Tyee Lakes hike

Today was the third and last day of our car-camping trip with the Sierra Club. We’d done a great hike up Chocolate Peak on Friday and a nice long hike to Midnight Lake on Saturday, and today the group would be hiking up to the Tyee Lakes and then continuing past them cross-country to Table Mountain, although Elizabeth and I turned back earlier so we wouldn’t get home too late after the 7-hour drive back.

The hike started at 8 in the morning next to the South Fork of Bishop Creek, at the bottom of a canyon lined on both sides by 2,000-foot granite ridges. The sun still hadn’t risen over the canyon’s sides and the air was still cold.

We crossed a footbridge over the creek, its banks filled with greenery and wildflowers. Climbing higher, we entered an open forest of pines, aspen, and mahogany growing over sagebrush, ocean spray, and wildflowers. Crimson columbine stood out against the granite boulders, buckwheat grew in yellow pillows, Wyoming paintbrush sprayed pink and yellow, and pennyroyal grew in fragrant purple tufts. When we passed a small stream, among its greenery we saw bold orange Kelley’s tiger lilies along with yellow arrowleaf groundsel, purple lupine, and more paintbrush.

Once we gained a little elevation, we left the shade of the canyon and were warmed instantly by the sun. We climbed up switchbacks through an open forest of lodgepole pine, chinquapin, and Labrador tea. The latter was striking, with its densely-leaved branches ending in densely-bunched white flowers.

We hiked through the thick willows surrounding the first, small Tyee Lake and stopped on its sandy shore for a snack, admiring its dark blue waters backed by a sparsely forested granite ridge. Long grass snaked below its surface near the shore. As we left, we saw a few white bog orchids growing beneath the willows.

Clouds formed while we hiked to the third Tyee Lake, giving us some welcome shade. When we got to it, it was much larger than the other two and its shore was a wide band of big boulders. Elizabeth and I, hounded by mosquitoes, scrambled over the boulders to the water, where a breeze kept the bugs away. On the other side of the lake, cliffs rose to the broad plateau of Table Mountain, the group’s destination today.

I took note of some of the vegetation next to the lake. There were whitebark pines, their trunks twisted and their tops flagged by the wind. At the ends of their branches were either purple cones dripping with sap or pollen cones looking like little strawberries. There were also yellow Arnica sunflowers, purple Jeffrey’s shooting stars, lilac wandering daisies, tall sticky cinquefoils with cream and yellow flowers, and nude buckwheat.

When our group left the lake for Table Mountain, it was time for Elizabeth and me to turn around, so we said our goodbyes and started hiking back down to our car. Leaving the large group we’d been hiking with for three days and hiking alone was a little revelation. Gone were the footsteps and chatter of other hikers and in their place were birds, leaves, and wind; silence. The clouds had accumulated and turned gray, and as we passed by the first lake again, a few drops of rain fell.

Just before reaching the car I saw a small white flower I hadn’t seen on the way up. I walked over to it and was delighted to see that it was a Leichtlin’s mariposa lily, a new species of Calochortus for me, and the first I’d seen since all of the fairy lanterns on Mount Diablo this April. A fine end to our hike.

We stopped for lunch at the Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining, famous among frequent travelers on California’s Route 395 for serving gourmet food out of a Mobil gas station at the edge of the desert. This was our first time there, but our delicious seasoned burgers ensured that we’d be back.