West Walker River Loop - California, United States

Along Highway 108 there's a relatively gentle route to the High Sierra that starts in the arid rain shadow and leads up to the alpine crest. The last time I visited here, in early July, the trip was gorgeous but the bugs were terrible. So for 2011, I decided to avoid the bugs and go in mid-August, normally a safe time. But 2011 has been different.

The Leavitt Meadows trailhead, at 7,100', is at the base of the Sonora Pass Highway, Highway 108, which can charitably be described as "crazy."  While it is no longer one lane in sections, it still has grades of over 20% near the 9,600 foot elevation pass and is always fun to drive, especially in the dark. I don't know why they paved this, but it makes a lot of great hiking accessible. I spent the night before the trip at Sonora Bridge Campground and then  headed into Bridgeport to pick up my permit.

Finally armed with the permit, I climbed from Leavitt "Meadows" (which really feels more like the high desert) to the Hoover Wilderness sign and passed the lovely forested Roosevelt and Lane Lakes, continuing along with occasional glimpses of the West Walker River until it was time to make a mid-thigh-deep crossing and climb to Fremont Lake. Fremont Lake, at 7miles from the trailhead, is justifiably popular: it's a beautiful subalpine lake with forest and granite. (Most campsites are at the south end.) But there were lots of people and I wanted to keep going, so I pushed onward towards the Chain of Lakes, until I found a nice spot by one of the lakes. Nice, that is, until the evening bugs came out, but a jacket and a mosquito headnet kept everything nice and under control.

The next morning, I woke up and so did the bugs. After a leisurely breakfast I started climbing through the Chain of Lakes towards the Long Lakes and eventually Emigrant Pass. After breakfast, I expected the bug count to drop, but it didn't, until soon enough I realized that the mosquitos were just getting worse, and so I dug the headnet out again -- good since I didn't take it off all day.

From the forested Long Lakes the trail wound upwards and made another wet crossing of the (much smaller) West Fork of the West Walker River, finally breaking out of the forest a little below Emigrant Pass. The view was great, with lots of lingering snow patches even in mid-August. The bugs were terrible, but sometimes you have to stop and rest and the view made it worth it. From here the trail went up to a series of open meadows filled with amazing wildflowers. Just before Emigrant Pass, I turned off on a side trail to  Bond Pass and crossed the Sierra crest for a brief sojourn into the Emigrant Wilderness, dropping first from the crest towards Grizzly Meadow and then climbing up to Bond Pass and Yosemite's northernmost tip. Back into the forest until reaching the PCT and enormous and beautiful Dorothy Lake, sitting under still-snowy Forsyth Peak. Since the bugs were still bad, I climbed up to Dorothy Lake Pass and windy Stella Lake, settling in for a quick soak and a campsite. The wind did a good job of keeping the bugs off and the view couldn't be beat.

The next morning dawned bright and early and it was time to get out of Dodge, or at least the bugs, so I packed up and headed down the PCT until the junction with the Cascade Creek trail. The Cascade Creek Trail wound down through the forest  towards the river, relatively viewless except for a vista of Cascade Creek Falls. Disregarding the map's claim of an immediate river crossing, the trail headed north and I followed until it was time to cross. From here I followed the obvious trail along the main river plain, reaching the Fremont Lake turnoff soon enough. I kept going and soon reached Roosevelt and Lane Lakes, and decided that I still felt good enough to try for the trailhead, reaching the end at about 5pm. tired and dehydrated, but happy.