White Bark Vista

Although Andy's feet hurt and I was sick with a little influenza we still drove up to explore around Shaver and Huntington Lakes. We stopped at the main public parking area at Shaver and took the dogs along the beach. We didn't encounter anyone and the dogs enjoyed the time. Commando demonstrated his great swimming and stick chasing skills.

We took the back way up to Huntington Lake. Andy remembered a great granite overlook so we continued on up to Kaiser Pass. Mother remembered a camping trip here as a child with Uncle Norman.

There were only a few inches of snow, the sky was clear and sunny and temperature was in the mid-40's. We first tried driving up the road but the car slipped and we had no idea whether it was passable or not. We chose the better part of valor and parked the car off the road at Kaiser Pass.

We started out with two women on cross country skis and soon left them in the dust (well, snow). The climb was steady, but not at all steep and I wasn't bothered by the altitude.

Close to the top, an SUV passed us so I guess the road was passable after all. Still, we had the moral high ground.

The view at the top was magnificent! It looks over Edison Lake and the Ansel Adams and John Muir wildernesses. Andy had cleared the summit long before I did so he was ready to go once he'd come down from some nearby granite outcroppings. The SUV that had passed us also had some annoying barking dogs that they said weren't friendly.

Perhaps they were annoyed at off leash Commando and Moose, but our dogs are well behaved...well, sort of. We did watch Moose because he's very old and deaf and may be a bit crotchety with the young whippersnappers trying to pee on his lawn.

We started back being mindful of some of the patches of ice covered in snow. The SUV headed down and we had a bit of a job getting deaf Moose out of the way but no animals were harmed.

Two other SUVs headed up as we headed down.

We thought we were at 8000 feet but we were really over 9000 feet. The distance was short, about a mile of walking, less than that as the crow flies.