High Sierra Trips - Kaiser Peak

So after our adventure in the Dinkey lakes wilderness (which you can read about here - https://steemit.com/photography/@derekrichardson/high-sierra-trips-dinkey-lakes) we drove into the town of Shaver lake and had some food and bought a few items. Then we headed up the highway, up passed Huntington lake to the Badger Flats camp. We made camp there and got our gear ready for our 3 day backpacking trip climbing up and over Kaiser peak. The next morning we found the Deer Creek trailhead and headed up the trail. The trail traversed westward along the southern slopes of Kaiser peak. Mostly through thick forest. We passed a few small creeks and then got to Line creek where we officially entered the Kaiser wilderness. The trail then followed up Line creek to Marys meadow where we took a short break before continuing up to Nellie lake. We found a nice spot to setup our camp by the lake and then I hiked around the lake attempting to fish, but with no success.

Arriving at Nellie lake

Nellie lake

Hiking around Nellie lake

Evening reflection at Nellie lake

After a fun night camping at Nellie lake we pack up our gear and started our climb to the summit of Kaiser peak(10,310'). The climb up from the west side was pretty easy with it all being a fairly gradual climb, all on trail. As we climbed up the views got bigger and bigger and the views from the peak were just huge. Kaiser peak stands alone, separate from the main expanse of the High Sierra. It sits out to the west towering over the smaller mountains of the western Sierra giving it incredible 360 degree views overlooking hundreds of miles of beautiful mountain wilderness. With Yosemite national park way out to the north, Kings Canyon national park way out to the south, the San Joaquin valley way below out to the west, and the incredible expanse of High Sierra peaks to the east. We took a good long break on the summit enjoying the views, looking out to some places we have explored in the past and many places we'd like to explore in the future! From the peak we dropped down to the east to a low saddle where we left the trail and headed cross country down the eastern side. This side was quite a bit more scenic with lots of big granite cliffs and pretty little lakes. We headed down passed George lake to Upper Twin lake where we found a spot to setup our camp. Upper Twin lake was super nice and had some fun trout to play with unlike Nellie lake. So after getting camp setup I did some fishing and took a nice swim in the lake before settling down at camp for the last night.

Views getting bigger while climbing Kaiser peak

The peak is in sight, Pup is getting excited

Line creek lake

Views northwest from the peak

Taking a break on the peak, looking south

On Kaiser peak looking northeast

Descending the east side of Kaiser peak

George lake

Upper Twin lake

Fishing at Upper Twin lake

The next morning we woke up to a totally still lake, making for an amazing reflection on the lake. We got camp all packed up and headed down the trail. We passed by Lower Twin lake and Round meadows and then climbed up and over Potter pass. From the pass we took the Cutoff trail down Potter creek and over to Deer creek and then back down to the Deer Creek trailhead where we began. Wrapping up another amazing adventure in the Sierra Nevada mountains!

Early morning reflection on Upper Twin lake

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