Shepherd Crest — Sept. 6-7, 2025
I had originally planned to head up the South Fork of Big Pine Creek this weekend, but thick smoke from the Garnet Fire on the west side was creating extremely hazardous air quality conditions everywhere in the Sierra. I pivoted at the last minute and decided to check out Twenty-Lakes Basin, an area of the Sierra that’s always been on my to-do list but ends up playing second fiddle to something more exciting. I wasn’t successful in totally avoiding the smoke, but I did get to experience a pretty cool — and very accessible — corner of the Sierra. My plan was to summit Shepherd Crest, a 12000-ft peak overlooking North Peak, and camp somewhere in its vicinity.
The Twenty-Lakes Basin is part of the Inyo National Forest and permits are required for overnight use as usual. However, this area is unique in that there are no quotas on the number of groups that can enter on any given day. You just need to purchase a permit on recreation.gov and be aware that certain areas like Conness Lakes aren’t open to overnight camping.
I’ve been getting later and later starts to my weekend hiking trips and this one was no different. I spent Friday night in Mammoth Lakes and only got to the trailhead around 11AM. The smoke at this point was moderate and but there was a strong wind out of the southwest (the direction of the Garnet Fire) so I didn’t have much hope for a smoke-free sunset/sunrise. In any case, I made quick time to Cascade Lake, which was a nearly flat hike from the trailhead, and began looking for the best way up to McCabe Pass. There were many ledge systems that looked like they would be harder than I wanted with a heavy pack on. In the end, I went up a steep and somewhat loose chute far to the climbers’ right that was at worst class 2 in my opinion.
On McCabe Pass, there were numerous small trees which provided shelter from the fierce winds. Thankfully, I had brought my bivy sack instead of a tent and didn’t have to fuss with the setup. Sunset came quickly and was beautifully vibrant. Unfortunately, heavy smoke blew in overnight which both gave me a massive headache and muted out any hope of nice sunrise colors in the morning. I begrudgingly made the short trek to the summit of Shepherd Crest anyway and didn’t regret it.
On the drive back, the AQI down Lee Vining Canyon was around 200-300 and the town of Lee Vining had awful air quality. I could barely see Mono Lake from the road despite it being maybe 100 ft away. In comparison, the air quality higher up in the Twenty-Lakes Basin was not nearly as bad.
—Justin
