Lundy Canyon Trail (Well, Part of it, Anyway...)

Today is our last day in the Mono Basin, and we wanted to make sure we used it to its fullest.  On the day we arrived, a ranger at the Visitor Center suggested we consider a hike or snowshoe at Lundy Lake.  The snowfall this winter has been so heavy that there was still a chance that snow would be deep enough around Lundy Lake for snowshoeing.

So we packed our snowshoes and cold weather gear and drove up Lundy Canyon Road, prepared for anything - we thought.

Our first stop was at Lundy Lake Resort, a rustic lodge with cabin and camping sites at the head of Lundy Lake.  It was still closed for the season, although we saw quite a bit of activity suggesting that people were getting ready to open for Memorial Day.

At this point, we weren't sure how to design a hike.  We thought of hiking around the lake, so we walked down to the lakeshore from the resort to scout the situation.  One thing that concerned us was two or three stream crossings at the head of the lake, and we weren't sure we would be able to handle them easily.  Here, Kathy shows how wide-open our options were:

From the top of the lake, we had impressive views of the eastern Sierra above and behind the rustic resort:

Our ultimate obstacle was Mill Creek, which is the main stream supplying water to Lundy Lake.  We decided we couldn't cross it without getting wet; but in this cold, windy weather, we weren't willing to do that.  We could, however, salvage a great view of Shepherd Crest East towering over Lundy Canyon, through which Mill Creek descends:

Because there was no evidence of a trail, nor any visible way to cross Mill Creek, we decided to drive back down to the bottom of Lundy Lake, which is held back by a hydroelectric dam, and start an out-and-back hike along its shore.  Dusty was enjoying the setting where we parked him to wait for us to finish our hike:

We were pleasantly surprised to find a trailhead and kiosk by the parking area!  This was the Lundy Canyon Trail, an almost 4 mile trail that would take us up Lundy Canyon, past three or four beautiful lakes.  We thought, "What luck!" and off we trekked:

Our trail started prettily enough with an easy, sandy/gravelly path through a canopy of just-leafing birch trees:

Higher up, the birch trees continued to grace the side of our trail toward the lake, but the ground around us became stonier and lined with sage and other dry-country bushes:

Climbing further, we found the trail becoming stonier yet:

Our trail eventually rose high enough that we encountered snow.  At several points along the way, avalanche chutes had wiped the rocky slope clear of vegetation and recent avalanches had covered the trail with snow that then iced over with the Spring weather.  We pulled out the microspikes and worked our way gingerly across these steep, slippery slopes:

Eventually, we reached an avalanche slope that was too steep and too icy for our taste.  If that weren't enough, one slip and we would slide without arrest down to the bottom of the mountain, where we would be launched (after slamming into a few boulders) into an icy lake.  The risk-reward ratio here seemed to change suddenly against favoring an attempt to cross the snowy slope.  You can see it in the photo below, where we stopped for lunch.  David pauses in his munching to scout activity on the other side of the lake with his hiking monocular:

The view from our lunch spot was dramatic, though, and was an ample reward for our hike so far.  We almost forgot the disappointment of not getting further up the canyon above Lundy Lake to see the other beautiful little lakes that beckoned us.

Still, 'tis better to live to fight another day, so we turned around, retraced our steps (including VERY careful steps across three avalance chutes) back to the trailhead.  We tried to think of a way to salve our bruised egos, and decided that the best remedy would be a short drive to June Lake (which we visited yesterday) and a quaff of June Lake Brewery's "Carson Peak" American Strong Ale (100 IBU's! - eat your heart out, Double Dog IPA).  Now, THIS was a fitting end to our visit to the Mono Lake area!