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This past weekend my son’s Troop went on a trip to Lone Pine Lake. It’s been just over two years since I had been there and climbed Mt. Whitney with my Dad and brother. This trip was just to Lone Pine Lake though, three miles up the Mt. Whitney Trail. We had a fairly large group, 21 total but we all made the hike fairly easily. It was hard work for all of us but no one complained or wanted to go back. This was probably the most strenuous hike most of these boys had been on. The elevation gain from Whitney Portal to Lone Pine Lake is about 2000 ft in just three miles, the lake is at about 10,000 ft.. The elevation did not seem to bother anyone too much.
We spent a long time at the lake, ate lunch, did a little fishing and did some exploring, as boys will always do. I had not been to the far side of the lake on my previous trip and it was well worth the walk. I took some pictures of old trees, they have probably been there hundreds of years or more. It’s amazing how these trees have adapted to the harsh conditions.
The best part of the trip was the weather, it snowed off and on all day long. The snow was never enough to be inconvenient and the boys absolutely loved it. It did start to come down pretty good just as we arrived at the lake but the sun was out about 20 minutes later.
As soon as we got back to camp the boys were off fishing again in the stream that ran through our campground. Austin caught one and his friend got two, which made a tasty addition to our dinner. Austin caught one more the following morning after we packed up but he let it go since we would not be eating it.
The following day we headed back down into the Owens River Valley to do some more fishing in of all places, the Owens River. The boys didn’t catch any fish there but were completely satisfied “catching” crawdads. They’d dangle their fishing lines in the water until one would latch on, they’d reel them in a bit and then the crawdad would let go and they’d start over.
It was a really great weekend; I love being out there. I had hoped to get some good night photography in. The nearly full moon forced me to change those plans but I did get a good 10-minute exposure of Mt. Whitney with some star trails overhead. You can see all the pictures on Flicker, HERE.
