Frog Lakes to Virginia Canyon

The first full day of our pack trip dawned in tingly expectation of facing the challenges of a snowy pass.  We got a late start, a pattern that proved to be typical (and beneficial, as it allowed the snow to soften) on this trip, and started out for the pass.  The pass above Frog Lakes is a little over 11,000', but it's not over the main crest.  Our path would take us up and over this unnamed pass, down into a valley to meet up with the trail from Green Lake, and then up and over the crest at Summit Lake -- much lower at about 10,200' -- before plunking us down for the night in Virginia Canyon.

The way up wasn't too hard.  There was snow, but there were also footprints to follow, and the trail was often visible between snow patches.  Both factors were very nice for route finding.  The biggest patch of snow was right at the base of the pass, and we cut at least one switchback in the steep ascent there.

The view to the west from the top was awesome.

We switchbacked down from the top of the pass on dry trail, but below the switchbacks we hit pretty solid snow.  We were forced to climb down and around to cross a creek on a waterfall, and then the trail disappeared completely for a half-mile or so.  We ended up scrambling down a sandy embankment, slogging through mud, and pushing through willows to get to a nice snow free meadow at the edge of Summit Lake's outlet.  It was a lot of work!

After lunch at the meadow, still yellow from the winter but mostly dry, we had our first shoes-off creek crossing, something undoubtedly usually unnecessary here, and then were up to Summit Lake.  Summit Lake drains both ways from the crest, and as we sloshed past it, I mused at which direction the water in the trail was running.

Then we entered Yosemite.

From there it was a pretty easy snow-free downhill hike to Virginia Canyon.  There had been some avalanches in the area, so I think we had to go around some trees, but otherwise it was nice.

At the bottom of the canyon, we met Return Creek, which was running fast and high, but we were able to cross it on a log.  We made camp a mile or so down the canyon from the creek crossing, a good distance from the creek.  It was hard to find a dry spot with all the pools of water around, but the mosquitoes were thankfully quite light.

That evening, a deer and a hare walked past the camp.  We thought maybe we'd have a game parade, but that turned out to be all.  There were a few birds, though, including some Gray-crowned Rosy Finches.  Those always seem out of place in forested areas, but I suspect the persistent snow in their normal high elevation haunts pushed them down where food was more abundant.

Lots more pictures on Flickr.