How To Fall Off A Mountain

Rich Benbrook

Using the Maps

Mount Whitney

Monarch Lake

Vidette Meadow

Cottonwood Lakes

Onion Valley to
Whitney Portal

Symmes Creek to
Mineral King

Mount Tyndall

Whitney Group

Mount Shasta

Mount Williamson

Palisades

Middle Palisade
Revisited

Thunder Mountain

Middle Palisade
Try Again

Middle Palisade
Take Three

Mount Sill

Thunderbolt Peak
Climbing Up

Thunderbolt Peak
Climbing Down

Thunderbolt Peak
Rescue

Aerial Photos

National Park Service Search and Rescue

Links

Monarch Lake

maps:

My first introduction to overnight backpacking was a three day adventure to Monarch Lake in the Mineral King area of Sequoia National Park. I joined two friends, both experienced backpackers, and with borrowed gear, carrying my house on my back, we made our way up the trail. We set up camp on a small rise overlooking the alpine lake. Nestled in a glacial cirque, we were surrounded on three sides by towering granite cliffs. Only to the west was the view unobstructed down the valley and out to the horizon hundred of miles distant. We prepared dinner, and as the sun set I realized I had finally broken the bonds of car camping.

The weather was great, so we didn't bring tents and I experienced for the first time the luxury of modern insulated sleeping bags. Ice formed at the foot of my bag during the cold night, but I never felt uncomfortable. At one point during the night, I awoke to the sound of a couple of deer chewing their cud as they lay next to us.

Dawn broke cold and crisp. The air is thin at this high altitude, and none of the previous day's warmth is retained through the night. Even in the middle of summer, mornings are frigid, demanding that one get up and going, or freeze. The air is crystal clear in the mornings, and with no haze to diffuse the light, a sharp line divides areas of sun from the harsh cold of the shadows. There is always a sense of anticipation in the mountain air at this early hour; it is as though the mountains are saying "Let's go, we have something special planned for you today!"

That day we ascended the granite cliffs behind camp and climbed Sawtooth Peak. From the summit, an entire new world of endless forests, streams and lakes, and even higher peaks not visible from any road, opened up before me. The freedom was intoxicating, and I was hooked.