slgwv's photos with the keyword: Mokelumne Wilderness

In a snow patch off the Fourth of July Lake trail from the Upper Blue Lake trailhead. There are bears in this area--hence the leads!

Mokleumne Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. Looking north.

Mokelumne Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. All that floating yellow stuff is pine pollen!

Mokelumne Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. Looking west. I feel privileged to have made it to this lake--it's a _long_ hike involving lots of altitude gain & loss, and I almost had to give it up. So here's the documentation! ;) Inserts at top left show (L-R) views to the south, west, and north; inserts at top right show the water clarity--and all the pine pollen that's blown up along the shore!

Mokelumne Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. Looking south.

Mokelumne Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. You can see the water clarity--beyond the floating pine pollen!

Mokelumne Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. Looking west along the north shore.

Seriously. This is a disused stretch, now only open to hikers and (barely) horses, that climbs up from what's now Caples Lake (a reservoir on Caples Creek, which ultimately joins the Silver Fork of the American River) and passes thru Emigrant Valley, which now lies in Kirkwood Ski Resort! The route here is now paralleled to the north by California State Route 88, the "Carson Pass" route over the Sierra Nevada. The original trail also crossed Carson Pass but then veered southward. It eventually more-or-less rejoins modern 88 west of Silver Lake. The route is marked by metal historical markers which have been there so long they're engulfed and/or bent by the bark growing on the trees to which they're nailed (see inset). Map location is approximate.