I've been wanting to hike up the Lundy Canyon Trail as far as I can since I arrived in the eastern Sierra back in the middle of September. I went as far as the falls with a visiting friend and her daughter about a month ago, but to fully enjoy it I have to go by myself. So at 0630 on Sunday I load up Tundra with my day hiking kit of Mountainsmith fanny pack (old at over 10 years, and I grumble about it at times, but I love it), 2 cameras -- the Canon 40D and 17-55 f/2.8 lens, with circular polarizer and a neutral grad filter, for landscape work, and the Canon 7D and 100-400 f/5.6 lens for wildlife, and the occasional long landscape shot -- tripod, which I attach to the outside back of the pack (awkward, but I'm working on refining the carrying method), a water bottle and a water bottle with a filter inside so all I have to do is refill at a creek, stream, etc, a medical kit, lunch, and carrots to snack on. I drive north on Hwy 6 -- checking the poles along the road for raptors looking over the alfalfa fields, but there are only a few Red-tails, and they're in the early-morning shadow -- and turn on Hwy 120 at Benton. This section of the 120, which connects with Hwy 395 south of Lee Vining, is a great open road with interesting high-desert scenery, including buttes and mesas --
Surprisingly, there are still pockets of fall color along the 395, and even Lundy Canyon has sections of bright yellow mixed with green and reddish-brown; this photo was taken in the afternoon when I headed out of Lundy Canyon --
I drive to the trailhead -- and I'm the only one there, surprisingly for a Sunday morning. There's not even anyone at the beaver ponds between the paved road's end and the trailhead -- when I've visited in the past, it's been packed with people armed with cameras, iPads and cell phones taking photos. And the scenery at the beaver ponds is still photogenic, well worth visiting, with remnants of fall aspen color -- and those reflections --
A beaver dam "holding in" a reflection
Once at the trailhead, I grab my gear and head up the trail. The area is still pretty much in shadow, so as I'll be returning on the same route, I opt not to take any photos until I get into sun -- or at least an area of more sun than shadows. The trail ascends a huge rock near one of the beaver ponds, but is otherwise fairly flat until you come alongside the many cascades of Lundy Creek. But after that it goes up canyon -- and I mean UP, going away from the creek as it heads to a bowl up the left side of the canyon. At a couple of points it crosses talus fields, where you have to gingerly pick your way through the rock that makes up the trail. It's now nearly 11:30 and what with carrying all my gear I know I can't -- and don't want -- to do the next part of the trail, a near-vertical climb of about 500 feet up the side of the canyon; here's what I saw when I looked up the "trail" --
See that more-or-less solid rock to the left of center? Well, the "trail" goes to the left around that, and climbs up to the ridge with trees on the right. And though it may not look like it, it IS pretty much straight up. I sit down on the now-inclined trail and have some cookies before I head back down; that's as far as I can go today. I once again gingerly pick my way over the scree on the trail; here's the view looking down-canyon, and a part of the rocky trail. The blue on the canyon floor are more beaver ponds --
What I would have dearly loved to see was the cascade over the edge of that bowl up on the side of the canyon; perhaps for another time. But I had my 100-400 lens with me, so I took of shot of the cascade with that --
I could hear the cascade from down below on the trail; you can see it just to the right of center --
Now that I was back down next to the creek, it was time to use the tripod. I set it up and took shots of the Lundy Creek cascades --
Heading back to the trailhead, the sun was at my back and now lit up the somewhat narrow canyon, so I took photos of the beaver ponds with their reflections; forecast wind hadn't hit Lundy Canyon yet --
I arrived back at the trailhead and headed back to the beaver ponds I'd visited in the morning, when the shadows/light were a challenge; much easier shooting conditions now --
I left Lundy Canyon, thoroughly satisfied with my stay there -- well, I'd better be since I will have driven over 200 miles when I arrived back in Bishop! I try not to think of the money I shell out spending on gas... I go over to the June Lake Loop area and check out the area of Rush Creek, north of Silver Lake. Fall colors are past-peak on one side of the road, but still very photogenic --
While on the other side of the road, the hillside full of aspen still has at-peak, "Go Now!" colors --
All in all, another satisfying day full of "eye candy" and strenuous exercise in the glorious eastern Sierra Nevada...
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