A description of the Dusy Basin backpack
Several years ago Dan and I decided to visit the
very popular Dusy Basin in the high Sierra. I started up the trail with a lousy
cold and when we got up around 11,000 feet I developed a choking cough that
wouldn't go away. I couldn't lie down and breathe so I sat up against a rock
night and day. Of course it snowed (this was October). So after two miserable
nights I guessed that I had pulmonary edema and we came back down. I was right
according to a doctor in Bishop so we went backpacking in the redwoods in
northern
California.
This year we returned to Dusy and had a great
time. At the trailhead parking lot we talked a bit with a guy from Missouri and
his girlfriend on her first backpacking trip. This guy was, let's say, loudly
enthusiastic, but nice enough. We started at the South Lake trailhead (9800
ft.) above Bishop and headed up to the Bishop Lakes area at 11,300 feet. This
is a beautiful trail, not particularly challenging, and it passes several lakes
and is surrounded by many handsome peaks. I will comment that the area of
Bishop Lakes, at least on the eastern shores, is overused and there were many
poorly buried piles of human waste and toilet paper in the area. It's too bad
that the lazy, stupid or inconsiderate can hike at all.
We set up camp and within 30 minutes were
invaded by two loud voices from folks setting up camp about 40 yards away.
There are hundreds of thousands of acres and .... well, you understand.
Luckily, I hadn't set up my tent so I was able to move another 100 yards away
and although I could still hear them yammering it wasn't as annoying. We
discovered that it was the guy from Missouri and his equally loud girlfriend.
The next morning Dan was having a little problem
adjusting the altitude so he rested while I day hiked along a ridge to the east,
down to Timberline Tarns (11,200 or so), across the main trail and up to
beautiful Ledge Lake (11,200 or so) and back to camp. Should you, or I, ever
return to this canyon I'd stay at Ledge Lake. There are many very nice camping
spots, it catches earlier morning sun, and is well off trail and is more likely
to be quiet. Timberline Tarns has a couple of nice tent spots on the land
dividing the two lakes. It's nearer to the trail but very pretty. Up by Ledge
Lake I found a nice pair of like new women's pants which I picked up and carried
out. I left my email address at the ranger office in Bishop in case anyone
wants to claim them. They fit my daughter perfectly.
Tuesday morning Dan felt better. The loudmouths
took off early, thank goodness, never to be seen by us again we hoped. There
were two rabbits hopping around our camp. We think that they were Sierra
White-Tailed Jackrabbits since they seem to be the only rabbits that are up this
high. We had breakfast, packed up and headed up over Bishop Pass (11,980).
This is one cool trail and set of switchbacks. An amazing amount of work went
into building them. The ranger told us that this is to be rebuilt as it's so
unstable. I don't envy anyone that job.
We were at the top soon enough and were rewarded
with handsome views in every direction. But once again we ran into the loud and
this time, the obnoxious. There were 6 folks in the pass standing within a few
feet of one another "talking", but they were yelling as if they were in some
overamped heavy metal bar. They all yelled at once, swearing, and telling
hilarious stories of drinking to the point of vomiting and driving home drunk.
Yeah, I know, I'm an old prude. Maybe so. But just the same, some people have
no sense of place. They're in this amazing, quiet, beautiful gift of a place
and they childishly need to ignore it and remain in their bar culture and insist
on disturbing everyone else.
Three climbers next to me left in disgust.
Another couple went back down toward the Bishop side so they could take a break
away from the idiocy. Dan and I waited them out so we could enjoy the silence.
I did ask them where they were headed so that we wouldn't head their way.
Thank goodness they were strictly high-mileage guys who stayed on or near the
trail and were going well past where we intended to stop for the night. I feel
sorry for anyone who had to camp near these clowns. I hope Mr.
Missouri ended up near them. :-)
After enjoying a 1/2 hour of quiet Dan and I
headed down into Dusy Basin, which is in the far eastern part of
Kings Canyon National Park. This is a fine, easy trail. At the first
lake we headed along the shore to the far end, crossed the inlet and headed up
the ridge between this lake and Lake 11,388 below Isosceles Peak. The wind
started picking up but we found a somewhat sheltered spot just across from
Isosceles on a rise above the lake. Below us was a small near-island. I'd
recommend this spot to anyone. The sunset was really nice, with a few clouds to
reflect and filter the light and the sunrise was nearly as pretty.
After breakfast we grabbed our day packs and
headed cross country around Isosceles and Columbine peaks toward Knapsack Pass
(11,680). We didn't do a top-notch job of picking a route across or around the
boulders lying on Columbine's shoulder and ended up doing more
boulder hopping than we'd wanted. We found the groove up the granite
leading to the pass and found that easy enough except for a couple of hands-on
spots. At the top we ran into a really nice young couple from Chicago who'd
taken an even worse route to the pass than we had. We had a nice talk and a few
laughs before they headed on down. Dan and I hung around being marmots for an
hour or so. Except for the wind this would have been a good spot to go up
Columbine. It's rated a class 2 scramble from the pass.
We took a lower and more roundabout way back to
camp in order to see some new spots and to avoid the boulders. We pumped some
water near a tiny waterfall draped in monkey flower surrounded by brilliant red
paintbrush. The wind was increasing as we approached camp and by dusk it was
howling. We had dinner and climbed into our tents to read and relax.
Morning was still windy. We (mentally) invented
the combination tent/paraglider that morning and this was one of three (mental)
inventions from this trip. The other two might actually be practical but we
relinquish rights to the tent/paraglider idea. We walked back over to the lake
first by the trail coming from Bishop Pass. I timed my walk to the top,
something I've never done before. It took 45 minutes. A young person can
probably easily do it in 1/2 hour. We were fighting wind all the way and glad
for trekking poles to use to catch our balance. Once in the pass it was
unpleasantly harsh so we fairly quickly dropped down toward
the lakes stopping behind a handy rock wall for a long break in the sun.
That night we camped at Timberline Tarns on the
land between the two lakes. There was some wind protection, which was nice. We
had an afternoon to read, relax and goof off and we took full advantage. The
next morning the wind was a little less. We had breakfast and took off toward
Ruwau Lake (11,044) and Chocolate Peak (11,682). Ruwau is beautiful with some
very nice camping spots. Again, this is a better choice than the Bishop Lakes
area unless you go off to the west side of the Bishop Lakes. We started
walking up, wandering, toward Chocolate Peak. It was quite nice and easy
although Secor's book rates it more difficult than Knapsack Pass. (Don't get me
wrong, neither is a big deal.) On top the view was excellent in every
direction. Very pleasing and rewarding. One of the best rewards for very
little work I've run into. Recommended !!
Saturday morning it was time to head down and
out. We'd hidden a couple of bottles of iced tea near South Lake and that was a
slight draw to us. The morning was calm, our first calm morning. The lakes
were all mirrors and after I'd washed my face my bandana froze solid in minutes,
though it didn't feel cold. Despite many photo stops we were out before 11:00
and soon into Bishop where we showered (there's a small gym there that provides
showers, soap and a towel for $15), had a Subway sandwich loaded with crisp
veggies, and headed off north up 395 toward
Portland.