Mono Pass & Summit Lake - (John Muir Wilderness) - 6/15/21

Little Lakes Valley from Mono Pass Trail

Mono Pass view to Southeast

Summit Lake

Rock Creek near Trailhead

About 23 miles north of Bishop on SR 395, we saw the "Tom's Place" sign and turned left. This is Rock Creek Road. The trailhead for Mono Pass and Little Lakes Valley is at the very end of the road. You will drive through a section of one lane pavement before you get there and it is good to get there early. We did. Our hike began at around 8am. The hike started up next to Rock Creek, a beautiful wide creek. The first half mile is a lot of stair-stepping. Finally, when the trail flattens out for a moment, we came to a signed junction. Left continues out Little Lakes Valley. Right starts hikers on the Mono Pass climb. After the flat junction, we continued out a flattish section of trail taking us up to the base of Mt. Starr. Our climb would take us up the side of the rocky cliffy peak.

Passing Wilderness Sign

Just past Little Lakes Valley Trail Junction

Majestic View into Little Lakes Valley

The Artful Four

Depending on how you count them, there are about thirteen irregular switchbacks up to the next junction, Ruby Lake Trail. During this time, there are multiple overlooks for photo opportunities. The views look up the valley to the Eastern Sierra peaks covered with caps of snow. In the valley, there are several lakes surrounded by trees and trails. We stopped at every overlook and every flower and every unusual sight! Our pace was slow because we wanted to take it all in. (Spoiler: That's why this blog entry has so many pics!) It was a gorgeous day and, unlike the day before, the wind was decent. We would have harsh gusts every so often but then the wind would die down to nothing.

Rita on the Switchbacks

Lake, Butterfly and Flowers

Bear Creek Spire above Dade Lake

Taking a short break at Ruby Lake Trail Junction

This part of the Eastern Sierras is in the John Muir Wilderness and the Inyo National Forest. On the other side of the mountain peaks are Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The John Muir Trail (JMT) runs parallel to the peaks through these parks and the Yosemite National Park in parts of the John Muir Wilderness and the Ansel Adams Wilderness. As indicated by the names, these parks and wilderness areas are extremely photogenic and today was no different. The Mono Pass Trail was in top form! Our slow and inquisitive hike took full advantage of its beauty and grandness. David Morrow has a lot of knowledge about plants of the region so we tried our best to remember the different names. Most of them didn't stick!

Climbing up Switchbacks (Mt. Abbot in distance)

Ruby Lake and Mt. Abbot

David Morrow's Flowers

Another Switchback

As we hiked, we realized we were the only ones on the Mono Pass Trail. Most everyone that we saw at the trailhead was heading out Little Lakes Valley. There were a handful of hikers going to Ruby Lake, too. We enjoyed having the trail mostly to ourselves. We would see more hikers as we made our way down later. Soon, we were hiking up past the Ruby Lake Trail junction and it was the last time we would see another hiker until we were halfway back down the switchbacks later.

Hiking way above Ruby Lake

Mono Pass from Corner Overlook

Rita coming around the Corner

Final Climb to the Pass

After the Ruby Lake junction, regular switchbacks began. There are twelve before you reach the Corner Overlook. The last half of the switchbacks had incredible views of Ruby Lake below. Mt. Abbot rises high behind the lake and when you get high enough to see over the ridge between Little Lakes Valley and Ruby Lake, you can also see Bear Creek Spire that rises behind Dade Lake. We continued our hunt for flowers as we snailed our way up each of the zigzags. The last leg before the Corner Overlook was the longest as it gave us a constant view of Ruby Lake. The trail cornered around Mt. Starr to the right and we stopped to rest for a moment. Now, we could see the remaining climb to the saddle on the other side of Mt. Starr. 

Trail up around the Snow

Trail above the Pass

Mono Pass

Summit Lake on other side of Pass

Mountains and snowy cliffs rose steeply on the other side of the deep wide abyss at the corner. The bottom of this precipice begins sloping up toward the pass. Unable to wait, Rita and I began the final climb up through the sand, dirt and rocks. It wasn't long before we were hiking side by side to icy snow. The trail had been worn conveniently around the snow line so we followed it across to the other side of the saddle and up into the rocks. It dropped back down toward the snow and sidled by a big boulder. Parallel with the snow, we hiked over the slight rise at almost 12,000' in elevation when Summit Lake came into view. It's color was a deep royal blue; so much prettier than the glarish brown color it appeared last time I was here.

Summit Lake toward Mono Pass

Kay and Rita returning from Summit Lake

Big Rock Resting Place at Mono Pass

David tries out the Icy Snow

I was drawn to the beautiful lake and I kept hiking down toward the opposite end of it. Rita followed. We took our break there and several photos. We saw that David and Brenda had arrived at the Big Rock Rest place on the pass so we finished our break and returned to them. A few more photos and we were on our descent. The photos of the amphitheater view seen just over the pass were irresistible. I couldn't stop taking them! Some of the most gorgeous views I have ever beheld! We hiked down to the Corner Overlook and continued down the twelve switchbacks to Ruby Lake Trail junction. It seemed like a long descent already with thirteen switchbacks still to go.

Southeast view from Mono Pass

David takes a Pic

Boulders

Trail down from Pass

During this section, we started seeing several more hikers, stopping to talk to a few of them. Californian hikers are quite friendly people! The light was hotter on the same views so I believe the morning photos were probably better. I didn't spend too much more time on the spectacle. Finally, we hiked down to the Little Lakes Valley junction and turned to finish the last half mile. There were still cars driving into the parking lot when we got there. This was even more beautiful than my first visit to the pass. Great company and good leadership!

8.25 miles; 2000' gain; 6 hours

Long way Down the Switchbacks!

Return to Little Lakes Valley Juntion

Almost back to Trailhead