Cottonwood Lakes, Eastern Sierras, 8/96

Dave, Paul, and Massoud and his eight year old son were traveling through the night. The plan was a simple but clever one... get out of town at early as possible and head for the Sierras. Now as the quartet stood in front of the Ranger Station in Lone Pine at 3:00 am, a flaw in the plan was detected. "The place isn't open," Dave noted. Paul grumbled something about, "You idiot," and started back to the van. "Maybe we can sleep in the van until the place opens at 8:00 am," Dave added to the silence.

Note: The Ranger's do have a night pickup box and will have your wilderness permit waiting, if you send them in your requests early... or you can use the Dave method of dumb luck.

After five hours of attempted sleep, and a belly full of grease (local diner), the quartet was ready for the assault on Hidden Lake! The Lake was located in the Cottonwood Lakes area, only about eight miles from the trailhead... easy hike...

Eight miles at one mile per hour was near the theoretical limits of the group, and as the group stumbled into camp, the seventy-third, "Are we there yet," was answered with, "YES!" But this was not Hidden Lake, because there was a reason why the lake was called "hidden." We were at Muir Lake which was plenty OK with the group. A kind ranger did offer to guide the group to Hidden Lake several days later, but Muir Lake had become more than OK... It was a little bit of heaven.

Crystal clear water, towering mountains, the smell of pine in the air... Muir Lake was the scrubbing our souls needed. We returned with memories that still return in the middle of dull office meetings.

For complete information and reservations about the Cottonwood Lakes area of the Sierras contact the Mt. Whitney Ranger Station in Lone Pine. Yes, they're on-line!

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