First Sierra hike if the summer season
SPS #116

Slept at the trailhead. Woke up before my alarm a little after 5am. Rafee arrived in the parking lot a half hour later. We started up the road at 6:10am. It was a long walk around the lake. The ferry doesn’t run for another two weeks and it runs during hours that wouldn’t benefit the punctual day hiker. Darwin visible early on. Lots of micro terrain as we crossed the San Joaquin and headed up towards Double and Blaney Meadows. River flowing. Snow plants covered the forest floor. Took a left at the old unmarked trail which is described by Secor. This ended up being a big score as we followed this to Sally Keyes Lake. Lots of golden trout in the creek. From there it was easy class 2 to the summit. I started feeling altitude sickness as we crossed the 12k ft threshold. It was my first time at altitude for the year so give me the benefit of the doubt. It was cold and breezy up top. Secor in the register. Ate my homemade tri tip. Views were spectacular. Traversed west to Peak 12068 because why not. On the way down we heard people at the lake shouting what sounded like Rafee’s name. We started yelling back, guessing who it might be. “AJ! Peter! Dully! Kirmse! Mihai!” I don’t think it was anyone we knew. The last 4 miles back from the footbridge was a bear. Made it back at 7pm, 12hr and 50 min after starting out.