Mt. Morgan South (ish) - Sept. 21-22, 2024
I set out to photograph sunrise from the summit of Mt. Morgan South on a chilly summer morning – the last Saturday of summer, in fact. It had snowed on two separate occasions the week before and, unbeknownst to me, the upper reaches of the mountain held 4+ feet of unconsolidated snow. The conditions slowed me down immensely and I made it 150 ft below the summit just as the sun painted the surrounding peaks orange.
The day started off at the Rock Creek Lake trailhead under clear skies. The vast majority of hikers start from the more popular Mosquito Flat trailhead further down the road while the quieter Rock Creek Lake guards the trails to Tamarack Lakes and Mt. Morgan. It took me about two hours to reach Francis Lake and I saw no one else on the way. What had made me a bit nervous was the intermittent snow cover up to Francis Lake – not enough to obscure the trail but enough to give me some pause considering this was still at lower elevations.
Camping along the ridge to Mount Morgan South.
I chatted with a woman from Pismo Beach and her dog who showed up at Francis Lake shortly after me and then went on my way. The initial ascent from the lake up to the ridgeline is on sand and scree and fairly straightforward. I made it to 12,500 ft easily (despite the heinous five-liter water carry from Francis Lake) and decided to set up camp along the ridge. This is where the snow cover increased significantly and at least 2-3 ft of snow covered the talus slope beyond where I was camped.
I knew it would be cold so I brought my sleeping bag liner, an extra mid layer, two layers of warm socks, and some extra fuel for boiling hot water at night. It wasn’t cold enough to warrant a winter tent in my opinion and I ended up being plenty warm with the aforementioned setup. I set an alarm for 5 AM which would give me almost two hours to ascend the final 1000 ft to the summit. I knew that in dry conditions I could summit from camp in about an hour, but I wasn’t sure what conditions would be like higher up and how slow I would have to move in response.
The first 300 ft of gain from camp were fine. The snow was now firm but I would only punch through a couple of inches with each step. It wasn’t too difficult to simply rock hop and avoid most of the snow. At around the 12,800 ft mark however, the slope steepened and the snow got deeper. Rock hopping became a tedious affair and by the time the terrain flattened out a bit at 13,000 ft, I had been hiking for over almost an hour already. After doing some quick math, I realized I could probably make the summit if I moved just a little more quickly, but conditions were rapidly deteriorating. Snowshoes would have legitimately been helpful here as the upper reaches of the mountain had 5+ ft of unconsolidated snow and the talus was nearly completely covered. Waist-deep post-holing became a concern and I got a few scrapes from hitting the talus hiding under the snow.
Due to how slow I was moving at this point, I knew I wouldn’t make it to the true summit for sunrise. However, I did make it to the 13,600 ft mark as the peaks were bathed in orange light and I got fantastic views of the Sierra crest from my vantage point. I set up my tripod and got to snapping some photos and soaking in the views. Temperatures were slightly below freezing but once the sun hit the slopes of the mountain everything became much more bearable. I decided not to bother hiking the final 150 ft to the summit – it’s something I would rather see in sunrise lighting under better conditions next summer.
View from 13,600 ft on Mount Morgan South at sunrise.
After about 15 minutes, I headed back down to camp. The rock hopping I did on the way up was way too tedious do do on the descent, especially given the downsloping nature of the talus and the fact that much of it was still icy. Post-holing down the upper reaches of the mountain ended up being significantly faster and I made it back to camp in about an hour. Napped for an hour and ate breakfast before leisurely hiking back to the trailhead.
If you’re looking for an easy peak (in summer conditions), this is the one. Great views, essentially a walk-up, and easy access from the east side trailheads.
—Justin
