Mount Baldwin 12,614′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 8:15
Distance: 15.3 miles
Elevation Gain: 6000′
Crux: Class 2
Trailhead: Convict Lake- trash, pit toilets
I wasn’t too wiped out after Mount Ritter, but with three days of climbing planned, I thought day 2 should be a bit lighter. My original plan was to climb Mount Abbot out of Rock Creek with a fairly short approach and modest elevation gain. But in researching the route a bit more, it seemed like a better option with good snow conditions, and that I would be battling horrible loose talus this late in the season. So I pivoted to Mount Baldwin, which at first glance seemed like an easy day. I did not take a good look at the elevation gain required and wound up being a bit more physical than I expected, but still within reason. Mount Baldwin is the highest summit in the Mount Morrison subgroup, although tucked up Convict Creek Canyon, sees far less summits than its more dramatic but lower neighbor. The Convict Lake area is probably one of the more geologically interesting regions of the Sierra, an intersection between the younger volcanic rock in the region of the Long Valley caldera, older rock lifted by tectonic action of the Sierra Nevada fault, and granite exposed by now extinct glaciers. The result is a dramatic display of layered, colored, twisted and tilted rock bands which I would find make excellent scenery, but horrible climbing. I started relatively late, not starting down the Convict Lake trail until after 7:30 AM. It was already quite warm, the trail fairly exposed with low sage brush along north side of the lake.
In an effort to beat the heat I hiked quickly, following Convict Creek to the northwest shoulder of Mount Morrison putting myself in shade. The trail was directly beneath Laurel Mountain, one of the more colorful summits in the area, and I had a good look at the Mendenhall Couloir, a popular 5.2 route that has been high on my to do list for some time.
Beyond Laurel Mountain, the trail became washed out in a few spots, a testament to how loose and crumbly the rock is in the area. Roughly 3 miles in, I reached the remains of a bridge crossing, and took my first break. My plan was to hike cross country up to Bright Dot Lake, then pick up the use trail on the far side to the summit. Being a fairly large backcountry lake, I figured I shouldn’t have much trouble finding a use trail to the lake itself. But I had a hard time even keeping on the main trail, as I quickly lost it at the bridge crossing, thinking it stayed closer to the water. I could see the broad notch leading to Bright Dot Lake above, but there was no clear path leading up.
I started up the talus slope, regained the trail I was supposed to be on, then spied what I thought was a cairn in a shallow slab gully above. It was not, but the slabs in the drainage provided decent traction, and I headed directly upslope towards the lake above. This worked well until the slabs were replaced by loose marble sized rocks about 200′ below the notch. There were trees growing on the loose slope providing some traction and there was no real danger, but it was quite tedious, so I changed tactics and traversed left towards the notch. There were some steep class 3 bands that looked like they would go, but the rock was not inspiring much confidence, and it did not seem unreasonable that I could rip off a massive hold or even set an entire ledge sliding. So I continued traversing until the bands became more forgiving, scrambling up class 2 to a lower angled talus gully leading to Bright Dot Lake.
The lake was much larger than I expected looking at the map, with Mount Baldwin looming above on the far shore. I took a break beneath some large pines in the shade, the last I would have for some hours. I picked up a good use trail on the west shore of Bright Dot Lake, following it as it slowly gained elevation and merged with a seperate use trail coming up from Mildred Lake along the northwest ridge of Baldwin.
I wasn’t too surprised by how well defined the trail was; even though Baldwin wasn’t a marque peak, there was a calcite mine below the summit, attracting both peak baggers and rock hounds alike. The easy to follow trail climbed steeply up the ridge before cutting south across talus slopes, the shimmering calcite coming into view above.
This was the only spot where the trail was a bit less defined in large part to the steep and loose terrain, and I briefly lost the path as it skirted some short rock bands just below the mine. It was easy scrambling up and through, the only class 3 of the day, although it would be easy to keep things class 2 if desired. Just above these rock bands was the remnants of the calcite mine, with literally thousands of the white and clear rocks, some the size of a basketball. I’m not sure if the mine ever actually dug into the mountain, with a shallow depression in the rock face where they probably just blew out the exposed crystals.
From the mine, I continued past up a short step to the sandy summit slopes. I had been quite lucky this summer, as ever time I looked up at a climbed thinking it was going to be a loose slog (both Red Slate and Agassiz come to mind), I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I was not so lucky on this one.
The final 500′ was pure steep and loose sand, and although there were boot paths zig zagging up, they all sucked. It was about 12:30 when I summited, taking a bit under 5 hours. Not exactly the casual day I had planned. Still, the smoke had lifted for the first time in months, and the views were outstanding, with Red Slate to the southwest, Bloody Mountain and Mount Laurel to the west, Mount Ritter and Banner in the distance, the Mount Morrison ridgeline to the north, and Mount Morgan and Stanford, my objectives the following day, to the east.
I took a long lunch at the summit before heading back down the slopes. While the sand made for a horrible ascent, it was terrific on the way down, quickly plunge stepping to the mine in about 10 minutes. I decided to hike by way of Mildred Lake, not wanting to endure the B.S. cross country route I botched heading into Bright Dot Lake. As I made my way down the ridgeline, it was clear that this was by far the most utilized line of ascent, well traveled and easy to follow. The use trail hooked far to the south and I grew a bit inpatient, deciding to cut directly west and scramble through some rock bands to the bottom of the canyon below. Sometimes I just can’t help myself. I took my first break in the shade since the morning at Mildred Lake to filter some water, a bit underwhelming when viewed from the south shore, but with an incredible view of Red Slate Mountain from the north side.
From there it was pretty easy hiking back down the trail to Convict Lake, passing a handful of backpackers headed in for the night. It was nearly 4 PM by the time I reached the car, a longer day than I had planned but an enjoyable one none the less.
I hopped in the car and headed back to Mammoth, looking forward to my last day of hiking on hopefully better Sierra granite than the volcanic choss of the last two days.
