United States

Hiking California’s Eastern Sierras (and beyond)

September 4, 2024

Last month I returned for the first time in 13 years to what is without a doubt my favorite mountain range in the world: California’s Sierra Nevada. I have strong concurrence in my views from John Muir, who dubbed the Sierras the Range of Light, and with good reason.

Staying in Bishop, the largest town by far in Inyo County with a population of 3,500, was ideal for accessing many of the basins of the Eastern High Sierras, as well as the White Mountains to the east on the California/Nevada border, and providing some local walks on my rest days. Enjoy the highlights from some of my many hikes!

Lake Sabrina. Several great hikes can be enjoyed from this trailhead.

Yosemite Valley and Half Dome from Clouds Rest. This longish (12+ miles and 3100 ft gain) hike from Tenaya Lake was a reprise of the one I did with Clifford in 2010.

Bishop Canal view with clouds and Sierras. My apartment abutted open land and the main stem of the canal.

My backyard at sunrise, Bishop, with a view of the White Mountains. The near hummingbird feeder is the one I now travel with.

Some wetlands along the Bishop Canal. I even saw a great blue heron one day, not something you would expect in an otherwise arid environment.

Ancient Bristlecone Pines (*Pinus longeava*) in the Schulman Grove, White Mountains. The oldest non-clonal tree in the world, at more than 4000 years, is within this grove.

An ancient Bristlecone Pine. I’m not sure whether it’s still alive or not, but it looks amazing.

Reflections in Long Lake, South Lake basin. Along with Sabrina basin, South Lake is easily accessed due west of Bishop.

Chocolate Peak with Chocolate Lake reflection, South Lake basin.

Bull Lake panorama, South Lake basin. This is my favorite photo from this post.

My friend John, on our Treasure Lakes hike, South Lake basin

Sierra shooting stars. Most wildflowers were past there prime by mid-August.

Seep Monkey-flowers, always found near streams.

Gilbert Lake view on the Kearsarge Pass trail from Onion Valley, west of Independence, CA.

The view west to Kearsarge Lakes from Kearsarge pass (11,760 ft)

A Golden Mantled ground squirrel, not to be confused with the smaller chipmunk.

An ancient Foxtail pine, closely related to Bristlecone pines. It’s really hard to differentiate them, except that Bristlecone pines don’t grow in this area.

A Bristlecone pine and buck on the climb to Boundary Peak from Queen Canyon, White Mountains

Boundary Peak, looking towards the summit. At 13,147 ft, Boundary Peak is the highest in the state of Nevada

A healthy example of White Mountain buckwheat

The Vagabond Hiker on the summit of Boundary Peak, my first state high-point since 2016.

Boundary Peak summit view towards Montgomery Peak (near right) in California.

Box Lake, Little Lakes Valley. This popular valley is 1/2 hour north of Bishop.

Upper Tyee Lake, accessed from South Lake

An American Pika (*Ochotona princeps*) above Lower Tyee Lake

A much better photo of a pika. I saw this bold fellow in 2015 on Mt Ida in the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies.

Clyde Spires and other peaks, seen from Big Pine Lakes. Big Pine is the next town south of Bishop along the Eastern Sierra corridor.

4th Lake lunch view with Palisades glacier, Big Pine Lakes. Palisades is supposedly the largest glacier in the Sierras, but it seems just a pale ghost of its former self. (I *think* it’s the snow field on the far right here).

Terrain near Moonlight Lake, Sabrina Lake basin. It might have been better to construct this post geographically, but it was easier to do it chronologically!

Hungry Packer Lake with Picture Peak, Sabrina Lake basin. This was another big hike to the uppermost lake in the basin. Consequently, I had this lunch spot to myself.

Route up from Green Lake to Vagabond Peak. I wanted to climb at least one peak in the Sierras, and Vagabond seemed the logical one!

The final summit slopes of Vagabond Peak, 13,350ft (4070m). Another hour of class 2 bouldering remained from here to the summit.

A beautiful example of Alpine mountain sorrel

In honor of Clifford, some gorgeous rocks along the Vagabond Peak route

Summit view NW, Vagabond Peak. The clouds were moving in, and indeed there was a bit of rain on my descent, a rarity in the Sierras in August.

Summit view East, Vagabond Peak, with the White Mountains in the background. The obvious high-point is White Mountain (14,250 ft), which I climbed in 2011.

I apologize for the unusual brevity of my photo captions, but I am heading out to the airport for my flight to London. Upcoming blogs starting next month will feature a traverse of the Picos de Europa in northern Spain, hut-to-hut trekking in the Julian Alps of Slovenia, and some day hikes on São Miguel island in the Portuguese Azores. Until then, take care and enjoy the autumn.

The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking and Botanizing in Southwest Colorado

August 12, 2024

After traveling abroad for the past two summers, this year I decided to stay in the western US mountains, dividing my time between the Durango area in southwestern Colorado and Bishop, California, on the east side of the Sierra Nevada range.

Other than a few days in the spring of 2013, I had never been in southwest Colorado and the opportunity to visit the San Juan Mountains, which contain some of the highest and most jagged summits in the continental United States, including 13 fourteeners (14,000+ft or 4267+m), was one I was eagerly anticipating. With a last minute decision, few homes or apartments were available in my price range, but I chose a house in a rural subdivision east of Durango, which turned out to be a great (if a bit pricey) choice. My brother, Mark, visited for 10 days, which made it even more special.

The end of June and July are perfect times to enjoy the wildflowers, particularly at higher elevations as the snow melts. I was able to identify around 85 different wildflowers, of which I included about 20 in this blog post. Even more than the landscapes, they were the stars of my sojourn. Enjoy!

Red Creek-Missionary Ridge Loop, one of my first hikes. Here is a vista with Woods roses.

Woods roses. I’ve stayed with common flower names for this post, realizing some disambiguation may be necessary.

A Horned Toad, seen on Missionary Ridge.

View from Baldy Mountain. The two hikes I did there were both from the nearby Sortais trailhead, just east of Durango.

A field of Showy fleabane and Rocky Mountain penstemon on Mt Baldy.

Eileen’s Pond (my name – it’s actually called Lake Eileen). The trailhead starts at Vallecito Lake, only a 20 minute drive from my house.

Eileen’s Pond, six days later when I hiked with my brother; no threat of thunderstorms this day!

Gunnison’s mariposa lily, my favorite flower in this post.

Castle Rock vista. Highway 550, seen below, connects Durango and Silverton.

Rocky Mountain columbine, my 2nd favorite flower!

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway train and vista. Mark and I did the touristy thing that day, taking the old steam train to Cascade Canyon, about 1/2 way to Silverton. We were perfectly located near the middle of about 8 cars.

Another view from the train, high above the Animas River

Mark taking a photo from the railway bridge in Cascade Canyon.

Engineer Mountain summit block. The NE ridge that we attempted became technical, so we only ascended to 12,500 ft on the 12,900 ft mountain.

Engineer Mountain vista NW towards the Twin Sisters and Grizzly Peak

Me looking at the vista from Engineer Mountain

Me on Engineer Mountain. Any climbing option from here was at least YDS Class 4; lacking equipment, we retreated.

We were definitely in a vertical world! (Photo courtesy of Mark)

Sticky polemonium, a high altitude denizen

Looking back on our route up to Ice and Island Lakes. The loop hike to these alpine lakes was my favorite.

Ice and Island Lakes pano with Golden Horn, Vermillion Peak, and Fuller Peak (R to L)

Island Lake. My favorite photo. I rarely used my Olympus, so nearly all photos in this blog were taken with my Samsung Galaxy phone.

Sub-alpine paintbrush. It was lovely to see different species of paintbrush in bloom.

Mesa Verde petroglyphs, along the Petroglyph Point trail. Mesa Verde was only an hour west from my house.

Prince’s plume along the Petroglyph Point trail (photo courtesy of Mark)

Silvery lupine, seen along the Knife-edge trail at Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde Balcony House, seen on a (mandatory) guided tour. Now I understand how it got its name!

Another view of the Mesa Verde Balcony House

The Animas River, near Whitewater Park in Durango. I walked three different sections of the Animas River trail during my stay.

Everlasting-pea, along the Animas River in Durango

Rio Pinos Valley, at the start of an 11 mile out and back hike from near Vallecito Lake.

Wilderness Act, 1964. My favorite quotation from a legislative act! The Rio Pinos valley was largely in the Weminuche Wilderness.

Engineer Mountain, from the Crater Lake trail. The NE ridge we attempted two weeks earlier is clearly seen here.

Crater Lake, also in the Weminuche Wilderness, which is about 3/4 the size of Rhode Island.

The AirBnb rental where I stayed for nearly 6 weeks outside of Bayfield. It was a very peaceful location, which included a wonderful deck with a hot tub. At about 7800 ft elevation, it never seemed too hot. One caveat: a thirty day minimum rental is required.

For those interested, all 85 or so wildflowers I identified can be downloaded here as a pdf.

Currently I am in Bishop, California, on the East side of the Sierra Nevada. Having been away for 11 years, it feels like coming home to some of the most beautiful mountains and wonderful hikes in the world. Expect another post in two or three weeks, before I depart for Europe.

The Vagabond Hiker

Travels with Clifford

February 23, 2024

As long-time followers of this blog may know, my youngest brother, Clifford, has both graced many photos and been behind the lens for quite a few more. Beginning with Maui in 1990, Clifford and I explored Belize in 1993, Wales with our dad in 2000, and coastal California and the Southwest US numerous times since 2007. More recently we traveled and hiked together in Tasmania and mainland Australia in 2017, Malta in 2018, Ireland in 2019, and Costa Rica in 2022. Clifford’s innate curiosity, far-reaching knowledge, boundless enthusiasm, and child-like sense of wonder for the natural world enriched my travels in so many ways. Here are some recent fond memories. . .