19 July 2020
Long Lake to LeConte Canyon
(9.9 miles, +1,600/-3,600 feet).
Today we spent the whole day just getting to the John Muir Trail. But the trail we were on over Bishop Pass was itself extremely beautiful in ways I did not expect—even though I’ve been here before!
Sunrise on Long Lake was amazing. I was so happy we pressed on yesterday to score such a lovely campsite.
We ate breakfast, packed up, and started heading up past all the lakes in the Bishop Creek basin.
At Timberline Tarns we saw hundreds of circles on the water surface as trout jumped after thousands of mosquitoes, gnats, and other flying insects.
In no time we were above the highest lake and on our way to Bishop Pass.
Our friend Flower Power got her trail name today as she spent time identifying all the beautiful flowers we saw along the way.
We took a good long break and then headed down into Dusy Basin.
We took a long lunch at Lake 10742 before starting our 2,000 foot descent to LeConte Canyon. Finder and I even had a chance to jump in!
I previously thought we would have dry weather but today was a classic Sierra monsoon day with clouds starting to build around noon and the first rain drops around 3pm.
But fortunately the storms stayed north of us and we managed to get down to LeConte Canyon to find a nice established site not too far from the Ranger Station there.
I think everyone was happy to camp low tonight since we are still struggling with the elevation a bit. Tomorrow we have a VERY long climb up and over Muir Pass so we plan to hit the trail early.
Loved this. This is on my list of places to backpack. Maybe next year. This September we are headed to Ediza and Thousand Lakes.
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