Dragon Pass

Throughout the week Christi had expressed an interest in taking a different route to the front country than we usually take, and asked the ranger about Dragon Pass, which is all off trail and goes between Dragon Peak and Gould Peak, on the other side of which is Golden Trout Lake, which once-upon-a-time had a trail that went back to the Onion Valley trailhead, where our cars are always parked.

So the ranger looks out the window of the cabin and describes the route to Christi - left around that grey knob, up to that grey triangle, behind that white triangle.  Average time to trailhead: 5-6 hours.  I was lost at the grey knob, but Christi nodded along and seemed to know what he was talking about.  I didn't think it was safe for her to go along, so I agreed to come along, with the Park Radio.

Let me start out with saying: DO NOT EVER DO DRAGON PASS.  If you decide to not heed this warning, please talk to me, because I can probably give you much better directions to not make the mishaps and wrong turns that Christi and I made, making it the worst, longest, hardest, most scary hike I've ever done.

The short version: 13.5 hours, 1 pm to 2:30am, took the wrong direction three times, up and down steep and loose rock/scree/boulder fields that were 500-1000ft long, doing some 5-class rock climbing moves up and down rocks with a heavy, bulky bag when I am scared of heights and hate rock climbing, night time hiking down boulder fields, rock landslides, really poor trail conditions.  There was much prayer and many answered prayers, and some really good teamwork between Christi and me to make it out safely and unharmed.  At several points we called the ranger for directions when we took a wrong turn, and got yelled at by dispatch for talking on the radio while they were evacuating someone that afternoon, but I think that there was a great potential for our trip to become a search a rescue mission at any point.  Guardian angels were working overtime, and I am most grateful to still be around and unharmed.

Photos of the Dragon Pass trip - note there are none after we go over the pass, because it got dark soon after.  It's too bad - I'd've liked to have gotten photos of the boulder field we scrambled down for 3 hours in the dark with only our headlamps.  :)  Anyone ever go to Golden Trout Lake on the really crummy trail (maybe it's better in the day time) - I want pictures of the mountains behind it to the north and north east.