The High Seirra Passes - Part 3 (D-42 836.5 - 862.2; D-43 862.2 - 883.9; D-44 883.9 - 903.2 plus 3.5 to trailhead)

The next 3 days were like Groundhog Day. The same routine was repeated over and over. Get up early in the morning so that I could start hiking by 5-5:15 am and get over the pass before the sun became stronger and then, hike as quickly as possible to the bottom of the next pass. The one great difference now was that I had Guy's company and that was extremely invaluable. Having someone to hike with, especially the tough sections, is so good and he was a great hiking companion. The mental effort put in to cross the passes would have been at least 2-3x, if not for Guy's company. Many thanks to him!

I am just going to post some photos with comments.

   Going up to Muir Pass

   Muir Hut on the top of the Pass

Ice bridges that one has to be careful while crossing. If it breaks and you fall in, the best is you will get wet and the worst is you can get pulled under by the water stream

Trail by the side of a frozen lake below Muir Pass

   Frozen trail with designer patterns

    Rock crossing

   A beautiful alpine lake

   Alpine meadow

   Sun dog

Bear Creek that had to be waded across - ice cold water! Water upto the knees

   Deer sighting

   Nature's toilet paper - soft, large leaves

A sheltered campsite with soft pine on the ground

  Alpine lake on the way upto Selden Pass

For the first time, the weather turned a bit iffy. Encountered snow, sleet & rain while going up Selden Pass

   Another waterfall

    Snow-fields up to Silver Pass

   From the top of Silver Pass

   I can't get enough of these alpine lakes

Almost a double-lane highway crossing over the creek 🙂

Guy and I reaching the Mammoth Lakes trailhead

At dinner with Guy and his wife, Beatriz in Mammoth Lakes. Both of them were also super-helpful in sending text messages across to Shalini the last few days over satellite device while there was zero cell service in the Seirras

Data:

D-42

D-43

D-44