Silver Peak 11,878’
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 10:40
Distance: 17.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 7000’
Crux: Class 3
Trailhead: Mono Hot Springs area, full services at VVR
Silver Peak is the high point of the Silver Divide, A subrange within the Sierra Nevada that lies between the Sierra crest just south of Mammoth Lakes and the upper San Joaquin River drainage. I had attempted Silver Peak about five years ago, but needed to turn back less than 1 mile from the summit due to icy conditions and a lack of traction. I had to drive to the Mono Hot Springs area to drop off a resupply for our upcoming John Muir Trail trip, and decided I would return to Silver Peak to finish the job. I left home at 4:30 AM, not reaching the Florence lake store to drop off my resupply until shortly before 8 AM.
The shopkeeper came in a bit late and was unsure of how to process the payment for my resupply, so I needed to wait another 30 minutes before I could drive to the trail head. I didn’t realize how far Florence Lake store was from the trail head for Silver Peak, and I didn’t actually start hiking until almost 10 AM. The first part of the route follows the trail to Devils Bathtub, an impressive backcountry lake almost 1 mile long. I had been impressed by this lake on my first visit, it was looking forward to going back. However the stretch of trail leading to the lake is fairly boring by Sierra standards, mostly in pine forest with little views. I had thought that the lake was only 2.4 miles from the trail head, however that was just to the first junction. It took me two hours to reach the lake, fitting since it was over 4 miles, but I was frustrated with my time until I looked at my GPS to see how far I had actually come.
I had my lunch at the lake, enjoying the views from the inlet side across the lake to Mount Senger and Mount Hooper, having climbed Mount Hooper five years previously. The rest of the route would be cross country, and I continued up the drainage above Devils Bathtub, through a mucky meadow and up to smooth granite benches. This cross country up the granite slab was one of my favorite spots of the day, climbing a good 300 feet straight up unobstructed slab.
The route and hanging valley hooks to the west, and I needed to climb up the wall above and slightly to the right to reach a notch on the ridge line between Graveyard Peak in an unnamed summit at 11,470’. Since I had been on this route previously, I had not refreshEd my memory much as to which gully was the correct one to ascend. I tried to look at the map that I had downloaded, but it still wasn’t very clear which option to choose. So I chose the middle of the three larger chutes, starting up loose scree and talus.
The traction on the loose scree was poor, and I quickly realized that this was not the gully I had chosen on my previous visit. Still, it seemed like it would go all the way to the ridge line, although at times it felt like I was climbing on a house of cards, worried the boulder I was standing on might trigger a small rock slide. By the time I reach the ridgeline above, the previously innocent looking clouds were looking a bit more menacing, with thunderheads in the distance behind me. The sky above was still blue, although I was worried these clouds could blossom into something more menacing overhead. From the ridgeline, Silver Peak was now in view, requiring a descent of 400 feet into a basin that separated me from the summit and reascent of a good 800 feet.
This basin was where I had turned back previously, with the basin being coated in ice. There was minimal snow at the bottom of the basin today and no ice up top, and I descended the surprisingly stable talus and scree, dropping to the unnamed lake below in 15 minutes. I was pleased with how stable the talus was as a climbed across the basin, angling to the left to reach the ridge line above to Silver Peak. Considering how fast the descent had taken, the ascent took deceptively long, going over multiple false summits until topping out at the high point an hour and 30 minutes from reaching the ridgeline above the valley.
The views from the top were outstanding, particularly of the Mammoth region including Mounts Ritter and Banner as well as the Minarets, Mammoth Mountain directly across the valley and Bloody Mountain to the east. I could pick out some of the larger summits to the south including Mount Humphreys, although the thunderheads had grown with rain over these higher peaks. There was an additional storm over the Clark Range in Yosemite including the southern peaks of Gale and Sing which I had just climbed, as well as Red Peak. It seemed as if I was in the only sunny spot in the central Sierras.
Although the clouds were not heading in my direction, I worried the storms would continue to grow. So I dropped off the summit after only about 10 minutes, heading back the way I came. I dropped off the ridgeline a bit earlier than my ascent route in an effort to utilize the looser scree slopes below. I then cut across the basin on a similar ascending traverse, hitting the ridgeline slightly above the lowest point to avoid some of the loosest sand. The sky directly ahead was black and I wanted to get back to treeline as quickly as possible.
I opted to try a different gully than the one I had ascended, choosing one slightly to the west. This unfortunately cliffed out halfway down, and I needed to cut back towards the appropriate gully requiring some class 3 traversing. I continued along and cut over one more gully farther to the east and utilized sandy ledges to get myself back to the hanging valley below. Back on easier cross country, I descended the outstanding slabs and refilled my waters, taking my first long break since the summit. The storms were beginning to dissipate, and although it looks as if some rain was falling near the trail head, I remained dry all day. I cut cross country through the meadow, this time hugging the slopes to the west in hopes to find a bit drier conditions. The mosquitoes were out in force by the time I reach Devils Bathtub, not giving me time to take one last break at this beautiful lake.
I followed the use trail along the western end, surprised that there were no campers at the lake for the night. Back on the maintained trail, I hustled back to the car knowing I had a 3 hour drive ahead of me. It was about 7:30 PM when I reached the car and pulled out, trying to get through as much of the single lane road as I could before dark. Unfortunately, all the restaurants in Shaver Lake were closed by the time I got there, and I needed to resort to gas station food for my celebratory meal. Hopefully Sierra Peak Section Peak #59 will have better dining options then #58 on Silver Peak did…