(GPS: N38 01.470 W119 18 325)
Okay! It is time to wrap this one up.
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!
The following video was re-edited during the summer of 2013. I cut out a lot of things compared to the original videos:
To Excelsior Mountain (Youtube Version)
To Excelsior Mountain (Vimeo Version)
The following music was used from Incompetech.com: Mellowtron, Constancy Part One, Gustav Sting, and Fluidscape.
