Saturday morning at our camp above Kibbie Lake, H&L's tent at left, Ben & my tarp in the middle, and Mark standing by his pack and tent
Back down to Kibbie for water, Ben leading the way as usual
Filtering
The northern one of the two valleys that come into Kibbie's east side. I'd like to get over there and explore it some day. I think you could go from there up to Many Island Lake without much difficulty
Deer tracks next to the lake
One deer track, closeup
Easy lakeside walking for a while
H&L, coming along
Getting a ways above Kibbie Lake
Break time at the top of the climb. The brownish water didn't look worth filtering; it turned out to be the last water we'd see until we made camp that night.
Some weird-shaped, partially burned trees
At the headwall of this canyon, we climbed out to the right (eastish). Ben and Lindsay scouted ahead
Same view as the last shot, but not zoomed in — just to give a bit more perspective about how far out and up the kids were scouting
At the top of our little section of actual rock scrambling, we stopped for a "victory shot" — Ben, Heather, Lindsay, and Mark. Note that Ben is wearing my pack here — he had offered to carry it up part of the climb
Same spot, different cast — Doug, Lindsay, Heather, and Ben
The view northeast-ish from near our campsite. I think that's Haystack Peak, just to the right of the tree. It's about six or seven miles from here
The view southeast-ish: Mark suggested that we might be seeing the top of Kolana Rock (in Hetch Hetchy), though it doesn't show too well here. Far off, I was thinking we might be seeing the Clark Range, in southeastern Yosemite???
The view more northish, hinting at how granite-y the Emigrant Wilderness is
After taking in those expansive, far-away views, we came to the edge of the steep hillside, and saw Many Island Lake laid out below us like a maze. Breathtaking ...
Many Island Lake's northern half is more open than the maze-like southern part
Even from nearly 400 feet above it, you could clearly see some of the submerged islands
Couldn't quite see any fish from here, though
The granite ramp across the way (to the right side) was someone's campsite — they had a campfire that night
Here are the three heroic adventurers, starting their water-seeking journey down to the lake
Quite some time later, we see three heads emerge as they cooperatively solved one of the problems encountered during the climb back up
Ben checking to see how H&L are doing
Ben, almost back up to camp
H&L, almost back up to camp
Mark, Heather, Lindsay, Many Islands, and a strangely-positioned shadow
I wish the camera recorded what direction I was aimed when I took a picture. That distinctly-shaped peak in the middle looks kinda like Cathedral Peak or Unicorn — one of those guys in the Cathedral Range, near Tuolomne Meadows
Into the Emigrant — Bigelow Peak, maybe?
Clear view of Haystack Peak — it's the brownish one whose left (west) side slopes gradually, and whose right side is much steeper. Seven years ago, Turly and I crossed the ridge just to the right of it.
Ben, with lots of Yosemite mountains behind him
I think this is actually Sunday morning, after I unstrung the tarp while Ben still slept
Many Island Lake in the predawn light
Many Island Lake in the early morning light
Many Island Lake in, well, not so much light at all, is it? But you can see where the Sun is just about to come up.