In June '97, Bonnie and I "opened" the backpacking season for the breath-taking Mono Pass/Parker Pass/Alger Lake route in the Yosemite/Ansel Adams Wilderness high country. The bears were starting to get active after a long winter, and that added to the sense of adventure. The trip started from Dana Meadows (with its vicious spring mosquitoes!) and headed southeast towards Mono Pass, Parker Pass, Gem Pass and on out to Silver Lake, where we hitch-hiked back to Yosemite via Tioga Pass. This route was approximately 24 miles long and took 3 1/2 days.
(Left):
Bonnie leans away from the exposed side of the switchback towards
Parker Pass (at almost 12,000 ft.) as she provides the human
interest in this photo showing the controversial Mono Lake in the
background. Millions of years old, the lake is not fed by any
spring and relies solely on direct rainfall. Water-starved Los
Angelenos started draining the lake in the 50's, causing the
water level to drop and the lake's salinity to rise. Hence the
campaign to "Save Mono Lake."
(Left): Approaching wind-swept Parker Pass.
The peak to the
right is Koip Peak at 12,861 feet. Just over the pass to the left
is the descent to Alger Lakes.
(Below): From Parker Peak going down towards our campsite for the
night (the "peninsula" between upper and lower Alger
Lakes), with the Mammoth area in the background.
(Left): Alger
Lakes (the lower section
is about 2 feet lower than the upper section). Neither Bonnie nor
I knew how to identify the fresh animal droppings near the water,
so we just tried to convince ourselves that they were not the
bears' (a unicorn's maybe?, a mermaid's?)
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