Hungry Packer Lake - Sept. 2-3, 2023

This summer was one of the rainiest in the Sierra in recent memory. I had tons of weekend hikes that ended up with me holed up in my tent for most of the trip and even a drive over Sonora Pass with heavy hail, lightning, and rockslides. Multiple people would console me that this is just not normal out here and I’m not entirely sure I believe them yet. On this fated Labor Day Weekend, I spent a very soggy weekend at Hungry Packer Lake in the Lake Sabrina area.

Rain, clouds, and a light dusting of snow. 

I woke up to temperatures in the 30s at Mammoth Lakes. The Sabrina Lake trailhead was also chilly and overcast with a light drizzle falling. As I ascended to Blue Lake, the rain got hard enough for me to don my rain jacket. I figured even if I was a little uncomfortable, I had the ability to keep myself and my gear dry and figured I could just suck it up and hunker down once I got to camp. At Blue Lake, the winds were so intense that there were whitecaps forming on the water. Not a great sign. The views were spectacular but I pressed to keep warm.

Past Blue Lake, the terrain became more forested once again and I was granted some respite from the wind at least. The creek crossing after Dingleberry Lake was running very high and I had to get my feet wet (accidentally took the stock crossing but the foot crossing was also running high). A couple of smaller creeks were also high enough to warrant some caution.

Hungry Packer Lake at sunset.

Once I was finally at Hungry Packer Lake, I set up my tent immediately and cooked a late lunch. I was hopeful that the clouds might begin to part but it rained on and off for most of the afternoon and evening. A nice light show was granted to me at sunset at least. My permit was for two nights in the area to take advantage of the holiday weekend, but I decided that night I’d just hike out in the morning since I wasn’t feeling it and was unsure of what else to do with the extra day (side note: turns out there’s a lot to do in this area which I learned on my return trip in 2024).

Sunrise light doesn’t really hit Picture Peak, at least not this late in the season, so I didn’t end up with any interesting photos in that regard. I did recently get an ND10 filter and took some photos of the creek coming down from Hungry Packer Lake which ended up being pretty nice. As a consolation, the clouds had mostly dissipated by the early morning and I was able to get nice views of all the lakes and peaks that had been obscured the day before.

Somewhere below the outlet of Hungry Packer Lake.

Trail view from near Blue Lake.

I’ve been focusing on photography a lot more this year so it’s easy to feel disappointed when lighting and weather conditions don’t pan out the way you expect. However, it’s also been helpful for me to view each hike as a scouting trip. Just getting to be out in the mountains and getting some exercise in is enough for me. I also will gladly repeat a trip a second time for better shooting conditions and the knowledge of where the best campsites and photo spots are is a benefit of that first trip.

—Justin