The view on the way up to the pass was amazing, only surpassed by
the view over the pass, and ultimately Sawtooth Peak, though we didn't
know at the time that we were even going to go there. The first thing
we decided was that nobody really wanted to go to Columbine Lake.
We were under the impression that it would be relatively flat past the
pass but it turned out to be quite a hike down. After wearing ourselves
out on the way up to the pass, nobody wanted to hike down, back up and
back down again. The consensus was to go down and fish at Upper Monarch
Lake which was rumored to have bigger fish than the lower lake.
Now there's this guy, Dave Adams. He had stopped by our campsite the previous night (though I was in bed already), and in the morning on his way up to Sawtooth Pass. He was up at the pass when we got there. Turns out he's an olive grower from Three Rivers and goes backpacking nearly every weekend in the summer time. We chatted with him quite a bit. He decided to go back to Upper Monarch also. But therein lies the wrinkle. Dave was determined to do some mountain climbing. He suggested we go to Sawtooth Peak. In a moment of insanity, I decided that would be a swell idea. Jerry had also done some mountain climbing and wanted to go with us. So there I was, the rookie of the bunch, going to climb a 12,000 ft.+ mountain as a spontaneous thing, totally out of shape and unprepared. Yikes!
So the 3 of us set off for the summit while the other 4 (plus Dave Adams) went down to fish. I gotta say, as sore and sunburned as I am, that was a good choice. We didn't have an abundance of water, nor did we really have lunch, but we made our supplies last and got an unreal view of much of the Sierras. The hike up was fairly difficult for me. It took us a couple hours from the pass (11,600 ft.) to the peak (12,343 ft.). Once we were there, the view was the best I've had on the ground. Better yet, though, was the sense of satisfaction. While this peak gets climbed regularly (nearly daily from June through September), there are still only a relatively small number of people who ever do anything like that.
It also gave me some time to reflect. For whatever reason, Julie Van Patten came to mind. I had known Julie since the 4th grade and, until meeting Edi, she was my best female friend. Unfortunately, while on break from college, she was hiking on the Kings River (really not too far from where we were) with some friends and wound up tragically slipping and falling into the river not to be seen again. Though I reflected about many things while enjoying the view, I could think of no better thing to write in the summit log than this: "Varrin Swearingen, Age 27, Airline Pilot, Fresno, CA, first 10,000+ peak. Dedicated to Julie Van Patten. We miss you. See you again soon."
With that, it was time to hike down...
