Day 56: Gomez Meadow - Poison Creek Meadow (mi 727-747)

A view of the peaks visible from our campsite. 

A young buck grazed in Gomez Meadow. 

Pink flowers sprung out of the calico rocks - a profusion of life in the seasonally hostile alpine environment. 

Smiles and I pause for a photo with Gomez Meadow in the background.

Sweeping lenticular clouds above the ridges south of Mt. Whitney. 

Wide basins between the high ridgelines in the south Sierras.

Smiles gets some cell reception on a crag overlooking the Owens Valley.

Withered pines and granite sand were typical of the sub-alpine environments we observed south of Mt. Whitney.

What an incredible day - our first full day in the high Sierra. We slept in to reward our effort of the day before, as heat was no longer a menace. I went over to the bear hang and got goosebumps: the mountains that had been shrouded in backlit clouds the night before were unveiled by daybreak, and I saw a ring of 12,000 peaks expanding for miles from south, through the west, and extending north. 

The bear hang and boxes intact, we packed up and headed north and descended to Gomez meadow, where I saw a friendly deer grazing. It was a beautiful meadow.  We tanked up at a spring, then began our climb of the day. A 1,800 foot climb to 10,700 found us far less energetic than the day before, probably on account of not a big enough dinner. A scenic overlook to Owens Lake, some 5-6000 feet below immediately to the east, also yielded the discovery of cell service. We stopped, did the digital thing, then scooted another mile before lunch. The faulted granite blocks, sandy soil, and gnarled and whorled pine trees were dramatic. We carried on through breathtaking landscape until we reached poison creek meadow, which hung at the top of a valley at around 10,800 feet. The meadow was about 250 feet wide and a mile long, with two large peaks visible to the northwest. After dusk, no birds called out, and the wind died down leaving the calm quiet of the night to beckon us to sleep before our final approach to Mt Whitney early the next day.