⇦ « Crabtree Meadows to Pacman Lake »
2025-08-05 08:34:57
A look at Mount Young (left) and Mount Whitney (centre) in the morning. This was a semi-break day, so was our latest start.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 08:44:52
A look at Mount Chamberlin
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 09:01:05
With the light uphill, it doesn't take long to get some distance from the Crabtree Basin.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 09:01:15
Looking down the High Sierra Trail toward the Kern River at Mount Kaweah.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 09:06:43
One of the many places I should have used a lens hood and didn't.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 09:11:02
Mount Young looks like a little pile of gravel from here.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 09:20:30
The amazing rocks just keep coming.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 09:24:03
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 09:24:53
Whitney from Timberline Lake
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 09:26:00
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 10:13:01
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 10:14:53
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 10:16:52
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 10:25:01
Hitchcock Lakes Basin coming into view.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 10:28:30
Something has to be in focus, but I'm not sure what it is.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 10:33:36
Mount Hitchcock
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 10:51:48
First look at Guitar Lake
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 10:54:43
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 11:02:10
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 11:15:40
Pacman Lake wasn't very Packman shaped this year. We didn't factor in the utter lack of shade when choosing this as our resting spot.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 11:15:56
Mount Hitchcock from Pacman Lake
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 11:16:03
Looking across the trail from Pacman Lake at one of Whitney's toes
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 11:16:15
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 12:00:57
Nothing says rest day like a bonus mountain, so I head back down the trail toward Mount Yount, the peak on the right here.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 13:05:01
First glimpse of Lower Hitchcock Lake
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 13:05:11
An insect photobombed this shot back down towards the Crabtree Basin.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 13:17:18
If you know where to look, the trail to the start of the switchbacks up to trail crest is visible in this photo.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 13:17:22
Timberline Lake would have been a much better place to start up Mount Young, bypassing a bunch of cliffy stuff I had to deal with leaving the trail near Guitar Lake. You can also just start going up straight from Crabtree, which is which seems to be the standard approach.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 13:17:29
Looking back toward Franklin Pass
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 13:17:50
Mount Young from the saddle between it and Mount Hale. The climb started getting steep again after this.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 13:29:19
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 13:32:07
Looking east from the saddle, Mount Hale rises to the left, and the knob to the right has the cliffs that overlook Guitar Lake.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 13:41:46
Guitar Lake is obstructed from view by the cliffs between me and it, but would be in the lower center. A few of the switchbacks up to trail crest can also be seen in the center.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 13:59:08
Both Hitchcock Lakes were in clear view. In this shot, the neck of Guitar Lake also managed to peek into view.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 13:59:13
Mount Whitney, with the slope up to Mount Hale rising to the left. The cliffy knob above Guitar Lake is now noticably shorter than everything else.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:23:08
After leaving the saddle starting to pick my way up the boulders near the top, it didn't take long for all the lakes to come back into view.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:23:17
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:30:28
Lacking a flat frame of reference, nearby mountains often look around the same height. Here it already looks like I'm looking at the top of Whitney. The thousands of feet of elevation difference between me and its summit are just swallowed up by the vastness of it all.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:30:32
Mount Hale is also taller than Mount Young, but appears to have less of a push at the end. The view of Mount Russell (to the left of Whitney) from this angle did not make me want to climb it.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:30:42
View of the summit with Mount Hale on the right and Mount Barnard on the left. Mount Barnard is also significantly taller than Mount Young.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:30:45
Now with Mount Barnard on the right.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:30:48
Looking down at Wallace Creek and the upper Kern Valley
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:30:53
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:30:55
It's hard to see the Kern Valley's floor without being in it. Two days ago, our camp was tucked in the valley behind the knob in the center of the photo. Kern point is visible just to its right.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:30:59
Franklin Pass is visible, but the Kaweah Gap where the High Sierra Trail crosses over is hiding behind all the various Kaweahs.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:31:01
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:31:12
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:31:18
Mount Hitchcock... Also taller. So are Mounts Chamberlin, Newcomb, McAdie and Irvine, behind it right to left.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:31:21
Another good shot of the switchbacks
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:31:26
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:31:50
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:34:01
Note to self, it's OK to take more than one picture of the register. This one gets swapped out a lot less than the one up Whitney!
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:36:30
The pile of rocks where the register lives
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:36:40
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:36:46
Yeah, I already took this picture, but it was hard to stop soaking it in and start hiking back down.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:36:54
On the way back down, I walked down the ridge a bit to a section that was less steep. I didn't go up that route because it was annoyingly sandy.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:39:38
I left the ridgeline just before I reached this little pinacle. From much of the High Sierra Trail, this outcropping acts as a false summit.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:40:06
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:42:05
This valley is a nice gradule slope down to Crabtree and gets you to the top without any scrambling.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:43:01
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:43:05
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:44:35
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:44:50
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:46:37
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:49:06
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:49:09
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:53:57
Another look at the outcropping at the end of the ridge.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:54:08
Going up this side of Mount Young, you have loose sand at 30°
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:54:29
... or sand and rocks at 40°
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:59:33
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 14:59:34
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 15:07:59
Big pile of sand.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 15:21:45
I decided to document how much sand just came out of my shoe. Note, that's singular. Also not the first or the last dump.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 15:21:52
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 15:22:04
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 15:37:21
I turned back towards Guitar Lake too early when dropping off the saddle, and ended up on the side of the cliffy stuff instead of at its base. Rounding this corner involved hugging the rock enough that I knocked of my lens hood. It dropped into a crack between two boulders, well out of reach even if my hands were not busy hugging rock.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 15:44:12
Then I got to this, which tempted me to turn around, but I didn't want to go around that corner again, so I tried my luck with forward to the left...
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 15:51:10
... which got me to this draw, which I was able to drop down to elevation I was initially shooting for. This draw goes all the way down to the trail, and Cecilia and I had eyed it as a potential place to break off and start the climb. But we planned to turn left before hitting this bit because it looked sketch. It was a heck of a lot better than the stuff right before it though!
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 17:16:27
Interresting larva cratwling around the bottom of Pacman Lake
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 17:16:29
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 17:16:41
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 17:19:14
One of the creeks that feeds Pacman Lake goes partially underground and resurfaces as a spring at the bottom of the lake.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 17:19:18
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 18:16:44
This marmot kept doing cute stuff, but not when I had the camera.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 18:16:54
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 18:17:00
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 18:28:30
If you look at the lowest area here, you can kind of see the bits of Pacman that are missing when the water is this low.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 18:28:37
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 18:28:44
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 18:28:55
Should have looked at my blinkies.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 18:40:44
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 18:40:51
This one is framed better, but the moon didn't capture as well.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 18:41:01
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2025-08-05 18:41:16
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
This gallery powered by PhotoSwipe