Dragon Peak

Dragon Peak is a fairly easily accessible peak from the Kearsarge Pass Trailhead in the Eastern Sierras. The route contains a fun exposed ridge with an airy 3rd class summit block finish. Whether you do it in one day or a few, it's definitely a fun time.

With permits purchased and gear thrown into the car, Daniel, George, and I headed off around 3 pm mid September for the Sierras. Our goal, Dragon Peak. Because we would be coming from sea level, we gave  ourselves four days to acclimate and hopefully summit. We ended up using just three.

Our route started at the  Kearsarge Pass Trailhead and headed to the unnamed lakes north of Golden Trout Lake. We aimed to ascend Dragon Peak via it's southern ridge.

Map

Trailhead

Itenerary
Day 1 - Approach
2.25 miles with around 2400 feet of gain.

Day 2 - Summit Bid
2 miles with 1700 feet of gain.

Day 3 - Exit
2.25 miles almost all downhill.


After the long and grueling drive, we finally arrived at Onion Valley around 1:00 am. I was feeling lazy so I threw my sleeping bag out and just bivyed while George and Daniel pitched a tent.

Our late arrival resulted in a late start. After breakfast and parting out our climbing gear, we hit the trail at 9:45 am.

Daniel and George ready to hit the trail

Around a half mile in, we made our first right turn. Follow the sign to Golden Trout Lakes.

The first right turn

The sign, go right.

The beginning of the trail is about as well defined as it will be. The trail starts with an ever so slight grade, but eventually begins to steepen, passing steep talus filled slopes. Continue on the trail through the dense bushes and past the waterfall. Eventually the loose dirt trail begins to ascend, skirting against the south facing talus slopes of Kearsarge Peak.

The trail cuts through the bushes up next to a talus field shielded by the trees on the right

A nice waterfall, the trail ascends to the right but ends up on top of it.

We made slow progress up the slopes. Our packs were not the lightest so we took frequent breaks and just tried to enjoy the scenery.

The Northeast Face of University Peak from a distance

George reaching the top of the waterfall

An amazingly orange tree

We eventually made it to the top of the waterfall. The trail's grade lessened and we continued onward.The farther we went, the less defined the trail became. It was there alright, but occasionally we would lose it and pick it back up.

Us Bay Area boys are not the best at altitude.

After some more slogging the trail turns into a boulder field. We got to enjoy some solid class two scrambling upwards. The occasional cairn sent us in the right direction. The boulder field quickly ended and the trail picked back up and dumped us into a valley. Upon arrival we immediately lost the trail.  At that point it is fairly obvious that we should ascend one of the right slopes to get to the unnamed lakes we would be camping at.

The valley was absolutely beautiful. Full greens, bright yellows and flowing water made it the perfect place to break for lunch. 

Daniel enjoying the meadow.

George making his way across a rock bridge.

After crossing the rock bridge and taking a break for lunch we began to head north east, hugging a dry creek bed. Eventually we spied a couple of cairns which led back to a loosely defined trail. We continued upwards following a combination of the cairns and trail which led us to the first lake. We arrived around 2:00 pm. We set up camp and took it easy for the rest of the day. Our camp ended up at 11,200 feet, definitely a high elevation for us sea level lads. Both Daniel and George were nursing headaches so we all turned in early.

That night turned out the be the longest night I have ever experienced in the backcountry. We hopped in our tents around 6:00 pm because none of us felt too great. The sun had not even set yet. Throughout the night, our tents got slammed by wind. I was kinda afraid my tent's fly would rip right off. All of us barely slept through the night.

We woke up the next day with the wind still howling.  We were feeling surprisingly good, so we decided to skip our scheduled acclimation day and go for the summit. We were on the trail by 9:30 am.

Hitting the trail

We made our way up to the second lake and made our way up the boulder filled gully southeast of Dragon Peak.

Dragon Peak

Planning our approach

Up above the lake

The route description we were following had us aim for the ridge just south of Dragon Peak. From the lakes we could see the steep head wall of the ridge so we aimed for it. The closer we got, the more confused we were as the route description described a gully that should be on our right that terminates in a chimney. It was not until we were at the base of the ridge until we could see the gully. We took a little break and made our way upward.

 

Making progress

This is where the camera went away out of fear of banging it up. Sorry for the lack of photos from here on out. The gully terminated in a "chimney" with a chockstone stuck in it. Some can squeeze through the chimney and up but all three of us could not so we had to do a couple of class three moves to get up the chimney. From there we gained the class three ridge of Mt. Dragon.

We began our way up it but the exposure of the ridge began to make some members of our party nervous. We decided to backtrack and drop off the ridge and break for lunch. After a little discussion we decided to descend, the mountain will always be there and it will be safest to summit when we all are feeling comfortable on the terrain. We slowly retraced our steps back to camp. While we did not summit, many of us beat our previous highest elevation. That's a win in my book!

Belaying Daniel down off the 3rd class ridge

All of us hung out for the rest of the day, ate dinner and turned in. Thankfully the wind was much calmer that evening.

The next day we hiked out and were at our cars by noon. Because we summited a day early, we now had an extra day to do whatever! We decided to head to Mammoth Lakes and get some more climbing in.

We ended up climbing around TJ Lake. It was quite an exciting time. Daniel got to top rope some cool climbs and got another outdoor sport climb under his belt. George cruised some 5.8 cracks and got another trad redpoint under his belt. I was able to lead a sport route as well as onsight two 5.8 trad routes. I also got to hang off of a static rope and take some photos as the two others climbed. Here are a few shots.

Daniel top roping a 5.8 crack

George pushing through a tricky sequence on lead

Me leading up a 5.8 crack

Sorry for the lack of quality photos on this one. After getting home, I realized a majority of them were taken slightly angled.

I'll bring my A game next time. Happy climbing!!!