Tom Grundy's 2019 Sierra Challenge Day 2 Virginia Pass Crag

I slept in the parking lot at the end of the campground. Fortunately the bugs weren't bad here and although I feared people turning would shine their lights in my truck it wasn't really a problem. Today's hike had us going up over Duck Pass, a new one for me. The first part up through the trees passed quickly and then up past more lakes as things got warmer and over the pass. The view over Duck Lake to the mountains on the far side was quite nice. The bugs were a little annoying as we passed the lake but we were moving pretty fast. We dropped down to the PCT and headed south along the side of a slope and down to a rather buggy Purple Lake (it wasn't the color purple though). I got water there before we headed up. We left the trail where it leveled off to head to the pass and headed up the peak to the west. Originally we thought we could maybe go up the couloir from lower straight up to the summit, but it looked a litte sketchy, especially at the top. I followed Bob up a relatively direct scrambley route while others went a little farther S. to get on a less steep and rocky slope. We re-joined on the summit plateau where we had to head back north to the high point. A number of people converged there and I took the usual pics and had a summit cookie.

peak 11,532 across Duck Lake

trying to keep up with the crew after taking some photos

panorama from near the top of Virginia Pass Crag - Mason taking a photo too
Lake Virginia on right, Purple Lake middle left, first bonus peak breaks the horizon on left

Then we headed down towards the pass and I convinced some others to join me in a dip in Lake Virginia (some took less convincing than others). It was a quick brisk dip, but there was enough wind to keep the mosquitoes at bay. Then we headed back the way we came on the PCT. It was way too buggy to want to jump in Purple Lake for me, but I did want to climb the bonus peak (Peak 11,532) that I could see across Duck Lake from the pass. There was some debate about the best way to go, but Iris and I headed off up the slope above Purple Lake towards a bonus peak there that was on the way. It turned into quite a bit of slogging but when we got to the top and looked down the alternate didn't look much better. Chris Henry came up that way and joined us a fair bit behind. Then we headed on towards the other peak. At the Saddle Chris decided to head down and we got some snow to cool our drinks and continued on to Peak 11,532. It had a nice summit with great views. I wanted to head down to the north but we decided that might be too scary (Bob ended up going this way and carefully went down in between the steep snow and the rocks). So we dropped down back towards the saddle cutting off earlier to traverse down to a lovely little lake and another dip. It was unclear how or if we could drop down to the PCT or if we could traverse higher and avoid elevation gain/loss. It probably would have been quicker to just drop down a little earlier, but we sort of split the difference to the PCT and then hiked back up to Duck Lake for another quick dip by the outlet. Sadly the entrance/exit was not fast (we had to wade out on slippery rocks a bit before it got deep enough - this is much slower and more painful than just jumping in and getting out and combined with the cold water and cold breeze was a rather chilling experience). There might have been some dithering and cursing. We did have the uphill to the pass to warm us though. Then we jumped in one more little lake on the other side of the pass to collect the 4th aqua jersey point for the day (I was going for it). It was getting dark by the time we made it back to the trailhead, but we didn't need our headlamps. Then back to Bishop for shower, food, etc. before heading to the Pine Creek Trailhead for the next day.

Mason swimming in Lake Virginia

Looking down over Purple Lake - Virginia Pass Crag is on the right

Iris fills her water bottle with snow - the first bonus peak is on right

Iris poses on Peak 11,532

the little dot next to the deceptively tropical looking Duck Lake is Chris

view down from the last peak with Duck Lake and Duck Lake Pass in the upper middle

on the way down we swam in this little tarn

terrain on the way back to the trail

the water was cold IPP (Iris Phone Pic)

Duck Lake and Peak 11,532

view from Duck Pass north over Barney Lake

Total for the day: 3 peaks and 4 swims. Challenge total so far: 6 peaks, 7 swims.

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