The basement begins this morning really early, 3am. Heading from our basecamp to the trailhead. We are hiking from roughly 3,000 fee at the high desert floor near Independence, CA and hiking up to over 10,000 feet in one day. That is 7,000 foot change in elevation. Talk about changing my world view! Woohoo! Due to the extreme temperatures, we are attempting to get the hot desert climb behind us before the sun rises. We will then enter into a dry river valley, only a small trickle of water remains coming down from Sawmill Lake. When we get here we will be officially out of the desert and cresting the trail at the lake entrance will be 10,000 feet. We will continue on from here on the Sawmill Pass Trail until we get to the outskirts of Woods lake and the base of Mount Cedric Wright. This is where we are camping for the night on Day 1 of the Basement. This is an interesting area of the Sierras. A large body of water surrounded by a pretty desolate area circumvented by large 12 – 13K mountain peaks. Great place to stay for the night!
Guy Reams
