Eastern Sierra hikes - 2010

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In 2010, Rich & Linda and I camped at French Camp, near Tom's Place, where Bonnie & Jean rented a cabin. On the first and third hiking days, we drove south on Hwy 395, losing 2,000 ft on the scenic descent to the Bishop area.

The road straight west (from 395) to the Piute Pass trailhead is about 10 miles south of Bishop.   

Piute Pass - hike one

note - on a pc or laptop you can zoom in & and out, but not on a smartphone.    

	Walker Burger on highway 395, note 1		from the Mono Lake visitor center		the drive south on 395, near Mammoth
		395 south from Tom' Place to Bishop		Piute Pass walk
	way out west !		Loch Leven		further uphill
		turnaround point		go jump in !

note 1 - about Walker Burger - when you're heading east from Sacto, via Hwy 50 and M.E. Road and Hwy 88, plus the Hwy 89 drive over Monitor Pass, and then south on 395, what could be more welcome (about 3 hours into the drive) than this terrific roadside stop, where you dine under shade trees, with perennial plants & fountains all around, an oasis.  

note  - On AllTrails, the Piute pass trail is 9.3 miles rt with 2,073 ft, of gain. The pass is at 11,423 ft. and we got close..... maybe within 500 ft. of gain.

Rock Creek Lakes and Mono Pass - hike two

The main trail here is just up the road from Tom's Place, and with a trailhead at 9,500 ft., it only takes 90 minutes of hiking to be in exquisite mountain scenery, in this case a series of lakes surrounded by peaks up to 13,000 ft. 

	trail to Rock Creek Lakes		me & Rich, circa 2010
		Bonnie & Jean		Rock Creek Lakes
					near the high point
		the descent		Rock Creek
	at the campsite, note 1				White Mountain, note 2

note 1 - Jean and Bonnie hung out near sunset at the campsite where Rich & Linda and I stayed. As mentioned, they had a  cabin at nearby Tom's Place. There's not much to Tom's Place, but the restaurant is always worth a visit.

note 2 - Only a few minutes' walk from the campsite I found a good view post-sunset light on White Mountain (14,447 ft.) 

The next day we drove south to Bishop again, heading due west to Sabrina Basin.

Sabrina Basin - hike three

			off to a good start		mountain mahogany & Lake Sabrina
				Rich looking content
	Bonnie		Blue Lake is up there
		first look at spectacular Blue Lake		suddenly windy
	High Sierra bonsai style conifer
		the descent
	Sabrina Lake
		see note

note - On the drive north to Toms Place, on 395, to the east was another view of White Mountain. 

On this trip, Rich, Jean and I could all say that we climbed that mountain, in 2006, and because of that, I'm always glad to see that mountain. 

Besides the awesome climb, the road to the trailhead has two superb ancient bristlecone forests to explore, where the oldest trees on the planet have lived for 5,000+ years (a later trip shows the trees). 

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