Trip Report
Lake Ediza, via Cecile, Iceberg, talus and scree
Monday September 22, 2014 1:45pm
Well, it was supposed to be the start of a great fall backpacking season. A trip in the Minarets, from Devil's Postpile, to Minaret Lake, cross country to Cecile and Iceberg Lakes, dropping down to Ediza and out to Reds Meadow. Unfortunately, for me, this trip turned out to be my one and only fall trip. My permit to hike Whitney two weeks after this trip, and our other trips would not include me. My long suffering foot with a Neuroma said "no more" after we finished this trip. So five days after this trip I was under the knife. I'm hoping that the short term annoyance will result in a long term benefit of pain free hiking and packing.

Michael (Ferretlegger) and I had a wonderful trip. We had mainly good weather with just a couple instances of drizzle. Each trip we try to decrease our weight and every ounce is carefully weighed on his high tech scale. In the end, we always end up with more than we wanted, but hey, at least we're reasonably comfortable and secure. Notwithstanding the fact we could probably do an appendectomy with our first aid kit, or that when we get to camp after a hard hiking day I want to use the Sat Phone to call out for pizza.

Our trip from Minaret up to Cecile and Iceberg Lakes was primarily cross country with a tad bit of class 3 or easy 4 scrambling. The use trails were quite defined. It did involve 6 hours of talus and scree hiking which I think was what finally did my foot in. In some places the talus was not well settled and I would get alot of wobbling as I moved through it. A couple places during some steeper descents the scree was much like pea gravel and basically we would just "ski" down it planting our poles and turning. Near the end of the talus, with a nice trail in my sights, I was moving along smartly (for me over talus); misjudged my momentum and the weight of the backpack propelled me forward into a perfect face plant! The brim of my hat and sunglasses (popped a lens) took the brunt of the plant. No damage other than humiliating. Luckily Michael was too far ahead to get a picture but the weight of the pack on the back of my head and neck made getting up a comical maneuver.

We saw so little snow. Very sad. Snow would have made the talus and scree traverse so much more tractable if we could have used crampons and axes. The streams were running strong and lovely.

There wasn't a trail sign post we passed that didn't have a nice poster asking hikers to be looking out for Matthew Greene. Some of the hikers we met queried "wasn't he just found?" I think they confused him with a list hiker on Whitney whose body had been found in just the weeks before.

So my hope is my foot will be all ready for our winter camping and sledge pulling. This year with no pain. Of course, the weather needs to cooperate too!

Some random beauty
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Mike checking out out first scramble area.
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Oh how I wish there was snow.
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Whenever I encounter little wooded glens I call them "enchanted forests"
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Mike hiking along.
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A pretty cascade
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Mike, sans pack, scouting a scramble we needed to do to pass from Minaret Lake to Cecile.
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Taking a break before I slog up the scramble
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Geez, what's that????
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More talus hiking.
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I think I'm in the middle of that picture.
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About 2 minutes after this picture I did a face plant. Grace on talus.
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We had just basically "skied" down that notch of scree
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Looking back on Minaret Lake
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Are we f'ing done yet with the talus?
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Dropping down into Ediza after a hard day.
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I was so pooped by the time I reached this bridge I was wondering if I really could cross it!
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Aww relaxing and reading maps under our tarp. Yes, we carry a tent also. Not sure we'll ever be ultra lighters,
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A pano. I have a little Optio that can do panos, although I often find I end up adding mountains if I don't get the overlays correct.
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This was a great camp spot.
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Nice to see many posters for Matthew.
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Mike in front of Clyde
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I wanted to use our Sat Phone to call out for pizza. Nope. Dinner in a bag.
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One pant leg up, one down. No fashion statement. That was a HARD day.
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A great trip. I'd do it again and add some more days to it and get to some more lakes.

Susan

  Trip Report Views: 2,614
SC seagoat
About the Author
SC seagoat is a trad climber from Santa Cruz, or In What Time Zone Am I?.

Comments
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
  Sep 22, 2014 - 02:08pm PT
When you posted some pics on FB, you whetted my appetite for more. Thanks ofr posting these!

John
anita514

Gym climber
Great White North
  Sep 22, 2014 - 03:05pm PT
Looks like a great backpacking trip. But those packs look soooooooooooo heavy, yikes!

this just in

climber
Justin Ross from North Fork
  Sep 22, 2014 - 03:09pm PT
Thanks for the report of my favorite range Susan. Sorry to hear it was your last trip for awhile, but glad you made it through it. With a talus face plant and all. Heal up.
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Sep 22, 2014 - 06:13pm PT
Nice job Susan, thanks!!!!
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
  Sep 22, 2014 - 10:58pm PT
Did a loop one time C2C (if I even had one): Agnew Meadows, Ediza, Ritter Pass, the "use trails" (Iceberg etc) over to Minaret Lake, and down to John Muir Trail going back north to Rosalie Lake, Shadow lake and Agnew. Pretty big day pre-internet info etc, just winging it. Thqnks for the post up.
thebravecowboy

climber
The Good Places
  Sep 22, 2014 - 11:02pm PT
and I thought my own ma was a hard-hiking sexegenarian.

Nice work!

Hope your foot heals up soon!
Stewart Johnson

Gym climber
top lake
  Sep 23, 2014 - 06:15am PT
Good stuff
SC seagoat

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, Bozeman, the ocean, or ?
Author's Reply  Sep 23, 2014 - 08:43am PT
Nice map ß Î Ø T Ç H. That is the route I would have liked to have done if my foot was cooperating. We were contemplating going up to Nydiver but word was that the cross country on that was rather stiff. I was outta stiff spooze.
Thanks all for the well wishes about the foot. It seems to be doing very well healing. Regular shoe end of this week. Then I'll have a better grasp of full recovery.

Susan


Risk

Mountain climber
Marooned, 855 miles from Tuolumne Meadows
  Sep 23, 2014 - 07:46pm PT
What a fantastic trip! Such a loop cannot be matched anywhere; the Sierra rules! The Ritter Range and Minarets present endless possibilities for solitude and mostly safe route finding beneath the most spectacular backdrop and comfortable camping to boot! Glad to see and hear about Matthew posters, too.
crankster

Trad climber
No. Tahoe
  Sep 23, 2014 - 07:54pm PT
Well done. A nice adventure.

Don't want to be critical, but losing 10 lbs from those packs would help the knees and feet!
Sierra Ledge Rat

Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
  Sep 24, 2014 - 10:44am PT
Snow would have made the talus and scree traverse so much more tractable if we could have used crampons and axes...
Couldn't agree more. I prefer the high country in late May through early July myself. I really despise the High Sierra in the late summer and fall due to the lack of snow. I'll take giant suncups over giant talus anyday.
SC seagoat

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, Bozeman, the ocean, or ?
Author's Reply  Sep 24, 2014 - 12:57pm PT
Don't want to be critical, but losing 10 lbs from those packs would help the knees and feet!

NO SH#T, uh!!!! Mike just did a solo 8 dayer starting with 61 lbs. WTF!!!
Some food items I could have cut back on. Also I might invest in some of the new super light weight rain gear. Mine is on the older side and heavier. I did get a new super light weight sleeping bag, under 2lbs. Love it and it's warm.
We keep working on the weight thing. Sooo hard to let go of some things.
At least you were polite and didn't point out where another loss of 10 lbs would be a good help!!! ;)

Susan.
clode

Trad climber
portland, or
  Sep 24, 2014 - 01:28pm PT
tfpu! Gotta love those little enchanted forests!
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
  Sep 24, 2014 - 01:32pm PT
Way to go seagoat!

Heal up well, and soon.
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