By Heather Sargeant, photos from Nancy Beverly except as noted
Eight lucky GLS members met at Onion Valley Campground for a fabulous trip in June. We had walk-in camp sites at Onion Valley, situated at 9, 200 ft., above the town of Independence in the eastern Sierras. At that altitude we huffed and puffed to haul our camping gear in to set up in our three sites.
We could hear the nearby stream flowing from our tents at night. At the top site we had the biggest camp fire ring I have ever seen, and we enjoyed sitting around a fire in the evenings.
Our leader, Dora, kept us busy! On Friday we hiked up to Flower Lake, situated at 10,498 ft, to acclimate, with each person bringing an item to share for our picnic lunch at the lake. Afterwards we wandered around to the far side of the lake, and a couple of brave people swam in the chilly water. Returning to camp, we prepared another of Dora’s famous garbage bag salads to have with our dinner.
On the trail to Flower Lake.
Our most challenging hike was on Saturday to Kearsarge Pass (11,823 ft ), which has magnificent views looking over into Kings Canyon National Park. It is a busy spot, with plenty of day hikers like ourselves, but also numerous through hikers coming off the John Muir Trail to resupply. We passed several lakes, and the wild flowers were impressive, seeing as this was another dry year in the Sierras.
Not wanting to waste a minute, we got up early on Sunday morning and hiked to Robinson Lake, which was very pretty, with shooting stars at the water’s edge. After a snack, we headed back to camp to pack up, and reluctantly start on the long drive home, but with plenty of happy memories of a special time spent together.
Thank you, Dora.
Slopes and peaks above Kearsarge Pass
Heather at Robinson Lake. Diane’s photo.
Leaders Dora and Heather at Kearsarge Pass. Dora’s photo.
