Amazing free solo September 14 2023

7/23/22- Mt. Conness North Ridge to Summit Loop Hike/Climb. The day stared out clear and beautiful, but by late morning smoke from the Oak Fire in Mariposa County had settled in and made visibility and breathing difficult. We took our time to enjoy the day so it took us over 12 hours to complete the loop. Trailhead starts at Saddlebag Lake dam. Free overnight parking at Saddlebag Trailhead parking area (adjacent to group campground which requires reservations). Pit toilets are located between trailhead parking lot and group campground. Trail from Saddlebag Lake passes alpine lakes (bring a water filter) and meadows and is in good condition and well traveled. To summit Mt. Conness from the north ridge requires hiking up the scree slope on a faint or nonexistent trail, then scrambling a narrow boulder topped ridge line. The ridge line leads to two pinnacles on the north face of the summit. These are 4th class scrambling but could be aided with ropes. Two rappels are set up on natural anchors with rope and webbing on the second pinnacle to descend to the first section of the climb. The climb to the summit is 5th class. Because of exposure, most people will want to ascend the entire north face with ropes (no climbing shoes needed) but some sections can easily be scrambled up to the summit without ropes. After signing the register, proceed to scramble down the East ridge. There are some rock steps set up making the path easy to find but after the rock scrambling section there is a flat dirt expanse which has many faint trails going east and south, follow trail and cairns going east, this route will eventually merge with the out and back hike listed on AllTrails as Mt. Conness. Again the trail is faint or nonexistent. Aim for the valley with a series of small alpine lakes. A trail picks up near the lakes and descends along a waterfall into another much larger valley. Again it’s hard to pick out a well trafficked trail until you reach the valley floor. This trail will lead to the Saw Mill campground where you can follow the road back up to the saddlebag trailhead parking lot (or like we did, start bushwhacking through the forest and across a stream to the Lee Vining Creek canyon and then ascend the slope to the road across the street from the trailhead parking lot).

Great destination! Enjoyed the open trail and peaceful outdoor atmosphere.

Great destination! Enjoyed the open trail and peaceful outdoor atmosphere.

Mount Conness is a 12,590-foot high peak in the Sierra Nevada range. It is located on the boundary between the Inyo National Forest and Eastern Yosemite National Park. The Conness Glaciers are phenomenal.. I hiked Conness for the first time on May/10/2021. The trail is 7.4 miles out and back and has 3,080 ft of elevation gain. It is a good workout trail. I started at the Sawmill Campground, hiking up towards Alpine Lake. The first 1.5 miles was 500 ft of elevation gain, it was not challenging for me but I had a difficult time finding the trail since the ground was covered by both snow and ice. I actually ended up near White Mountain instead of Alpine Lake. The views of White Mountain are spectacular, but the high altitude was killing me. I didn’t see any hikers, as I think I was there a little early in the season, as it's best to aim to go hike this area between June and September. I’ll give Conness another try sometime in the middle to late summer as that will give me time to acclimate and prepare myself for it.. NATURE + free = HEAVEN!!!