What could have been a less than desirable day of slogging on icy luge-run like trails ended up being fantastic. The difference? We looked at our maps and made a loop that turned into off-trail exploration.
April in February!
A ski up the drainage promised better powder and no icy conditions.
Some unique views were had:
We cut across a summer trail head that quite a bit of snow:
We continued our off-trail loop and had one last memorable view before we made it back to the car.
What could have been a slog on icy trails ended up being a memorable and rewarding trip.
Have a map, go off-trail, and see something great.
Is there really such a small amount of snow in that area of the Sierra Nevada this year? Brainard Lake is above 10,000′ if you are referring to the lake near the south fork of Big Pine Creek.
This is a trip report for Colorado below the Continental Divide.
Got it! I couldn’t tell by the article where you were referring to. It seems to me that you have written about California trips also.
Not since 2009. 🙂