This was a 3-day backpacking
trip with Steve Dai in Ansel Adams Wilderness on May 27th to 29th, 2000. We planned to visit a few of the alpine
lakes in the West Fork Granite Creek drainage, which abuts Yosemite National Park's southeast boundary running
along the crest of a Sierra Nevada subrange dominated by Madera Peak (10509', or 3203m), Sing Peak (10552'), Gale
Peak (10693'). To the east there are great views of the Ritter Range, a basaltic subrange of Sierra Nevada soaring
to 13140' Mount Ritter and the spectacular spires of the Minarets. The hike in was challenging due to heavy snow
cover in the dense forest. We made good use of our compass and followed foot prints. We ended up camping near ice-covered
Lady lake tucked in the northeast cirque of Madera Peak. The next day I discovered a fantastic snow bowl in the
north cirque of Madera Peak after climbing over its northeast ridge. Sliding down the slopes with my backside in
the snow was much fun on this beautiful spring Sierra weather.
A few pictures from the trip:
