6am to 5:20pm.
Moraine Lake to Bearpaw Meadow.
19.5 miles

Morning at Moraine Lake

Early this morning it became obvious why the High Sierra Trail is such a popular hike and why all the people going the other direction were giving it a 2 thumbs up.

Wild onions to add to lunch. Rockin shared her extra lunch of quinoa, chicken and spinach.

The views opened up to miles and miles of granite, wonderful meadows and lakes I never wanted to leave.

Kaweah Gap was gorgeous.

Down from Kaweha Gap

Precipice Lake was spectacular and we all wished we were there any time but midday for better lighting.

Precipice Lake

The trail down to Hamilton Lake was a total engineering marvel complete with a tunnel blasted thru the granite.

Down to Hamilton Lake

So much gorgeous granite

Once we got to Hamilton Lake I had to jump in. The bottom was slimy and slippery so it took a bit of balancing to avoid getting completely wet before I was ready. The hot granite slabs were just what I needed to warm up.

We got to Bearpaw Meadows High Sierra Camp and were told we could get a beer and brownie. Awesome. We went to the campground, set up tents and returned for a beer in the most spectacular setting imaginable. And we could have gotten dinner if we had given them 24 hour notice.

The campsite isn’t anything special and I didn’t even take a photo of it.