Duck Pass, August 16 2015

posted in: Hiking with Dogs, Photos, Trip Report |

My wife, son, dog and I spent the weekend in Mammoth to get away from the heat in SoCal. I had planned to hike Duck Pass Saturday morning for sunrise, but after arriving at the hotel at 2:30 am, I decided it was best to wait until Sunday. Saturday I ended up doing a couple of short hikes to Mammoth Pass/McLeod Lake and Rainbow Falls. 

With the busy day Saturday and some late night scrambling to get my gear packed for Sunday, I forgot to set my alarm. I wanted to be on Duck Pass for sunrise, but I woke up an hour later than planned. I nearly skipped the hike and stayed in bed, but Riley (my dog) was staring me intently with this look… a look that told me “I’m going to be a terror in the car today if you don’t exercise me now!”

We started hiking around 5 AM and found ourselves at Barney Lakes around sunrise (6:30). We hurried up the switchbacks to the pass, reaching it around 7:00, where we met a couple of JMT’ers that were headed into Mammoth. After spending 30 minutes enjoying the view and taking photos, we headed back to the trailhead. I was in a hurry to get back to the hotel (I thought checkout was at 10 AM) and I couldn’t help but think that I need to get back to this place. It’s one of the nicest places I visited this summer and with the early start, I nearly had the entire trail to myself until I got within a mile of the trailhead.

Geek Stats

Distance: 8.31 miles || Duration: 4h 15m ( including 30 min break at Duck Pass) || Elevation Gain/Loss: ±1,680 || Max Elevation: 10,717′ || Difficulty: Easy-Moderate

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Gear

Trail Info

I had never heard anything about Duck Pass. Here are the resources I used to learn about it:

 

  1. pedals4power
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    Gorgeous shot of the lake!