Duck Pass
| The trail headed up the ridge on the west side of Barney. We still wondered where the switchbacks were. Then, where the ridge joined the bowl at the back of Barney, there were three switchbacks. Ah ha! This must be them, we said. Up the switchbacks and along the bottom of the rock wall, we could see the "humps" that we thought the trail should go over. But as we walked along, we saw some people coming down the trail ahead and it turned out that the trail went around the face of the second hump instead of over the top of it. There should be some good views from there. And look! Here are a few more switchbacks.
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| Up the switchbacks. Over the first hump -- a few more switchbacks hidden in there. Out onto the face of the second hump, and the trail went right over the top of a rock outcropping that we'd seen that had a streak of ice down it. We stood at the top of a crack looking right down the stripe of ice. And the view was terrific. The north end of Barney, where we'd sat to have lunch, was now in shadow as the sun went down behind the ridge. But the south lobe of the lake was still in the sun and the color of the lake was beautiful, ranging from deep green to light green to aquamarine.
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| By now we were starting to get tired. We had already hiked further than we do most days. And we were up there -- Barney Lake is at 10, 200 feet, and we were another 300 feet above that. The air was starting to get thin. Around the face of the hump and what do you know -- more switchbacks. On a lot of our hikes I count switchbacks, but was too busy now admiring the scenery and gasping for breath to do it.
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| OK. It's just around this next corner -- I can see the top of the ridge right up there. Walk a few hundred feet. Stop to catch our breath. Really -- it's just right up there. A few more switchbacks. Stop for breath. When is the last time we were this high? For me it was just after last Christmas when we took my cousin Logynn on a scenic ride up the gondola at Mammoth. We wandered on and off the trail, stopping every few minutes to catch our breath and let our hearts slow down.
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| And then -- we were there. Duck Pass. Downhill on both sides. Elevation 10,790 feet. We made it!
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| As you go through the pass, the first thing you see is Pika Lake, which is just above Duck Lake. It is named for the pikas that live all around, little rodents that look like a guinea pig. They gather grass all summer and store it in their burrows to dry, and live on the dry grass all winter. We had seen several as we hiked up from Barney.
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