Excelsior Mountain (The Summit)

(GPS: N38 01.470 W119 18 325)

Okay! It is time to wrap this one up. The video:

Excelsior Summit (Youtube Version)

Excelsior Summit (Vimeo Version)

Like most summits there is usually a bit of wind to deal with. This was the first time I really tried using my HD video recorder on a trip. Learning how to keep my hands as still as possible is something I am having to work out. Pictures are little easier. This is looking back at the ridgeline I was hiking across.

Looking to the northwest was not too exciting with all the smoke. I am not going to post the picture of that direction, but it is very similar to the third picture two blogs back (...and Then Some). This is looking into the west. I was on the border so most of what you see is in Yosemite. Mt. Conness is the high point to the left, and it too is on the Yosemite border.
I should mention that Excelsior summit is really just a heap of rocks. The whole mountain is talus rocks. Looking toward the south you can see Mt. Conness to the right, Mt. Lyell is to the center right, Mt. Dana is the highpoint to the left, and Saddlebag Lake. Saddlebag Lake will show up on another hike I eventually put up in a few months.
This side was still hazy as well so this is the best I would get out of Mono Lake. That is Lundy Lake down below. Burro Lake is to the left.

Dunderberg Mountain, the pass I came, the saddle over the hump.

One picture I had hoped to get is Bridgeport Lake from here. You can barely see it. One can usually see this mountain and the saddle of the hump from down there. At the end of the video, I zoom in from down there to show up here from down there...did that make sense? ;)

Alright, this was a long blog series, but I only do a few mountains a year so I like to show as much as I can. Even with this I held back a lot of pictures and video footage.

The mountain itself is around 12446 ft. elevation. I can not remember how many miles it takes. It seems like it is 5 miles one way.

The ironic thing is that I remember telling my brother on the way down, and during the next week, that I did not care if there was smoke in the sky on this trip. As long as it did not affect me the next time I would be here. This was nothing compared to what I was about to face in August.

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans, and to the rest of the world, have a nice weekend!

Excelsior Mountain (The Final Ascent)

The final video covers this blog and the next:

Excelsior Summit (Youtube Version)

Excelsior Summit (Vimeo Version)

It was quite exciting to look over the edge of the ridgeline. Not that there would be any issues of slipping here, but the thought of it was rather scary. I had read that some years back a woman died coming up from the eastern side. If you fall, you fall.
I could see my old friend Mt. Conness. Someday I will have to go back up that mountain.
Another look at Mono Lake.
This was the final ascent. I was really walking at a leisurely pace once I hit the final ridgeline. I wanted to take in the moment. It was somewhat windy, but very relaxing. It was now time to put a little leg into it and finish this hike to the summit off. I will conclude this hike in the next blog.

Excelsior Mountain (...and Then Some)

Over the Hump and Then Some (Youtube Version)

Over the Hump and Then Some (Vimeo Version)

From here I went around the snow. There was no need to cross over it.

This was really the part when I was certain there would be no more obstacles to get to the summit. I turned around and looked back. This is about the point where the video above ends. The final video will continue from this point to the summit.
I looked to my right and the smoky haze was even worse. Keep in mind this was July 3rd and not the fire in Yosemite in August. I was certainly happy to be where I was, but was slightly disappointed that it was not a clear day.
At this point I was making thankful prayers since all doubts I had about not having the energy or possible snow blocking my way were gone. It was just a matter of time now.
As I walked along the ridgeline I could see both Burro Lake and Mono Lake in the distance.

Next up, the final ascent.

Excelsior Mountain (Over the Hump...)

Over the Hump and Then Some (Youtube Version)

Over the Hump and Then Some (Vimeo Version)

We started up the talus slog. I tried to stay on the use dirt trail as much as possible, but at times just went on the talus rocks. It depended on how secure I felt on either. I would say this ascent is about 500 ft. I would go up a couple of steps and then take a breather. On my left, I could see my old friend Mt. Dana in the distance where I did there much of what I was doing here.

On my right, I could see into Green Creek Canyon.
Looking back down to where I came from with Burro Lake on the right.
Once we were over the saddle the situation was not too bad. Getting over it was pain on the legs, but it only took about 20 minutes to overcome.
Now I knew it was just a matter of time before I would be at the final destination. It is probably about an hour more of hiking from here.
I would have to drop down some and then climb up again. It was just like what I had already done.

Excelsior Mountain (Heading to the Hump)

(GPS: N38° 02.115 W119° 18.070)

This video will cover what I write about in the next three blogs.

Over the Hump and Then Some (Youtube Version)

Over the Hump and Then Some (Vimeo Version)

The problem with gettting to what I am calling the "hump" was that there was still a lot of snow from over the pass to the base of the hump. We would end up walking around most of it. We started heading south which would take us higher. We could see some of the higher peaks around. Unfortunately, there was going to be one issue that was going to plague me this hike making it a little less than ideal: haze from smoke. I will come back to this point during the last blog on this hike. We had not heard any news about this so I never did find out what the cause of it was.

Finally, after trying to find some areas through the snowy ice to cut across, we reached the ridgeline. The snow ended here, so we could start heading west (right) again toward the hump.
We especially wanted to avoid the snow here on the ascent. To reach the saddle of the hump we would continue going up the ridgeline.
I continued, but turned around to see Burro Lake. I had heard this is an interesting lake to fish since it is really isolated. In theory, one could climb up from Lundy Canyon on the other side, but if I had to get to it I would just take this trail. A hazy Mono Lake is in the background.
Excelsior Mountain was in clear sight. There are different ways to climb it, but we took the easy way. It looks like it creates two glacier lakes which you can see in the summer when it all melts.
Now for the do or die part of the hike.
It did not help that we wasted 30 minutes off trail an hour earlier. I lost some energy that I could have used here. There were some use trails here, but I was not sure if I should use those climbing up the dirt or go up the talus rock. Neither were very much fun.

Excelsior Mountain (The Pass)

(GPS: N38° 02.485 119° 17.700)

The video for this one is the same one as the last blog since it covers the hike to the pass.

The "I Love Lakes" Hike (Youtube Version)

The "I Love Lakes Hike" (Vimeo Version)

At some point we got off trail due to some snow, and that cost us about 30 minutes of extra hiking and some uphill. It was a stupid mistake and should have never happened. We ended up coming back to the trail with no problems, but we took an unfortunate detour. When I get off trail it can be pretty demoralizing since I feel like I am using valueable energy that I really need for the real trail.

I knew at some point we would have to encounter icy snow, but the question was whether it would be level or at an incline. There were a few points on the trail where there was level snow, but it was not really an issue. However, at the pass I knew it would be different. You can see the pass at the low point in the background, and that is the snow we would have to cross.
The snow was solid in the morning. We did have to becareful at some points. There were a few rocks sticking out and some footholes others had made. What I was somewhat concerned about, which is always something in the back of my mind on a uphill hike, is coming back down. In a few hours, the icy snow would turn into slushy snow. You can see part of the patch of snow we crossed below and how the trails zig zags to get to this point.

This is looking back down from where we came from. You can see Dunderberg Peak in full view. That was a possible option of climbing, but I did not really want to do that this time around. Maybe someday in the future. That hike is one where it is almost straight up. If you remember my Belle Starr's Daughter locations from two years ago that is just on the other side of that mountain.
Trying to find the name of this pass is an interesting thing. We started out at Virginia Lakes. I was thinking it might be called Virginia Pass. No, although not too far away, that is to the north of what comes from the Green Creek trailhead. In the video I show that the trail continues in one direction, but we head south. If we had continued on the trail we would have headed to Summit Lake. According to Secor's The High Sierra book we were on the Summit Lake Trail. So, how about "Summit Pass?" I like to refer to it as the trail that starts out at Virginia Lakes, or the Virginia Lakes trailhead. In any case, now the real "fun" would begin. At this point we were about two hours into the hike which would have been shorter had we not made the mistake we did that cost us about 30 minutes.A couple of things I should point out in the above picture. My final destination is the mountain in the middle and in background: Mt. Excelsior. The real trick to the hike is coming up next. We had to get over the saddle of that 11,000 ft. mountain to the right of it. If we could get past the "hump" then I was almost certain we would get to the top.

Excelsior Mountain (The Beginning)

(GPS: N38 02.875 W119 15.800)

I decided to give a silly title to this video in order to avoid the boring part 1, 2, 3, etc. The video will cover the first two blogs of the hike:

The "I Love Lakes" Hike (Youtube Version)

The "I Love Lakes Hike" (Vimeo Version)

Part of my strategy in hiking this year was to not visit the highest mountains or the most popular trails. Too many times I have read about someone saying something like, "I have climbed Mt. Whitney, and I am depressed since I do know what to do now." I purposely planned to go to lesser known Eastern Sierra peaks and trails. The Yosemite fire, which I mentioned during September, really messed things up in what I intended to do, but I did get in a couple of mountain peak hikes and a bunch of simple hikes.

This hike from the Virginia Lakes trailhead (GPS Coords above) was done on July 3rd of this year. As much as I love the area, I was not too thrilled to visit the place if it was packed with people. I told my brother this is the one hike I really wanted that weekend and we did not have to do anything else. I thought this area my be my best bet to avoid any crowds on which is the best time of the year for the town stores to make money, but the worst for overcrowded wilderness experiences. This blog and the ones that will follow will hit some of the highlights.

Virigina Lakes is a well known place for fishing. We left the trailhead and passed the Hoover Wilderness sign very quickly. It was probably around ten minutes after we got started. Then, we started the steeper climb past Blue Lake.
Somewhere past that point I looked to the right to see a sliding chute with talus rocks. Most climbs outside of the established trails are on talus rock. That is what I knew would be coming later on in the hike.
We passed an old cabin.
There were lots of streams and ponds along the way. One thing to note is the snow. We were a bit concerned about the snow on the steeper parts of the trail. I knew at some point later on if the snow was completely covering the area we might be forced to turn around.
We passed Cooney Lake. Then, I liked the snow reflection in the main Frog Lake.
This hike will take a bunch of blogs to cover. In the next entry, I show what we encountered to get to the pass.