slope then on to some easy class 2 to the Trojan summit. We had intended to follow the ridgeline to Barnard, but it was getting later in the day so we elected to drop down via a rock and talus band. The talus on the south side was loose, at least what we went down. We moved across the sandy slopes between the 2 peaks. We went up class 2 terrain to the top of Barnard. If you stay far right (north) then you get some exhilarating views and a bit of exposure towards the top. Break at the summit, then down the south slopes to Wallace lake where we set up camp.
Barnard summit video: https://youtu.be/pXqHHkS8wfE