July 2020: plans to return to the Alps this summer crashed and burned, so we pivoted locally and went backpacking in Southern California’s backyard: the Eastern Sierra.
Eric and I aren’t classic trail warriors. We prefer to follow our curiosity up pathless valleys and over unnamed saddles, walking quietly, treading lightly. Optimism is our strongest skill when it comes to finding the way.
We sleep in alpine lake basins, which are carved out valleys full of turquoise waters and meadows; they’re how mountains remember departed glaciers. The surrounding ridge lines are as sharp as our sudden separation from the news and its portrayals of this tragic year. We have nothing to do now but to keep ourselves alive and join the stillness.
A sense of stillness, in pictures
Mammoth: a quirky volcanic landscape 
First camp: Deer Lakes 
Backcountry breakfast 
The pass from the Deer Lakes to Duck Lake 
Alpine paintbrush and little elephant heads 
Duck Lake from above 
Eric at Duck Lake 
Night two: Lake Anne at sunset 
Dinner preparations at Lake Anne. 
The crystal clear waters of Lake Anne 
Map time from the ridge line behind Lake Anne 
Just us 
The graveyard lakes 
Eric at Peter Pande Lake 
The white, sandy beaches of the Sierra Nevada 
Reflections in the outflow 
In paintbrush heaven 
Paintbrush heaven 
Breakfast at Lake of the Lone Indian 
Eric considers a dip 
Red and White Mountain, real and reflected 
Contemplating the way through 
Red and White Lake from the pass 
Heading toward Grinnell Lake 
Camp 4: Grinnell Lake 
Morning at Grinnell Lake 
Losing elevation 
Altitude birding in Pioneer Basin 
Proud of himself 
Night five in the Pioneer Basin 
Dawn in the Pioneer Basin 
Alpine Paintbrush 
Lupine at sunrise 
A little car camping in Rock Creek 
Full Circle: back to Mammoth
Stars, like salt. 
Wonderful photos!
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Thanks!
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Looks amazing!! Hope you are well Katy. Great shots!
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Thanks Tim! Great to hear from you.
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