Tom Grundy's Picture Pk and Mount Wallace Page

Picture peak is a scenic looking peak just east of the Evolution peaks. I have wanted to climb it since seeing it on a Sierra Challenge approach early one morning - a picture I took then is the first one here. On July 13, 2017 I got up early and headed up to Lake Sabrina. From there I followed the trail up past Dingleberry lake trying to move fast past the swarms of mosquitoes by Blue Lake. Where the trail headed across the stream on a series of underwater stepping stones I detoured left along the bank and thus saved wading. From there I was mostly heading cross country, sometimes on snow. I went up the ridge to the east of Hungry Packer lake and then side-hilled around to the SW side of Picture Peak. There I put on crampons and headed up a snow filled gully. At the top of the snow I reverted to boots and went up to the 13,120+ ft summit. There were nice views all around and still a lot of snow in the high valleys and on north facing slopes.

underwater stepping stones that I bypassed

Picture Peak from the NE with Hungry Packer Lake

panorama of Picture Peak and Hungry Packer Lake on the way up

selfie on Picture Peak

mystery hawk that flew by

summit panorama from Picture Pk - Mt Wallace is in the center left with snow almost to the summit and Haeckel to the right of it

From the summit I traversed along the ridge to the NW and then dropped down across the head of the valley towards Mt Wallace. I saw a coyote down below picking its way up the valley on the snow. It transitioned to talus and continued on up. I also headed up to the summit of Mt Wallace. This 13,377 ft mountain along the Evolution Range is named after Alfred Russel Wallace who came up with the theory of evolution on his own while exploring in SE Asia. I considered traversing N over to Mt Haeckel but I wasn't sure if I could descend from there to the NE so I just returned the way I came up (although with more sliding down the snow) before heading over the pass to the E of Haeckel (where the coyote went too) and heading down from there. I traversed high but dropping down around the W side of Hungry Packer Lake and eventually descended back to where I had detoured to avoid the wet stream crossing and then back to the parking area. I made a long day of it despite it being what would be a relatively short Sierra Challenge day. The snow slowed some of it down, but mostly I was just feeling out of shape and not acclimated. With the fast approaching Wanderlust festival and OR shows I would not have much more of a chance to get into shape although at least some of that time would be spent at 7 or 8,000 ft above sea level.

coyote that trotted up the snow and over the pass

summit panorama from Mount Wallace - Picture Pk is in the center below the horizon and Haeckel and Darwin are in the middle left

panorama of Picture Peak and Hungry Packer Lake on the way down - you can see some of the weather that passed by on the left

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