Betsy and I went on an epic week-long climbing trip in the Sierra at the end of June and beginning of July in 2023. We made the first ascents of the year of two remote peaks on the main Sierra crest at the northern border of Yosemite. Much of the time we were backpacking, hiking, or climbing on snow. At lower elevations we had exciting crossings of streams at flood stage from the heavy snowmelt and were astounded by the incredible wildflower superbloom. We did not see anyone else for nearly five days! Here is what we did each day.
Day 0 (Wednesday, June 28): Drive from Del Mar to Bridgeport and on to Buckeye. Spend the night there among tall trees in Betsy’s van.
Day 1 (Thursday, June 29): Drive a short way to Annett’s Mono Village at the west end of Twin Lakes. Backpack from the trailhead there at 7,100 ft up Robinson Creek to a campsite at 9,100 ft, just below Peeler Lake. It takes us 9 h 50 min to cover about 7 miles. We pack through downed trees in two avalanche chutes and have three exciting stream crossings.
Day 2 (Friday, June 30): Pack past Peeler Lake, around Kerrick Meadow, over the south ridge of Center Mountain, and on to a campsite at 9,900 ft at the head of Thompson Canyon. It takes us 10 h 40 min to cover perhaps 5 miles, including finding our way through the snowy landscape and locating a suitable campsite in a snow-covered valley.
Day 3 (Saturday, July 1): Make the first ascent of the year of Hawksbeak Peak at 11,120+ ft in 8 h 5 min round-trip from camp.
Day 4 (Sunday, July 2): Make the first ascent of the year of Center Mountain at 11,273 ft in 5 h 45 min round-trip from camp.
Day 5 (Monday, July 3): Pack back to our first camp below Peeler Lake in 8 h 50 min.
Day 6 (Tuesday, July 4): Backpack out in 6 h 50 min. Drive to Bridgeport to see Fourth of July festivities and then on to Mono Vista RV Park in Lee Vining where we clean up and spend the night in Betsy’s van.
Photos and commentary follow.
Day 0: Wednesday, June 28. Betsy finds a secluded spot for us to camp among the tall trees at Buckeye. 
We go for a short hike and see this plaque commemorating the pioneering Hunewills who settled here in the 1860s. Their descendants still operate a large ranch in Bridgeport Valley. 
Because of the heavy snowmelt, water is roaring down Buckeye Creek. This has us worried about what we will find in Robinson Creek the next day. 
The heavy snowmelt has also brought forth lots of wildflowers, such as these mule’s ears, which are in the sunflower family. 
Antelope bitterbrush is in bloom too. It is a preferred food of antelope and deer. 
We also see tall western groundsel flowers.
Day 1: Thursday, June 29. During our short drive from Buckeye to Twin Lakes, we get a great view of the Sawtooth Ridge. Its high point is Matterhorn Peak, which Betsy and I climbed in 2009. The high mountains are still covered by a lot of snow. 
We start backpacking at 9:45 am from Betsy’s van in Annett’s Mono Village, thread our way through a maze of campers, and eventually come to this meadow, where Betsy takes our official start photo 🙂 
We reenter the forest and come to this sign to Barney Lake, which tells us that we are on the right trail 🙂 For some reason, lots of trees have been cut down here. 
A little further up the trail the felled trees are stacked in teepees! Perhaps someone will collect them later. 
After leaving the forest, we enter meadows ablaze with a superbloom of wildflowers, such as these western blue flags! 
The most prevalent wildflowers are those of arrowleaf balsamroot. They are in the sunflower family, like the mule’s ears seen the day before, but have pointed leaves. They provide good forage for deer, and the leaves, stems, roots, and seeds were commonly eaten by Native Americans. 
We soon come to mounds of snow and downed trees left by an avalanche earlier this year. 
We spend a long time trying to cross the avalanche chute before we finally reach the meadow on the other side. More yellow flowers of arrowleaf balsamroot welcome us. 
Tightly packed white and lavender flowers of spreading phlox cover a patch of ground. 
Before long we come to a second avalanche chute. 
We again struggle to get across. Along the way we find the stumps of trees toppled by beavers in a previous year. We don’t see any beavers, though. 
We finally get to beautiful Barney Lake, where we have lunch. Crown Point is the impressive peak towering above the lake. We leave the day hikers here and backpack around the right side of the lake by ourselves. 
Beyond the marsh at the far end of the lake, we come to our first crossing of Robinson Creek. The water is high but passible. Here Betsy wades across in her bare feet carrying her boots. The water is really cold! 
Soon we have to cross Robinson Creek again back to the side we started on. Betsy walks across this giant tree trunk above the roaring water below! 
I scooch across the tree trunk on my butt 🙂 and Betsy graciously retrieves my pack. 
Our third major stream crossing involves the creek coming from the eastern outlet of Peeler Lake. We cross halfway on rocks and the rest of the way on this upturned tree stump. 
Betsy finds a beautiful campsite for us at the snow line, a little more than a mile below Peeler Lake. After encountering so much running water earlier, we need to melt snow for drinking water here using Betsy’s stove 🙂
Day 2: Friday, June 30. Betsy starts packing up to Peeler Lake on snow at 8:25 am. She uses her trekking poles instead of an ice ax and crampons since the snow is soft due to our late start. 
Peeler Lake is still frozen over except near its shore. We briefly find the rocky trail around the lake but are on snow most of the day. Peeler Lake and Barney Lake are named for Barney Peeler, who lived in Bridgeport over 100 years ago. 
The snow covering the ice on Peeler Lake has lots of blue water potholes where the snow is beginning to melt 🙂 Crown Point is the prominent peak above the lake. 
Beyond the lake we go around snow-covered Kerrick Meadow, through the forest, and over the south ridge of Center Mountain on the right. We are in Yosemite National Park now. 
On the other side of the ridge, we have this stunning view looking southwest down Thompson Canyon. 
We pack north to the upper end of Thompson Canyon and hope to find a campsite among the trees below Hawksbeak Peak in the distance. 
When we get close to the trees, we see lots of deer prints like this one! It is amazing that deer are grazing on the trees amid all the snow. 
Betsy finds this nice campsite nestled among some pine trees and rocks. A nearly full moon is rising as we set up our campsite for three days.
Day 3: Saturday, July 1. Betsy is ready to start our first climb at 6:05 am. The snow is hard, so she carries her ice ax and wears crampons. We soon find that the going is very slow across the big sun cups. 
When we reach the notch on the left, we realize that Tower Peak, our original objective, is too far away for us to climb in a day. We decide to climb the much closer Hawksbeak Peak, which is just above Betsy’s head. 
After crossing the snow we have to negotiate thickets of low pine trees, which are eking out an existence at this high elevation. 
We finish the climb on rock above the last of the low pine trees. Our campsite is in the valley far below among some taller trees right of center. 
We reach the summit of Hawksbeak Peak at 11,120+ ft where we find a can covering a glass jar with the register notebook. 
We also find two feathers on the summit, but they may not be from hawks 🙂 
We celebrate with our traditional Dr Pepper toast! 
Betsy is all smiles after she makes our entry in the register 🙂 
We make the first ascent of the year! Moreover, there were only two ascents last year of this remote peak. 
Tower Peak dominates the view to the west. The standard climbing route goes up the north ridge until it steepens and then traverses to the northwest staircase chute that leads to the summit. 
This view to the northwest down Tower Canyon shows the easier and more popular approach to Tower Peak from Leavitt Meadows. I opted against this approach because it is less scenic than the one up Robinson Creek. 
After enjoying over an hour on the summit, we make our way back to camp where we relax the rest of the day. We see many more deer prints in the snow but no deer. There is no running water here, so Betsy melts pans of snow using her stove and the sun. 
From camp we have this view of Center Mountain, which we decide to climb the next day. Our route will go up the snow and to the right of the summit rocks.
Day 4: Sunday, July 2. We again get an early start at 6:15 am for our second climb. 
We climb through giant sun cups in the pre-dawn shadow of the mountain. 
We finally see the sun near the top of the snow. We take off our crampons and climb mostly on scree and rock above here. 
Betsy crosses one last patch of snow just below the summit. Crown Point and Peeler Lake are just above her head. 
Betsy mounts the summit block of Center Mountain at 11,273 ft! 
Betsy enthusiastically signs the summit register 🙂 
We again make the first ascent of the year! Ours is only the third entry in this newly placed register. 
Tower Peak on the center skyline is far away to the west. Hawksbeak Peak is the closer rocky summit on the right. Ehrnbeck Peak is the snow-topped summit on the left. 
Betsy and I take photos of each other on the spacious summit 🙂 
After savoring 50 min on the summit, we head back down to camp. 
Betsy does a sitting glissade in a sun-cup trough 🙂
Day 5: Monday, July 3. After we break camp at 7:40 am, Betsy starts packing out across the big sun cups and around an opening to the creek flowing beneath the snow. 
We say goodbye to Thompson Canyon as Betsy climbs its eastern ridge. Hawksbeak Peak is on the left, and Center Mountain is on the right. 
Betsy descends the other side of the ridge. A short way below here I discover that the big outer pocket of my pack has come open, and most of its contents have fallen out! That includes almost all of our remaining food! Betsy doubles back and retrieves everything. 
We thread our way back through the snowy forest, avoiding tree and rock wells as well as snow bridges over streams. 
We find the western outlet of Peeler Lake that flows to the Pacific Ocean. This remarkable lake also has an eastern outlet that flows to the Great Basin! 
The open water near the shore has widened since we were here three days earlier. 
Betsy negotiates alternating snow and rock on the north side of the lake. 
Betsy uses her trekking pole to retrieve a piece of trash floating on the lake at its eastern outlet. 
Betsy packs down soft snow as we near our campsite. 
We find our first campsite, set up our tent, and dry out our boots and clothes that got wet in the snow.
Betsy packs around Barney Lake past snowbrush ceanothus in bloom. 
The flowers of snowbrush ceanothus are more luxuriant than those of the wart-stem ceanothus near my house. 
Brilliant blue flowers of royal penstemon add color to the trail. 
Red-orange flowers of Indian paintbrush are colorful too. 
Some of the trees in the upper avalanche chute have been cut since we packed in, so it is easier packing out. 
White mariposa lillies are in bloom in a meadow below. 
I happily pack through one of the last flower-bedecked meadows as I near the end of the trail. 
After we load our gear back in Betsy’s van and start driving to Bridgeport, we stop next to the eastern Twin Lake to enjoy some more wildflowers. Here lupine blooms by the lake. 
Prickly poppies hug the ground. Their fried egg flowers look just like those of the tall tree poppies in my yard. 
Showy milkweed blooms by the lake too. Hopefully the flowers will attract some monarch butterflies. 
We have a great view of Mono Lake from the vista point just south of Conway Summit on our drive from Bridgeport to Lee Vining. 
We end the day at Mono Vista RV Park in Lee Vining. Betsy takes a well-deserved nap on the grass after our epic adventure!