Saddleback Lake, Mount Conness, Day 1

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A Dose of Outside
A Dose of Outside is intended to share a bit of nature with you as experienced on my local hikes and other adventures. Take a moment to look out the window or step outside and see what it is you see. What you smell. Notice what’s growing around you. Use all your senses and really get A Dose of Outside!

September 6, 2013, Saddleback Lake, Inyo National Forest



Thursday I got the BAM e-mail that there are a couple spots open for a Tioga Pass event. I had been itching for a climb. Some kind of experience at elevation, it’s been awhile. I know I had looked at this before, but I decided to revisit it.

BAM is Bay Area Mountaineers. A group found on the Meet Up website. I joined hoping to meet others that like to climb. This event was a hosting a group campsite with people at all different skill levels located in a spectacular area with a variety of outdoor activities to choose from. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to hopefully meet some people to climb with. And the camp was right near Mount Conness!

I had read briefly about Conness and it was on my to-do list, like everything else, but I didn’t know much. It’s 12,560 elev. and has a Class 3 route, which is my level, so I figured I was good to go.

Class 3 is basically a walkup with some steep terrain and maybe some scramble climbing. I check in with the organizers to see if I need crampons and an ice axe for Conness and the answer comes back a resounding “no”.

I know these are items I should always climb with regardless, but I don’t own my own – yet – so if I can avoid the renting hassle, I do.

I hit the road around 8am and the drive is easy. Once I get on Hwy 108 I start to see the smoke from the fires. Yikes. I’m hoping it will be clear higher up, but the further I drive, the darker the sky gets.

I keep the a/c on and the windows up, not even making a pit stop because I don’t want to breathe that air. Yuk. The otherwise gorgeous drive is an eerie landscape of ugly browns and greys.

Well, if it’s smoky at the campsite I definitely won’t stay. My lungs can’t take it. But since I’ve come all this way, if it is smoky, I’ll just keep driving south until the smoke clears and find another spot.

My car dogs it bad over the Sonora pass. The Dardonelles are invisible through the brown muck. I’m hoping, hoping, that once I crest the summit the smoke will clear.

Nope. I drop all the way down to 395 and it’s still a mess. My heart sinks just a little, but the good news is I’ve got a couple days off, food and shelter in my car, so all is well and it will work itself out.

Once I reach Mono Lake the smoke has cleared! I’m so happy! I finally stop to use the facilities and have a brief look around. I love it here and would like to spend more time, but I am also anxious to get to the campsite and get settled.

I turn up 120 and BANG! Big landscape. Hello. . .

It’s only 10 miles up the hill to the turn off for Saddleback Lake. Another 2-3 miles beyond that and I’m at the campsite. I do the loop, but don’t see the group site. Hmm. . .

I loop around again, look for the camp host and can’t find him either. Another loop and finally I find it. It’s right near the day use parking lot. They have carved out a neat little camp site bordered by railroad ties. There are piles of picnic tables in the middle and bear boxes lined up.

There is only one tent in the group site so far but no people present. I look around, imagining what it will be like in this small site with 25 people. Tents stacked up side by side. I don’t like it. Yes, I want to meet people, but I also need my space. I know this about myself.

I take another drive through the campground and decide to get myself a private spot and just visit the group during the day for activities. I’m relieved, I get the best of both worlds.

I find a great spot near the back of the campground with a view of a spire, poking majestically between the trees. What could be better!

By the time I set up camp, chit chat with the campground host, pay my fees and get some firewood it’s late in the day. It took me 6.5 hours to drive to here and I’m beat.

I take another trek down to the group site to see if anyone is there yet. A man is just walking down. We’ll call him Steve because I didn’t get his permission to use his name in my blog. I introduce myself and ask if he is the owner of the sole tent in the group site. He is.

Where is everyone? He doesn’t know but figures maybe some people didn’t come because of the fires. I pepper him with questions about where he plans to hike tomorrow. He is angling for Conness. I share my skill level and ask if I can tag along.

I’m not the best at guessing age, but Steve is maybe 55? 60? I’m trying to assess his fitness level compared to my own to see how I’ll do, but you really can’t tell. Age isn’t a factor and when people say they’re slow, like Steve did, you just don’t know what that means until you get on the trail.

Steve has all his maps, nicely laminated and spreads them out on the table for our review. He covers a couple different routes over Conness, one traversing a glacier and requiring crampons. I tell him I don’t have any and he gives me a bit of a tsk tsk. He always keeps a set in his trunk. But he says he didn’t plan to go that way anyway, so this is a relief for me.

A plan is made. I’ll come down in the morning and we’ll depart at 7:00am. The hike is approximately 7 miles roundtrip and we agree that if either person wants to turn back, we will.

Sounds good! I’m pumped that I met someone that seems nice and is familiar with the terrain to take a nice hike with and hopefully summit Conness!

I head up to my camp and reheat my delicious homemade brisket and bean soup and start prepping my backpack for the morning. Making my lunch, filling my water platypus and nalgenes and the layers of clothes I might need. It is quite warm today and camp is at over 10,000 feet, but things can change quickly on the mountain and I want to be prepared for anything.

Saddleback Lake campsite is the quietest car camping campsite I have been to in a long time and it is delightful! Many of the sites have spectacular views of either the lake or any number of surrounding peaks. I would highly recommend it.

After dinner and cleanup I turn in for a little reading and hope for a good nights’ sleep. I plan on getting up at 5:30 so I don’t have to rush. Plus I want to make sure I’m down at the group camp and ready to go by 7:00. I’m the new kid in town and don’t want to keep anyone waiting.



TO BE CONTINUED. . . .

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Photos

Turn west on 120 from 395
Ahhhhh. . . .

My sweet camp spot - #10
The Hubbel 2 tent worked great. I'm still not sure how I feel about the 1 long freaky pole.

Saddleback lake at dusk
The smoke is rolling it a bit