South Lake - North Lake Loop

Day 2 – Sunday, September 1, 2002

 

We did not get an early start over Bishop pass today.  Most likely this was due to our lack of sleep on Friday night.  We finally hit the trail about 10 am.

We were only a few hundred feet below Bishop Pass at 11972’ so it did not take long to reach the pass.  I had a good view down into the Owens Valley so I turned on my cell phone to see if I could get a signal.  The signal was strong so I made a couple of calls.  This would be the last time I could get a cell signal until we crested Piute pass on our way back to Bishop.

The view from the pass down into the Dusy basin was incredible.  I wish we could have made it over the pass the day before, as this would be a very scenic place to camp.   We started down the trail toward the lakes and stopped for lunch along the trail at a spot that had an exceptionally nice view.   We took our time hiking past the lakes and even dropped our packs a few times to hike around and take photos.  Dusy Branch, which drains the lakes, was very pretty with some trees and meadows along the way.  We were in no hurry and stopped to talk with passing hikers along the way.

The descent from the lower section of Dusy basin provided numerous opportunities for Brian to stop and take photos which was just fine with me as it gave us time to enjoy the day.  We needed to descend down to Le Conte Canyon at 8750’ so there were quite a lot of switchbacks and it took us much longer than either of us would have guessed.

It was getting very late in the afternoon by the time we reached the junction with the JMT/PCT at the bottom of the Canyon.   Our legs were tired from the constant pounding of the descent but both of us wanted to push on to at least Little Pete Meadows to make camp.  We stopped at Little Pete Meadow to take some photographs and refill our water bottles.  We both decided that even though we were tired we would make camp a little further at Big Pete Meadows.

It was nearly 6 pm by the time we arrived at Big Pete Meadows.  An outfitter that we ran into there pointed out an excellent campsite near the water.  We quickly set up camp, started a fire, and cooked our dinner.  This was a good evening for relaxing around the campfire and it turned out to be a nice place to sleep with no wind shaking the tent.  The next day promised to be one of our longest days as we intended on crossing Muir Pass and camping at Evolution Lake.  A quick check of the map showed that this would be around 12 miles so we decided to get and early start in the morning.

We had hiked only about 8 miles from Bishop Lake to Big Pete Meadow but it had taken us the better part of the day since we had stopped so much.   This was just fine with me as it really gave us the time to enjoy our hike with lots of time for photos and visiting other hikers

PHOTOS FROM DAY 2

Click images to enlarge:

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Bishop Pass View

ET phone home

Bishop Pass

Dusy Basin

Dusy Basin Lake

Dusy Basin Lake

 

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Dusy Basin Lake

Dusy Basin Meadow

Dusy Basin Meadow

Llamas

Descent to Le Conte

Dusy Basin Meadow

 

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Descent to Le Conte

Descent to Le Conte

Descent to Le Conte

Descent to Le Conte

Descent to Le Conte

Little Pete Meadow

 

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Little Pete Meadow

Big Pete Meadow

 

 

DAY 3