Mt. Starr (Views Where I Ended)

(GPS: N37 25.615 W118 45.970)

Here is how it looked toward the west. The high point on the right is Bear Creek Spire and is the one you usually see when people take pictures of Rock Creek Canyon from below.

Mt. Morgan when I started panning to the south.
This is looking more to the east. You will notice I was not at the highest point.
Panning around more...
and more to the north.
Finally, seeing over the ridge I was looking up at from Mono Pass below.

Why didn't I get to the actual summit? Part of the deal was that when I had read up on this particular mountain hike I knew there were two summits. Some dispute which one is higher than the other, but also say that is hard to tell when you are there. I knew that would be an issue when I got up there. Back to that third picture I show above, I did get around that huge rock, but it became obvious that I was going to have to descend some and then come back up to reach the highpoint in the distance. I was already content with what I had done and started to lose the motivation to keep doing it. I was happy with the views I had, and my main concern was to make sure I had enough energy to descend back down to the pass.

At the time I did this hike, it was the first one I did when I got to the Eastern Sierra in August. I did it because I wanted to explore the area, but mainly to make sure I was in climbing shape. I had been thinking that this was going to be one mountain climb of as many as four more I intended to do while I was there. Then, about a week or so later, the Yosemite fire reared its ugly smoke which messed up the other climbs.

This ended up being my last mountain climb last year. I did get in a few other cross country type of hikes, but this was my last high point. Looking back, had I any idea what the fire was going to do, I probably would have pushed myself to explore more of the ridgeline of Mt. Starr.

This ends the mountain climb part. When I get to my next blog entry I will talk about a few issues about my descent and then show the nearby Summit Lake.

The Climb Up Mt. Starr (Youtube Version)

Mt. Starr (The Climb)

(GPS: N37 25.615 W118 45.160)

Part of my strategy this last year was to hit a few lesser known mountains. It was to get away from the idea that I see stated once in a while that Whitney and Half-Dome are the whole Sierra. Some of these hikes that are "easier" are just as much fun and you get great views on them. Mt. Starr may not be the most beautiful looking piece of matter out there, but it was a good one to do.

I knew the easiest route was supposed to be to hike to Mono Pass and then start climbing up the "backside." There are a bunch of mountains like this where some of the easy routes are just going around the back and climbing. So, off I went up the sandy scree and granite rocks.
Going up sandy scree isn't always fun. A case of one step up two steps back at times. There was a use trail I tried to follow. There came a point it seemed to end. I then tried to climb up the areas that were more rock than scree.
I took a look over and finally saw the Summit Lake. I knew you could continue to the lake from Mono Pass, but I decided I would visit the lake when I came down assuming I was still motivated to do so.
Up higher and higher. I took a bunch of breaks at times. I have this thing where I pick a goal of some object in the distance and then I go to it. It kind of helps me determine how long I will take and distance to the top.

Everything I had read stated the hike was nothing more than class 2, but there came a point near the end where I just wanted to get to the end so I ended up doing a few class 3/4 moves. I was glad the rocks I held were able to hold my weight. ;)

I finally got to the end of my hike and was glad I did so. I must admit it was a little tougher than I had in mind. I looked back down at the pass. I could barely see the "no fires" sign.

In the next blog I will show you how it looks all around from where I ended. You can get a preview from the video below. Technically, I did not reach the absolute summit. I will explain why in the next video, why it wasn't a big deal to me at the time, and then looking back I would have done it had I known how the rest of my hiking time was going to be last summer. ;)

The Climb Up Mt. Starr (Youtube Version)