Sierra Trip Reports

Locations: John Muir Wilderness, Dutch Lake & Hidden Lake

Dates: October 10, 2009 – October 11, 2009

Hikers/Fishers: Colin & Nick

Photographers: Nick (unless otherwise noted as Colin)

Colin and I decided to head out into the John Muir Wilderness for a brief weekend hiking and fly fishing trip. I recently tore my meniscus as well as additional cartilage damage, and Colin currently has a leg like the terminator resulting from a broken tib/fib/ankle accident at Squaw last winter.

Needless to say, we are both gimps but wanted to get out of dodge deep into the Sierra. The result: Kaiser Pass Road. Kaiser Pass Road is a seasonal, single-lane paved road that ventures up to Thomas Edison Lake and Florence Lake. Sitting at approximately 7,500 ft., Florence Lake is accessible by car but serves as a jump-off point for several trailheads.

We drove up to Florence Lake and hiked approximately 2.5 miles and 2,000 ft. vertical gain to Hidden Lake to set up camp and fish.

DAY 1:

Kaiser Pass. Photo: Colin:

The packs at the Dutch Trailhead. Photo: Colin:

As stated above, the trail was generally short, but pretty much entirely uphill with a steep grade. Going up was easy, coming down however was hard on both of us given the injuries.

Colin starting off:

Colin at approximately 8,000 ft., pointing back at the Eastern Sierra. Generally over that range is the town of Mammoth, and just to our east over the range was Bishop:

Nick chilling at Dutch Lake. We decided to move on further to Hidden Lake given the reeds all around the lake-edge. Photo: Colin:

Hidden Lake, our destination for Saturday and Sunday. Photo: Colin:

The setup. The best thing about camping in the Sierra is the lack of underbrush due to the glacier carved terrain. This makes for good tent platforms and easy cross-country/backcountry travel:

We camped at 9,240 ft. Temps got down to approximately 25 F at night, and rose to around 55-60 F during the day:

On to the fishing….. Neither Colin or I are experienced fly-fisherman. We borrowed the gear from my buddy Jared and set off. I have only fly-fished a handful of times (see the recent trip to Yosemite High Country), and Colin had never fly-fished.

Fortunately, this meant that we would be entertained by merely working on casting, as we did not catch anything. While Hidden Lake was beautiful, it was not plentiful. We did see some fish when we first arrived, but when starting fishing at dusk and early morning on Sunday, it was a blank canvas.

Nick fishing at dusk. Photo: Colin:

Colin with the same:

Some scenic shots of Hidden Lake:

The alpenglow on the Eastern Sierra Range was awesome, as usual:

Colin by the fire, the sky lite up at night:

Nick getting the cooking and eating on! Note: I always forget at least one thing when packing at 4 AM on Saturday morning, this time it was the fuel canister. Fortunately, we had a backup “ala natural” with the fire. Photos: Colin:

Cool photo of the fire. Photo: Colin:

DAY 2:

Once again, we got up very early, had some breakfast and hit the opposite side of Hidden Lake. Only saw a couple of fish come to the surface, but they were out in the middle of the lake. Regardless, had a good time working on casting.

Some action shots of Nick. Photos: Colin:

Colin on the hike out:

Nick on the hike out:

As an aside, on the drive up Kaiser Pass Road you see a lot of jacked-up 4×4 jeeps, hunters, etc…. Despite being in Wilderness Area (with protected wildlife), you still see some interesting signs. Photos: Colin: