On August 11-19, 1979 myself, Jim White, John Roberts, Rody Troeter, Scott Salley and Shawn Peek backpacked 41 miles round trip on the Graveyard Lake Deck Trek in the John Muir Wilderness.
On Saturday, August 11, we left my place in Lone Pine at 7 a.m. under cloudy skies. As we approached Bishop it rained but then stopped. We picked up Don Stansifer and drove to the McGee Creek trailhead, hitting the trail about 10;30 or so. (We had waited at Pine Creek for Scott Morton and John Moulton who were to leave their car at Pine Creek and hit the trail with us at McGee. They were late and then decided not to go with us because of the rainy outlook).
Don Stansifer took the car and we headed up the trail. Rain started after about a mile but never became real heavy. It stopped around lunch as we proceeded to Round Lake where the four fishermen in our group stopped - so we made camp.
Sunday was cloudy as we headed up to Big McGee Lake (for a fishing stop) and on to McGee Pass which we topped shortly after noon. It started to thunder and "spit" at us so we hurried down the other side. The weather never really did much to us, just made a lot of noise nearby. We had decided to stop at Tully Lake and layover the next day. We found a fine campsite with small stream on a bench above the lake, made camp, and the fishermen went fishing.
Monday, the layover day, we hiked over to Bighorn Lake where the fishermen couldn't catch any fish in the lake but Scott and Shawn caught two golden's in the outlet stream. We returned to camp among clouds but no rain.
First three days of Graveyard Lake Deck Trek 1979 (travel from right side)
Tuesday we headed down Fish Creek to Tully Hole and on to the Silver Pass trail. Nice hiking all day with some clouds. Fishermen caught lots of fish above the bridge in some pools. We hiked on up the Muir Trail toward Silver Pass and over to Papoose Lake where we camped and more fish were caught.
Wednesday we ascended Goodale Pass which was steep and rocky at the start but actually mostly good trail, even the steep parts. We topped out and descended (rough trail} to Graveyard Meadows and the trail to Graveyard Lakes. Another beautiful day with some clouds. We found a nice isolated campsite on the west side of the lake and setup camp around 3 p.m. The "crew" built a log raft and had some rides on it. Late afternoon cloud buildup dropped only a few sprinkles.
That night we went to bed under cloudy sky and awoke to a nice day which was to be a layover day. Jim and I set out to check the next day's cross-country route over a pass to Peter Pande Lake while the others fished, etc. We made the pass easily finding a ducked use trail that was not difficult. We ate lunch at the upper Graveyard Lake (limited campsites) and returned to camp. The cloud buildup dropped a few late afternoon sprinkles but nothing serious. We went to bed under clear skies but during the night I awoke to the sound of thunder.
We got no rain but it was clouding up again in the morning so we packed and ate quickly. We headed over the cross-country pass and easily made the top just as it started to sprinkle. We descended the other side in sprinkles and light rain which quit by the time we reached Peter Pande Lake and setup camp about noon.
THEN - around 2 p.m. the sky fell in first hail, then soft hail I call "slush" and later rain. Quite heavy at times with much loud thunder and bright lightning. We had water leakage up through the floors of both tents - both due to not making sure the ground sheets under the tents were arranged so that water would run under the tarp instead of over the tarp and under the tent floor.
On my two man tent the 20 year old floor had lost its coating so seepage was general. On the 4-man tent it came in through the uncoated seams. By doing some ditching and stuffing sleeping bags, etc. we kept gear and persons dry. Around 6 p.m. the storm quit and we were able to cook supper outside. The boys found a burning log left by some other campers who left during the storm, and dragged it to our campfire. It was a real blazer and gave welcome heat and helped dry out some damp gear.
Saturday the clouds cleared as the morning went on - not completely but the day was nice as we hiked down Minnow Creek, then through Jackson Meadow and down to Cascade Valley and Fish Creek which we reached for a late lunch. We then climbed the good trail toward Purple Lake and made camp around 3 p.m. about a quarter mile below the lake on the creek at nice campsites.
Scott Morton and John Moulton had come in from McGee on Tuesday and Scott met us at this campsite to coordinate departure via Mammoth. We saw a porcupine at this camp.
Sunday we followed the Muir trail from Purple Lake to Duck Lake trail with fine views of the area we had been to across the valley. Had lunch at Duck Lake (some ate on the pass) and I arrived at the trailhead about 2:30. Don Stansifer had left the car so we loaded up and headed home after a great trip despite the weather.
Last six days of Graveyard Lake Deck Trek 1979 (travel from right side)
