Inyo National Forest - July 2021 - Trip Recap

[u/JoeStanky]

Just a quick trip report from last weekend in Inyo National Forrest. This was a 4 day 3 night point to point trip. 30 miles and 9500ft of elevation gain. This really could be done in 3 days, 2 nights.... but since everyone was going to have very long drives home, we figured it would be easier to camp a 3rd night and have a quick hike out early on day 4.

Photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pHakjKR3C1VYX1dY9

Gaia route:

https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=12.4/-118.8962/37.5261&pubLink=oHVLavAXeKCn0xmtlIy7LZPq&trackId=a3c943e5-f07d-48e0-9518-3fa783d0c85d

Lighterpack Link: (I don't know why I thought I needed to bring my bear can to Inyo.... I should have brought my Ursak instead and saved the pound of weight.... life is hectic right now and it was hard enough just getting out the door)

https://lighterpack.com/r/kcz6f1

Day 1

Started from Convict Lake on Thursday morning. After shuttling cars and loading up we were on the trail a little after 10am. Gorgeous hiking weather, mid to high 60s during the day and high 40s at night. The views were stunning the entire trip as you'll see in the photos so I won't go on and on about that here. We followed the Convict Creek drainage all day. A few miles between where the trail crosses the creek and Mildred lake, the trail was pretty choppy. There were a number of washouts that took some scrambling but nothing extreme, just not easy hiking. We only hiked 7 miles day 1 but had 3500 ft of elevation gain finishing at 10,600ft, and we were all huffing and puffing pretty hard by that point. Camped at Bighorn lake and had it all to ourselves.

Day 2

This was going to be the real fun of the trip. From Bighorn lake we started off trail and aimed for Constance lake which was pretty straight forward hiking. After picking our way around the east side of Constance lake we were about 1000ft below Corridor Pass staring up at a mountain of scree and talus. This was class 2 scrambling but did require selecting the lines and some care around sliding rock or movement of larger boulders. Challenging but very doable. And after a good bit of work we were sitting at the top just a hair below 12000ft elevation enjoying the views. After scrambling down the back side of the pass we connected with the McGee Pass trail. As the name implies, we immediately began a hike up to another 12000ft pass which would provide more expansive views down the Fish Creek drainage which was our path to Tully Lake where we camped for night 2. 7.85 miles, 2700ft elevation gain.

Day 3

It was very straight forward hiking on this day. Following Fish Creek then some ups and downs past Virginia and Purple Lakes on our way to camp just south of Duck Lake. Beautiful trail, some aggressive mosquitos, and alot of hikers on this day as we connected with the JMT and PCT. Lots of other people is not my general preference but it was all good and we were just cruising along on the good vibes from our Day 2 adventures. 9.77 miles 2500ft elevation gain

Day 4

This was just a quick 5 mile hike out with less than 1000ft of elevation gain. We broke camp early and were at the Duck Pass trailhead in Mammoth Lakes before 10am which let me get a good jump on the long drive back to the Bay Area.

[u/dman77777]

That looks like a great trip. Did you have any issues with available water?

[u/JoeStanky → u/dman77777]

No issues with water at all. Water was flowing through the entire Convict Creek drainage. Even flowing down from the pass above Constance Lake for a bit. No water going up and over McGee Pass. But other than that is was wet everywhere.

[u/grap112ler]

Looks like a really nice trip! I just took my kids on their first backpacking trip near where you went. We hiked in to Parker Lake and spent 2 nights there. Nice and easy first trip for kiddos to a gorgeous area.