It is a beautiful morning in the eastern sierra’s to be a mongrel on the trail. Good morning Sabrina Basin; This pup/terrier/ or what the hell is she? Is Inyo. It was a good morning anyways until I realized we were the only leave no trace hikers on this trail and we might be on a dog-friendly eastern Sierras trail but most of our fellow trekkers have no idea how to pick up after man’s best friend.
I mean, seriously, how hard is it to pack out your dog’s waste? I pack out my own poo when I have to go in nature, so I sure as hell pack out my pups. Nothing pisses me off more than trekking up a gorgeous dog-friendly eastern Sierras trail in God’s country and seeing mounds of dog shit everywhere. Welcome to the Sabrina basin, where Snow Pigs are not smart enough to pick up after their pets.
But we still had a fantastic hike…
After I stopped cussing out the neglectful flatlanders who had trekked this trail before me we had a fantastic day on our first trek into the dog-friendly eastern Sierras wilderness. After I jumped started our vacation car for the third in as many days and said a prayer to the tow car God’s, our 2001 Suzuki made it up the very steep road to Lake Sabrina and the trailhead at 8,000 feet without any major problems. The sun rose over the city of Bishop in the valley down below this mountain hamlet and the, praise God, mosquitos were not biting yet. The wild lavender primroses were blooming along the trail and the wild sage was pungent after last night’s thunderheads passed through this Inyo Wilderness. I felt blessed to be here in God’s county as the pup and I practically skipped up the mountain trail, past Blue Lake. Once I hiked up and away from the ungrateful masses who are just on this trail to take selfies next to wildflowers and leave their Monster energy cans in their wake, I started to relax and breathe in all the serendipity that the eastern Sierras had to offer.
Enter Alaska’s state bird.
And then the mosquitos begun descending on me. At times there were hoards of mosquitoes as we pranced by Blue Lake, giant keeper trout swam through her waters down below the trail. I had considered bringing my new fishing pole but to be completely honest I’m not enough of a catch and release fishing fan to put up with standing still and having these fiesty blood-thirsty bastards land on me.
So up we went. Up a technical trail with a lot of rocky parts. After Blue Lake the trail was hard to follow in places, disappearing into boulder fields. Where should I ford this creek with crystal clear chilly snow run off? Amazingly the pup and I only got off trail twice in our over sixteen miles venture up to crystal clear Moonlight Lake, Midnight Lake and finally, yes Hungry Packer, where the trail petered out and we bushwhacked our way to her clear waters. For the dog-friendly eastern Sierras hiker, this trail felt like such a relief from the crowded areas near Bishop’s fourth of July weekend. I honestly could not believe our luck how uncrowded the trail was. I think all the All-Trails day hikers were happy to just trek around Sabrina Lake, leaving their blue bags of dog poo for the Wilderness Fairy to deal with later.
That is when The Hungry Mountaineer fell in the Hungry Packer. Yes, because I was trying to take a selfie with man’s best friend. Luckily, I got my whole fall into the lake on video ( Check out MyAssholeDog’s Instagram to see that adventure)
The mosquitos were thick and hungry in the morning but by half way through the morning they had gone and I could really enjoy my morning in God’s country. And I was nice and cool after my fall into the Hungry Packer. What a fantastic way to enjoy our first day of vacation in the scenic eastern Sierra’s.
