I had signed up with a Facebook group called SoCal Hiking. I was interested in doing some hiking with someone other than myself. Not too long after I signed up, they had posted an overnight trip to climb Cirque Peak in the southern Sierras. This looked interesting to me and so I indicated I would go. I was looking forward to something new and meeting new people.
The plan was to meet at Horseshoe Meadow Campsite near Lone Pine at 8 AM. I got up very early at home and drove there Saturday morning. The drive up Horseshoe Meadows Road was pretty dramatic. You could see it from 395 snaking up a steep incline, and the trip up was pretty and did not disappoint. I got to the parking lot of the campsite and saw someone who looked as if he was waiting for people and sure enough, Johnny was part of our group. Another gentleman showed up named Mario and he was going to hike with us as well. We were still waiting for our leader Eylene Pirez. She showed up shortly after with a young man name Sante Kotturi and his dog Sitka. Our group was assembled and we started up the Cottonwood Lakes trail.
This trip was an out and back of about twenty-two miles with about 3,500 feet in elevation change. There was some discussion about making it a loop but it was decided that we would make that choice on Sunday after summitting Cirque Peak. The trail up was pleasant and we all got to know each other a little bit. Johnny and Mario were sort of new to hiking and overnight camping. Eylene and Sante were clearly very experienced. We got about halfway and it started to rain. Shortly thereafter it started snowing but it was more like frozen rain. I was a bit surprised as the day started very sunny. The Eastern Sierras are notorious for afternoon showers and I guess I should have not been really too surprised. I figured it would let up in about ten or fifteen minutes, but it did not.
We got to the first Cottonwood Lake and hiked along the shore. The second Cottonwood Lake was close to the first and we then found an area out of the wind which important in these seemingly wintry conditions. Everyone set up their tent and got in our of the wind and frozen rain. I did not want to put my tent out and have my tent get all wet and then have to deal with that all night. So I decided to wait it out. I could see blue sky in the cloud breaks. It had to end soon, or so I thought. I ended up waiting under a pine tree for close to two hours. There were a couple of moments where I thought maybe I would just hike out and call it a day.
I finally put my tent out and cleared off the snow down to the gravel so the floor of my tent would be dry.
Things cleared up quickly and we spent a fair amount of time hanging out. Sante had a drone and we played with that for a while. After dinner and some drinks, I called it and decided to sleep. It proved to be pretty cold. I had purchased a liner for my sleeping bag after the Mt. Whitney experience, and ended up pulling that out and using it sometime in the evening when it was clear my bag by itself was going to be cold.
Finally, morning arrived and we all got up and had some hot oatmeal. This was very welcomed. We had talked to some people the day before that had attempted the New Army Pass but there was a cornice that they could not get over. We headed towards Cirque Peak and ditched the trail pretty quickly as it was all snow. We just headed towards Cirque Peak to see how far we could get by going straight up it. There was a fair amount of snow interspersed in what was a rock field up a pretty steep incline. After some determination, we made it to the top. Mission accomplished despite not being the recommended route.
Summit conquered!
We headed down after enjoying the peak for about a half-hour. We new where our campsite was and just bushwhacked our way back. This required a river crossing that was way more exciting than it should be. There was a lot of post-holing but at long last, we were back to our tents. We packed up and started down to our cars which was another eight miles. This took a while and I must confess that the last few miles were tough. I was ready to get back and sit on my ass. And at long last, that goal was achieved.
This was a good trip for me as I went to a place I probably would not have done on my own and met some really nice and interesting people.