My son and his friends climbed Tower Peak on June 19, 2004. Five years later I tried to repeat the feat in a solo expedition to the area. To reach Tower Peak, people most often use the trailhead at Leavitt Meadow, off Hwy 108. The trailhead is exactly 200 miles (and a four and a half hours drive) from Palo Alto. My intention was to start at the trailhead at 7100 feet, then follow Walker River through Hoover Wilderness, reach Tower Pass at the boundary between Hoover Wilderness and Yosemite (10090 ft), and proceed to Tower Peak (11755 ft). Estimated one way distance from the parking area to the summit is somewhere around 16 or 17 miles.
While I took the same route that my son had followed, there was a big difference in conditions along the trail in 2009. In the spring of 2009, and particularly in the first part of June, weather was unusually cold and wet in that part of the Sierra, shifting the major snow melt from May to the second part of June. As a consequence, all creeks and rivers were swollen and almost impossible to cross at lower elevation, while tons of snow were still present at higher altitudes. I had to make big detours at every side creek crossing, trying to find fallen logs or to locate narrow enough gorges to jump across. At Upper Piute Meadow, where the trail crosses the Walker River, there was no way to get to the other side but wading through fast and icy-cold stream.
I camped near the southern end of that meadow, on a knoll just above the river. Next morning, I continued south on a steep uphill section. There were no human tracks on the trail, and perhaps no other soul had been in that remote area since last fall. Serious snow began a mile above the meadow, at 8600 feet, and the trail disappeared. In the upper Tower Creek canyon and above, the snow was deep but consolidated, and it was not difficult to walk on it. Tower Lake, 9500 feet, was solidly frozen, except for small areas near two inlets and the outlet. I used crampons to reach the pass from the lake, but perhaps I could have done it even without them. Note that snow stays permanently on the slope above the lake, and the snow field could get pretty icy in early mornings, even in summer. On the pass, I found fresh tracks of two deer and a bear in the snow. Apparently, they were in search of greener pastures on "the other side". Aren't we all like that? I could see Mary and Tilden Lakes, on the Yosemite side of Tower Pass, and they were also mostly frozen. I continued along the rocky crest, which was mostly snow free, and reached the north ridge of Tower, but got stopped a few hundred feet below the Tower Peak summit by ice and snow in the final northwest chute. It looked too risky for a solo person to attempt. As a consolation prize, I climbed one of two "watchtowers" that guard the northern side of Tower Peak.
| "Watchtower" that I climbed. This is an easy and enjoyable scramble from the main crest (right), with just a dash of class-3 (due to exposure) in the last few steps. The picture was taken in June 2004, from a meadow below Tower Lake. |
This is an extremely beautiful area, which I would highly recommend, and hope to revisit once the snows and high waters are gone. The best thing is that there are no trail quotas or reservations: You simply self-register at the trailhead, and you are all set.
