Although we planned this east side trip for high desert and seeing Bodie, the Virginia Lakes hike was an unexpected surprise. Chris Savastio, one of my soil survey crew, had been here earlier in the summer and kept insisting that I should see it. We decided to spend our third day on the east side of the mountains exploring these lakes.
I have so many photos of this lovely chain of hanging valley lakes that it’s hard to choose, so just check out the link to see all of it. The hike was just challenging enough to be fun, and I was hoping that I wouldn’t have a problem with the elevation, and think that our two days of camping at 7,000 feet helped a bit. I made it to the 11,100 foot pass without any problems. Abby had her fill of swimming in each lake and some of the highest ponds, the winds weren’t unbearable, and of course, the views from the pass were breathtaking.
The hike was only 6 miles or so, round trip, but we spent most of the day on the trail and were happy to get back home to our camp and the last evening campfire supper. Our last night out before returning home saw the temperature drop to 34 degrees, and in the morning the heater felt very good and the generator was a good thing to have!
Mo took down the solar panel, we buttoned up the MoHo is short order and waved bye to each other as she headed back north to Klamath and I followed the gorgeous Sonora Pass back to Jamestown. Truly a perfect weekend with just a little bit of everything wonderful
The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales 