Sawtooth Peak

Access Denied: Sawtooth Peak

August 7, 2005

It seemed trivial enough. I had been to Sawtooth Pass before and looked over at the peak. It looked like a little traverse and boulder hop to the summit. So, early today I got out of the rack at the usual o-dark-thirty, checked the weather for the Sierra one more time, and got in the car. About four hours later I arrived at the trail head for Sawtooth Peak, today's "easy" day hike.

What first caught my eye was the crowded parking lot. Gee, lots of people in Mineral King, the weather must be good. As I started up the trail the temps were already warm, at seven o'clock in the morning. Hmm, think I'll forego my plan to take the old trail that is faster and stick by the new trail for the shade trees.

Timber Gap Parking Lot in Mineral King

The slog up the trail was uneventful, but I still had not seen one other soul. I was beginning to wonder where all of those people were that belonged to those cars at the trailhead. Usually on Sunday mornings people are in a hurry to break camp and head down the trail, not today I guess.

Radiator hose eating fat Marmot resting on the trail

I soon arrived at the lower Monarch Lake. Again, nobody was present. I went about refilling my water supply, slathered on a dose of sunscreen and skeeter spray, and then made my way over to the sandiest hill in the west, Sawtooth Pass.

Nobody home at Monarch Lake

Today the pass seemed a little too easy. While it took me over an hour to top out on the ridge, the going was good. When I arrived on top, five backpackers were there - two going one way, three going the other. The first people I've seen all morning. Anyway, they all soon departed. Just about that time I heard a loud crack of thunder. I noticed the clouds getting darker and once in a while could feel a little bit of rain, but nothing to fret over.

The dubious route up Sawtooth Pass

So I traversed over the ridge towards Sawtooth. From the trip reports I had read from others, I had thought the route finding might have been a little easier. I probably stayed too high on the ridge instead of finding use trails lower on the ridge. Whatever the case, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to the weather since I was meticulously moving from rock to rock until all of a sudden the sky lit up and a barrage of thunder rattled the valley (and me) at nearly the same time. I knew being on the ridge was the wrong place to be, so I immediately dropped down to find shelter, after all it was raining with a prevailing wind of about 20mph and of all things a good amount of hail was falling too.

Who let the dogs out - dark clouds moving in over Sawtooth

I counted the lightening to thunder durations to determine if it was coming or going. Once I was satisfied the lightening didn't pose an imminent threat, I gave a silent "all clear" and went back about my boulder hopping. Well, ten minutes later the same situation arose, only this time it really got my attention. I dove back into another rock cave to wait it out. I haven't heard that much thunder in such a short period of time - ever.

The view from my second fox hole on the mountain

Another all clear and I was back at it. I popped up about one hundred feet from the summit in the rain and hail; and here it comes again with a vengeance "bam, snap, bam'. I finally got the message, my access to the summit of Sawtooth is denied.

The summit of Sawtooth - just out of reach

So while I briefly groveled at the fact I had come so far only to be turned back when I could nearly smell the summit register, the ferocity of the bam, snap, bam picked up enough to motivate me to move further down the ridge. This time I didn't bother with shelter, I just wanted to get off of the ridge altogether. As fate has it, I was now navigating the class 3 cliff bands. So about an hour later I made away back across the ridge to the area below the pass, down climbing some, sand surfing some, but eventually getting back to Monarch Lake. I figured that I had enough excitement for the day and since Sawtooth is supposed to be an easy peak to bag, I really wasn't too sure how to explain that it kicked my ass today. No sooner a group of young backpackers arrived at the lake dressed in artic-wear. The last one in line asked me "did you see the lightening up there!". Oh, there was lightening I replied.

Without further ado I put my tail between my legs and promptly headed down the trail.