Climbing Matterhorn Peak

Jim and I planned another (what has become annual excursion - see Mount Lyell, Mount Conness, and Cloud's Rest) trip up to the mountains to conquer a Sierra peak. In actuality, Jim emails me, I'm in, and he does all of the planning.

In years past we've climbed Mount Lyell and Mount Conness, both from the Tuolomne area. This year, we came in from around Twin Lakes to climb the Matterhorn Peak.

We slept out overnight at the regular 120 campsite and then got up early for breakfast at Bridgeport while we waited to collect our backcountry permits.

At the Twin Lakes campgrounds we saw the result of a bear vs. car matchup which served as a good reminder to pull all of the food out of the car.

We climbed (a lot) up from Twin Lakes and up into the High Sierra. After a bit of map consultation, we determined the path to follow and continued up and over the pass adjacent to Matterhorn Peak. There we found a spot for our tent and settled in for the night watching the sunset across the valley while drinking elixir.

The next morning we completed the summit climb, took in the view, and then high-tailed it all the way back to the car.

After a quick jump in Twin Lakes we drove around Bridgeport to a nearby hotsprings where we just took a quick dip to relieve the sore legs from all of the climbing and descending.

This is the second trip we've done in this area of the Sierra (see 1999 backpacking trip) and it definitely makes for a great place to camp and backpack around.