High Sierra Topix

If one keeps the outlet of iceland to their immediate right on descent u should be able to navigate ur way down fairly easily (though we down have to take our packs off at one pint to downclimb a small section). This can probably be avoided with careful scouting. My dog took this section down no problem (though he was a bit of a billygoat). Make sure to summit granite dome!

Doing the climb of Granite Dome is no worse than going up to the lakes, at least the way I went. The first map of this post seems to do a lot of extra tap-dancing in the climb to the dome, or going back down to the meadow for that matter. The map below suggests a more straightforward approach to the dome, starting with heading up from NW end of Upper Lewis Lake heading mostly south and bearing somewhat left. The only choke point may be a steep snow-bank (if there), but no worries, look to the left for a ready-made staircase of granite that takes you to the top of the wall. Note that I got to the dome area from Summit Creek.

Granite Dome is one of my favorite places in the world, and I would profoundly encourage everyone to take extra care to leave no trace in this pristine area. A camp-fire is completely unnecessary (unless your very survival depended on it): there is not that much wood in the area due to the mostly granitic nature of this island of paradise.

Thank you for the informative trip report and photos. Well done.

FeetFirst,

The descent down to Relief Valley was pretty easy. As you can see on the map in the second post, we veered left to avoid any steep drop offs. I think others have taken a more direct route, but we were being cautious. We basically followed a line around a small granite knob and worked our way down to a small creek that drained into Relief Creek. Once down there, we followed the creek bed back to the west to avoid having to bushwhack through the 6-8' bushes that fill the meadow.

Here's a quick approximate trace of our route down. Hope this helps.

Hope this helps.

It does, thanks!

I'm thinking of heading there this week. Does anyone know if the smoke from the Aspen Fire is affecting this area?

It was really smokey 4 and 3 days ago, in particular on the east side of the EW: I just now came back from a trip into the EW. It was weird. One morning it just rolled in like a fog. Then the west wind kicked it out. It was very clear and normal the last two days. Also the horrid monsoon humidity left with the smoke. So presently, it is OK.