Too Much Driving...: Humphreys Basin

This Labor Day the Sierra's tradition of the past few years was kept alive... We met up with our friends Chris and Amy (and Bella's friends Milo and Otis), and made the "Too Much Driving..." trip down to Bishop. No ketchup explosions this year (see previous reports for inside joke), but I did manage to cover a good part of my leg in bbq sauce (ya know, gotta keep traditions alive) on the drive down. Our destination was Humphrey's basin, which looked to be a pretty cool high elevation granite bowl behind an iconic peak seen from Bishop... The trailhead was at 9,500', so the "awesome" started up pretty quick. We spent a few day hiking around the area, and I've got to admit, the scenery was some of the best I've seen. Of course there was the obligatory whining about how "hot and dry" it was, but despite all of our "horrible suffering" we had a lot of fun and took about a half million photos. So grab another cup of coffee cause here's another epic photo onslaught:

Paiute Lake on the hike in

Our camp spot for the first night, just below the pass (we got a late start!)

Nice relaxing start to the morning...

The dogs were pretty stoked to play in the snow. Apparently Chris was too...

Paiute pass and our first look at the lakes of Humphreys Basin

We decided to head towards Humphrey's to check out some of the lakes in that direction

Pretty cool to see what NH looked like 10000 years ago.

The basin is awesome... Cross country hiking on granite slabs.

Bells finds a snowpatch. It was pretty warm out for 12,000'

Milo and Otis showing off their packs. Bella wasn't too jealous.

"Hey, is that yet another lake over there??"

All dogs on their best behavior when treats are involved.

As you can see from the 2 stage cold activation, the beer was neither cold or super cold. Was a little contradictory to be enjoying the taste of the rockies (in the middle of the sierras)

Relaxing at what was to become our second campsite.

Chris scouting the route up Mt. Humprey's with a photo

Filtering water from the lake next to our camp

Bella wore herself out running in every direction on the hike in, so she pretty much passed out for 2 days.

I'm not sure if we ever found out if this lake was even named... Lots of lakes just like it...

Our lake, with Checkered Demon on the left skyline and Mt. Emerson just left of center.

Looking North from our campsite

Looking up from our campsite.

Detail shot of the upper route, which basically follows the left hand skyline.

There was NO shade up there, so rain jackets doubled as sunscreen

A rare photo of your's truely

Group shot at the granite dinner table that Chris constructed using only brawn.

A nice hidden spot for camp

Lake just N. of us at sunset. Pretty awesome.

We went for an evening stroll as the sun was going down... Got cold pretty quick!

Sunset panorama

Bella hunting little granite rodents, she was obsessed.

Team "Headache", also known as team "Sea Level to 12,000' Causes Syncope"

Sunset view looking S. towards "Glacier Divide"

Right at sunset all of the lakes were reflecting the sky but everything else was dark... Was REALLY cool.

Nighty night shot of camp.

Up early the next morning on the 30 minute approach to the route...

Oh, so this is Humphreys lake (up until then we were all confused)

Awesome, windless morning.

Fast forward about an hour or two and we were scrambling towards the summit.

Short section of exposed 4th class climbing...

Careful here...

Awesome position, right on the ridge crest.

...

Okay, stand up, take breath, look down either side... Wow!

View South from the summit

Aerial photo-type view of one of the lakes close to the base of the mtn.

Desolation Lake, which was clearly the big one of the area...

Looking just south of the peak towards the cool looking geology of Checkered Demon

Obligatory summit photo, ~13,985 feet.

Looking down the E. Ridge route, where we turned around in 2008 due to a lightning storm. If you look closely, you can see the clean fin of rock that is where we were standing in this photo: