The North Side (Tioga Peak Series)

(GPS: N37 56.938 W119 14.760)

Looking at the northern side has good scenery too. The picture below is still looking west past Tioga Lake. You can see a lot of the high points of Yosemite. As we work our way to the right side north of Tioga Lake we pass by the ghost town of Bennettville. I am going to skip talking about that area for now and leave that for the next entry since I went there a few hours later that day. The main high point is Conness Peak in the middle of the picture. North Peak is to the right of that and Saddlebag lake is to the middle right of the picture. Later that morning I went to Saddlebag in order to find the trail head to get to Conness. I eventually decided that this was not the year for that hike due to my right foot being a problem. At the very tip of Conness you can see how it is a shadow. This is due to the clouds starting to get darker and covering the area at the time. It still was not too bad when I was up there. That would change on the way down.

This is below Conness and it is interesting because you can see a small little house in the picture. It is the Carnegie Institute that was used for science in the past. I have read about it, but never been to it.
I spent about an hour at the top of Tioga Peak. I did not think it was going to be as scenic as it was so I ended up spending a lot of time taking pictures and using my camcorder. However, one thing I know of in the area around Conness is that the weather can take a dramatic turn. The clouds started to get darker. I decided I had better start moving down to avoid being a victim of lighting strikes.

While I was going down it really never rained very hard. Just enough sprinkling to make me want to continue down at a good pace. I was expecting it to come down at some point.

Darker and Darker. When I eventually got down and drove to Saddlebag lake a mile or so up the road it did come down pretty good with hail for a few minutes. It was not a long shower that morning. I went to Bennettville and made the short hike with it being overcast. Still the time coming down from the peak made for some dramatic gray pictures.

The West and South Side (Tioga Peak Series)

(GPS: N37 56.938 W119 14.760)

Looking down to the west side from Tioga Peak one can see Tioga Lake. Tioga Lake is one of my favorite lakes in the Sierra. It border the entrance to Yosemite which you may be able to see up the road. What is fun about this picture is you can even see the rock in the lake that is obvious when you drive by the lake. It was really great to see this lake from above.
This is a bigger zoom shot of the area:
It was fun seeing all the cars driving up to and by the lake:
The following pictures are starting to look in the southern direction. You can see Dana Peak. Which is the 2nd highest peak in Yosemite at 13053 ft (Lyell being the highest which is somewhere behind it).
Looking more south. Dana in the background and Ellery Lake below:

A bigger zoom shot of Dana Peak:
I remember rowing a boat in the middle of the lake, but closer to the back right side of the picture and hitting the bottom when I was younger. A very strange experience. My dad said he enjoyed trolling for fish here with my Uncle years ago.

Gardisky Lake (Tioga Peak Series)

(GPS: N37 57.340 W119 15.160)

Over the next few entries I will cover many different areas I did on that day I hiked a few places off the 120 highway. If I could pick two days of my most recent trip to the Eastern Sierra that I was the most at peace and happy this would be one along with the Snow Lake trip. I woke up early that morning just intending to go to Gardisky Lake and scout some areas near Saddleback Lake for a possible hike to Mt. Conness at a later time. Although I never did ever climb Conness this year due to my right foot being in a lot of pain during this trip; hiking on scree and snow terrains at an angle up a high elevation was not a good idea this year. I wanted to get home in one piece and knew I had some limitations this year. However, this hike ended up being a really great substitute looking back at what happened.
The picture above is just shows you what it was like that morning at around 7:00am. I am looking back at where I hiked in from. People say it takes about an hour from the trailhead, but even with my bad foot it only took me about 30 minutes. The climb on the trail is steep for people that are not in good shape. It was no problem for me really and was a good sign for me that I could do a lot more than I intended.

This is actually later in the day before I left the lake. I thought I would show these than the shady morning shots. At the other end of the lake the water drops off the edge forming a waterfall that goes down pretty far into the canyon.

This is more of the same direction. This lake did look like a good lake to hike and fish at. It was a good size for that.

The picture above is looking up at Tioga Peak. I looked at it and thought, "Hmm, maybe I should just go and see what I think." I started up it and all it is is granite rocks. It ended up taken me about an hour from the lake. I started out thinking I would not make it, but as I kept going I realized I just needed to go a little further and further. Next thing I knew I reached the summit. It is a relatively easy peak hike. Most peak hikes with good views taken me hours to do. This one was a total of 1 1/2 hours of total hiking time from the trailhead. The views are really good looking into Yosemite. Looking back east to the Mono Lake area was not that good so most everything I have is shot from the north, south, and west directions. Here are a few examples until the next entry:

This is looking back down at Gardisky Lake from the top. Saddlebag Lake is to the high left of the picture.

This is a zoomed in shot of Gardisky Lake.

You can see the drainage of the lake over into a waterfall.

You can see the water drains into the Canyon. There is obviously a lot one could investigate from this lake on top of the other side.

Gene Autry Rock Area in Hopalong Cassidy's False Colors (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 36.240 W118 07.025)

This is probably the most famous rock formation in Alabama Hills. The big protruding one is Gene Autry Rock. I have seen it a bunch of times in films. What you see below is the Autry Rock along with some of the rocks in the background. This particular movie picture is from Hopalong Cassidy's False Colors. Hopalong Cassidy is with some of his side kicks in the between the two major rock formations.

I shot the background rocks which look about right. However, the Autry Rock is shot back towards Lone Pine Peak. That is why it looks backwards in the pictures. In the following picture I added a picture from the Gene Autry movie Boots and Saddles which is why this rock was named after Gene.

Gene Autry Rock (Youtube Version)

Gene Autry Rock (Vimeo Version)

The Simpson Mine Part 2

(GPS: N 37 58.746, W 119 10.577)

This is the main structure at the Simpson Mine. It was definitely interesting to see this at a higher altitude.

The Simpson Mine Part 1

(GPS: N 37 58.746, W 119 10.577)

After my hike to the previous entries area, I walked about five minutes to the northwest to the Simpson Mine. It is one of those areas that remains somewhat a secret in the High Sierra. As I mentioned in the last entry the people in the town of Lee Vining tell me they do not like too many people going up there because they are concerned about the dirt road being destroyed by vehicles. The other thing is people are concerned about the artifacts being stolen by thieves. The area is protected by the U.S. Government so do not even try.

The area reminds me a bit of Bodie ghost town. A lot of the structures have stood the test of time through the years of harsh weather conditions. Originally gold was found up here around 1890. Although a claim was filed later, a man named Jim Simpson purchased the mine around 1910. Simpson along with his brothers worked on the mine as much as they could, but during the rough winter months they had to stop. Eventually, the mine was purchased by different companies a few times. Most of what is seen now is what remains during the 1930's era.
I took a lot of pictures of the area. What I have posted here are some of the complete structures away from the main building. I will do a write up of the main building with pictures in the next entry.

An Awesome View of Mono Lake

(GPS: N37 58.645 W119 10.150)

One of the obvious scenic areas I drive by every year at least once, if not more, is Mono Lake just off the 395. It is a huge salt lake in the Eastern Sierra not too far from the Nevada border. I did some minor hikes near the lake, and to be honest, the more the sun comes out the worse I feel. It is a lake, but I feel like I am walking in a desert. This year I went up above the town of Lee Vining and took some pictures near an old mine. I did actually hike up there which is a story I do not really want to get into. One can drive up there, but the people in town do not recommend it mainly because they do not want the traffic on the road. They do not want the road damaged more than it is.
I do not believe pictures do justice to this area. It was very dramatic. The clouds were perfectly mirrored on the lake. The ledge of the area I shot this from was very epic and everything was so big. At one point a helicopter was flying below me over the lake. The one word I would really use to describe this scenic view is WOW! The following is a composite of two pictures. They are not perfect, but the best I could do to show you how the whole lake looks if you are there.
This next picture is looking south. I actually walked down this way when I left. There is a way up and down forming a loop. Yes, I did walk the road up and down. I would not recommend that unless you are really in shape. It took me a few hours to pull it off.
The following is looking northwest. Lee Vining Peak is to the left. You can see some of the old mining structures to the left and the right if you look closely. These are part of the Simpson Mine artifacts left up there. I will probably show some of the structures up close in my next entry.

The Snow Lake Hike

(GPS: N38 06.010 W119 27.620)

This was a fun hike in August, 2006. A week earlier I intended to do this hike, but the problem was I spent too much time at Peeler Lake. I was well adjusted to the high altitudes a week later so I decided to do the hike again. I was on the trail around 4:30am and was remembering the hike I did a year to the day before to Matterhorn Peak a few miles away (that epic story for another day).

A hiker had tried to convince me to take a left at the junction side the week before. I had my goal of getting to Peeler so I had to ignore his advice that day, but realized what he was trying to say. This hike is a lot more interesting and it is BEAUTIFUL! After taking a left at the junction it does not take too long to reach Robinson Lakes.

These lakes are very green. The moss must make these lakes ultra green. They were not that big, but very nice to look at. These lakes dump in and join the Robinson Creek drainage that goes into Upper Twin Lake at Mono Village. I did some some small fish in them, but nothing really big. I was in the middle of the trail for both of these shots; the trail divides the two lakes.

After a while of more hiking I reached Crown Lake. This is the lake many camp at and reach from hikes from Virginia Lakes. Very BEAUTIFUL! While hugging the right side of this picture where the trail continues I heard a "bark". I thought there must be a dog out there. The problem is no dogs are allowed in Hoover Wilderness! It was either a human faking a bark or some other animal. I never found out. Finally, After about 4 1/2 hours I reached Snow Lake. It is about a 3,000 foot elevation hike. Lots of switchbacks! However, I never really felt that tired doing this hike. The conditions were cool and I encountered no humans at all. Only one deer on the way that did not want to get off the trail for me. I told him I would move around him, and I did. In the following picture I am shooting back to where I came from on the left side of the picture. The lake drains down below, but it is not a waterfall. There was a patch of snow at the end that I had to get off trail for, but no major snow. I would have been upset if I had not found a way to get past that snow. I was so close! The Sparkletts Water picture. I spent some time on the other side of the lake to the right. It is very marshy there. Unfortunately, I do not think pictures really do justice to the beauty of this lake and area. I was so at peace at this lake. I did have to deal with a lot of skeeters that wanted my blood, but one cannot escape them anywhere. The following picture is taken at the Yosemite border looking back at the lake. The lake is a little bigger than it looks in these pictures.

The following picture is shot looking into Yosemite. I crossed over for a few minutes and it does look like Yosemite. Yosemite does have a distinctive look to it if you have been there so it did look like what I know of as Yosemite.

This was a very fun hike. It was one of the hikes I can honestly say I felt so at peace and happy doing. I like hikes like this that are not impossible and too dangerous to do, but are uncommon areas for humans. I did see some humans that looking really tired on the way down near Crown Lake. Very strange because they seemed so out of their element. I started encountering more people as I got close to Barney. There are more funny things that happened, but this one of the two best scenic hikes I did this year.

Seven Men From Now Riding Pictures and Hopalong Cassidy Dangerous Venture Spot (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 36.237 W118 07.702)

Here is another one taken in Cattle Pocket.

The top two pictures are from Seven Men From Now. Randolph Scott rides between the middle of the formation on the upper right picture then comes down the side of it as you can see in the upper left picture. My picture, on the lower left, was done in the morning so there were a lot of shadows. One interesting thing about the formation is what I call Bigfoot. If you look at the picture on the lower right it is taken from the Hopalong Cassidy movie Dangerous Venture. You can see him walking his horse Topper right next to some rocks that to me looks like a really big foot with four toes. If you click the picture and make it big you should be able to see that Bigfoot in each picture.

The Tall T #2 (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 36.608 W118 07.695)

This is the exact same area as the last entry. This one shows a little more of the rock formation I mentioned last time. I do think you can actually climb near the top of it with little problem. Henry Silva is walking toward Richard Boone in this picture. My angle on this picture is not quite right, but you can figure it out.

This next one is shot from the perspective of Richard Boone (or double) riding his horse near the shark-like rock formation. I went and stood where he was in the above picture and shot back down to where my truck was parked.

The Tall T #1 (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 36.608 W118 07.695)

This is probably my favorite find. It was the one I had been searching for from the first time I had been to Alabama Hills. I like this one because of the shark or whale-like structure that stands out. In the movie, The Tall T with Randolph Scott he is captured and taken to this area. The outlaws, Richard Boone and Henry Silva, use this area as their hideout. The larger rock formation to the left that you can partially see in this picture can be climbed to overlook the area. Henry Silva climbs up it at one point of the movie to look around. One of these days I will have to go back and climb it when someone is with me to take pictures. The Tall T is one of my favorite westerns. It was directed by Budd Boetticher and is one of the six westerns he did with Randolph Scott. Randolph Scott is my favorite of the old western actors. He was a pretty rough bad ass in all in the movies he did with Boetticher. I mentioned Seven Men From Now in one of the previous entries, but Ride Lonesome and Commanche Station were filmed at Alabama Hills as well. Most of the last half of The Tall T was filmed at this location.

The Peeler Lake Hike (Part 2)

(GPS: N 38° 07.405 W 119° 28.056)

Okay, this is close to Peeler Lake. The trail is pretty easy to follow although there were a few points I was not sure about, but I used good judgment; nothing too complicated here. You really do feel like you are out in the wilderness, but there is a lot of “closed” in type of walls like this you go by.

Funny thing is I expected to not see many people on this trip. I saw one person on the way up coming down from his trip from the Virginia Lakes area. He was trying to convince me to go to Crown Lake. Saw a young couple at Peeler, but there were about a total of twenty people coming up as I went back down. More than I expected being that far out. Most people were going to spend the night coming up in the afternoon. I just went early in the morning so I could be back by the afternoon.
I finally reached Peeler. I was happy to finally make it. It took me about four hours, but I think I could have done it quicker. You can see some snow on the left. I did encounter some snow below in the picture above, but it was pretty easily traversed. Although, one should always has to be careful of surprises when dealing with snow; one step and you can sink below or slide fifty feet down.


At the beginning, the lake looked really murky at the shoreline, but as I went around it was very beautiful. It was a very clear and reflective lake. No wind, but a bunch of mosquitoes were out.
The shoreline is interesting in that you still feel like you are walking on a major hiking trail around. I felt like it would drop off at some points in the lake if you are not careful.
I believe that is Matterhorn Peak in the background. I had been to the Matterhorn before looking this way. I intend to do a write up of that adventure showing the picture looking down this way at a later time.
It looks like a rocket ready to launch. Although I did not continue it, the border to Yosemite is not too much further. I regret not going a bit further to see the border, but I am sure I will do it again eventually. The lake looks like a good fun fishing lake. Nothing big, but worth fishing in if you were back here compared to all of the other lakes in the area. I enjoyed it, but a week later I would have an even more awesome and interesting hike than this which I will have to detail at a later time.