Quick trip between two monsoonal weather systems up to the Sierra for some peaks. 2 nights of backpacking in the Hilton Lakes area from Rock Creek Lake for Stanford and Morgan, and a day trip up Tioga Pass Road for Gibbs.
I drove up to Rock Creek Road and found a camping spot at the Pine Grove Campground. It’s a convenient spot that puts one high up the road and, in my case, just a few minutes away from the Hilton Lakes trailhead. We have camped here a couple of times in the past.
Mount Stanford (12,842 ft, 3914 m)
I hiked (4.92 miles / 1,000 ft, 7.9 km / 304 m) from the Hilton Lakes TH to Lake 3, setup tent, packed my summit pack with essentials, and continued towards Lake 4 and then off-trail up to the peak. The route follows a stream with some brush to get through and through some nice green, grassy areas up to a little over 11,000 ft. I ended up a little too high at the lake at 12,000 ft and had to get through some big talus to get down to the outlet of the lake. I felt the altitude and looking at a 300 ft high slope with talus to the ridge I had to cross was about to call it day. Then I noticed that by going down about a 100 ft I could get to an easier route up the slop. So I decided to look over the ridge to see what the rest of the climb looked like. It looked great. Not too steep, solid ground, and only some big talus at the very top. So I continued.
The view from the top was great. I went down the way I had come up.
Hike: 6.41 miles / 3,400 ft gain, (10.3 km / 1,036 m)
Mount Morgan (13,012 ft, 3966 m)
After breakfast I hiked (1.43 miles, 2.3 km) from Lake 3 down to the inlet of Davis Lake (Lake 1), setup tent, packed my summit pack with essentials. Then I followed the western edge of Davis Lake for a bit over half a mile before starting up the slope towards the peak. It started with 300 ft up with dense brush, then low brush, and finally a sandy slope with some trees. Around 11,000 ft the trees ended and it was a slog up the sandy/scree slope. The top 400 feet were in medium size talus. It took me quite a while to make it all the way up. It did not help that it was a very warm day.
The air was clear and the views from the top were spectacular. I spent over an hour up there with no breeze. Going down was more fun then up, because now I could seek out the sand/scree to “ski” down.
Back at camp I cleaned up a little, had my dinner, and went into the tent quickly because the mosquitoes were out in force.
Hike: 3.72 miles / 3,500 ft gain, (6 km / 1,067 m)
Mount Gibbs (12,765 ft, 3890.9 m)
The mosquitoes were out again right at sunrise! I skipped breakfast, packed up quickly, and hiked (5.35 miles / 800 ft, 8.6 km / 244 m) back out to the truck. Then I drove down to Hwy 395 to get some internet connection to check the weather forecast. The weather looked good for one more day and then rain and t-storms were forecast again with a high percentage. So instead of staying a few more days in the area I decided to skip my planned rest day and drive straight over to Tioga Pass Rd and climb Mt. Gibbs.
It was Saturday and I was worried about the entry line into Yosemetie NP. Luckily traffic was not heavy and the rangers had a method to let people with passes bypass the toll booth. I only spent 10 min in line.
By 11:00 I was on the trail. The route up Mt. Gibbs is straight forward: just go up the obvious ridge from the north. It goes through forest up to 10,400 ft, then some grassy area, the rest is small talus. Unlike for neighboring Mt. Dana, I did not come across a well defined use trail, so going was a bit slower. Conditions on top were great again, good views and not even a breeze. Coming up the ridge I had been in some mild wind the whole time. I spent an hour enjoying the view and resting before returning down.
Hike: 6.64 miles / 3,300 ft gain (10.7 km / 1,006 m)
When I returned from Mt. Gibbs it was to late to drive all the way home. So I drove to Independence where I know a nice dispersed camping spot next to Independence creek for the night. The next moring I started driving home right at sunrise and made it back just in time to watch Spain beat Argentina in the Soccer World Cup Finals.
Map and Profiles of the hikes
