TR Cottonwood Lakes Basin 6/4 to 6/6

[jlweinberger]

Quick TR for our hike up to the Cottonwoods Lakes Basin last weekend. We successfully snuck in an early season get away before the mosquitoes came out. Everyone had a good time, but it was busy up there! Next time we will have to get farther afield to gain some solitude.

We drove up to the trailhead Thursday afternoon, arriving around 8 pm after enjoying a Pizza Factory pizza in Lone Pine for the first time in over 2 years. There was only one other walk-in campsite occupied at the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead Thursday night, which was a nice contrast to our trip 5 years ago when the place was packed and we woke up at 11 pm to shouting and a bright flash of light through the tent wall as our neighbors almost started a forest fire with a faulty stove.

Friday morning we took our time adjusting our gear to fit again after 8 months away from the trail, and started our hike around 9. Since we didn’t have any plans other than to relax in the wilderness we kept a nice slow, steady pace on the trail and got to Cottonwood Lake 3 around 1, where we stopped for lunch.

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After lunch, amidst a darkening sky, we headed up the trail to Cottonwood 5, which none of us had visited before, and found a nice site to set up the tent just as the skies opened up and the rain started to come down.

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This was the kids’ first afternoon Sierra storm and one of them appreciated the thunder while the other wasn’t thrilled. It was a gentle enough storm that the thunder wasn’t overwhelming though and the rain provided a nice background for us all to zonk out for a quick afternoon nap.

The sky cleared by 5 and the local residents reappeared to continue their grazing with fresh vigor.

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We explored the area, found a more sheltered location for the tent, which had blown over with one remaining sleeping occupant in it, since we hadn’t felt the need to stake it out while getting out of the rain but then forgot that we hadn’t staked it out as 3 of the 4 of us emerged to admire the view. After that it was a quick dinner and into the tent for the evening.

Saturday we got a lazy start to our day after the wind from the previous day had quieted down.

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My son and I decided to head up Old Army pass as far as I was willing to go, which was to the first snow on the trail, as I decidedly love the concept of snow but lack the grace, balance, or experience to walk on the stuff close to the edge of a cliff. The pass was a regular thoroughfare and most people had no trouble getting up and over, even with the snow. It's just not my cup of tea.

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The views were great, and we talked about coming back at some point to head up Langley, although it appears that limited access to Whitney, a renewed interest in the wilderness during Covid, and/or other factors have driven a tremendous amount of traffic over to Langley these days so we’d have to find a quieter time of year if we really want to commit to the hike. Our musings were interrupted on the way back down by distant shouts of "ROCK!" Someone well above us had caused quite the slide in attempting to go around the snow on the trail, rather than through it. He stopped himself before falling too far and managed to climb back up to the snow patch, which he then proceeded to cross without further incident, but as nerve wracking as it was to watch from below, it must have been absolutely terrifying to experience.

After getting back to camp, we spent the remainder of Saturday afternoon admiring the view, watching the clouds, and spying on the wildlife in the area, who didn’t seem to mind.

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Then Sunday we packed up and hiked out. After we passed the old ranger shed/ cabin I spotted a large mammal running through the trees and blurted out “deer!”, only to realize once it hopped, rather than ran, our across the trail that it was a white-tailed jackrabbit. This one was very large, perhaps 2 ft tall (is that even possible?), and I’m sorry I didn’t have my camera out to take a picture of it. None of us had ever seen one before, so we were quite excited to watch our very own jackalope hop off into the woods. About 10 minutes later we saw a couple of actual deer grazing in the meadow, which no longer seemed as exciting, so we wished them well as we passed and left them in peace to continue their meal as our thoughts turned to the treats we would order at the frosty chalet before our long drive home.

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[maiathebee]

Thanks for the TR and the photos of Old Army! Looks like less snow than when I was there Labor Day 2019.

[balzaccom]

Great report and photos. Looks like the kids had a good time--and that's really all that matters.

We've seen a couple of those huge jackrabbits in Humphreys Basin. Quite amazing...

[oddtiger]

Thank you for sharing a TR with kids! Cottonwood lakes are great for family trip with those marmots. I took my daughters there 3 years ago as their first Sierra backpacking destination.

[astrogerly]

Great trip report! We were just over New Army when the rain/hail/snow hit on Friday - no complaints. We’d seen Old Army a couple weeks prior (husband trail runs up there, still super sketch at the time) and ran into a few folks who said it was not a great decision to come up it on Friday morning. It was much drier than when we hit up Miter in late Aug 2019.