Bishop Pass Backpacking Photo Dump
Photos from an overnight backpacking trip, October 2019 in the Eastern Sierra. From the South Lake trailhead, a group of five of us (and two dogs) hiked along several alpine lakes to where we pitched out tents, cooked dinner, and camped that night. In the morning, a few of us continued up to Bishop Pass, an 11,972’ mountain pass that borders King’s Canyon National Park.
October is a great time to visit the Eastern Sierra; the trails are less crowded, daytime temperatures are mild, the fall colors are spectacular… and there are no mosquitos! But the trade-off to backpacking in the fall is that the nights are very, very cold; temperatures dipped down into the 20s at night.
Base camp: The night before backpacking, we camped at one of the only campgrounds that we could find in the area that was still open for the season.
Our backpacking crew: Kitao, Me, Karen the dog, Sharon and Alex (Sully and Gary the dog not pictured)
Chocolate Peak
Our camp chef, Kitao, making a gourmet green curry dinner.
Long Lake at sunset
Morning sun
Pancake breakfast courtesy of Camp Chef Kitao
Saddlerock Lake
View back down the valley from Bishop Pass.
Sully and Sharon near the top of Bishop Pass.
Lingering snow on the trail as we get above 11,000’
One of hundreds of mule deer skeletons on the side of the trail near the pass.
Barren rockscape at the top of Bishop Pass.
Return hike to camp.
