Back when I was in my early thirties a good friend of mine named Hal (not his real name) was my comrade in many outdoor adventures. Trips to the Eastern Sierra did not involve fishing as our primary task as I was involved with sport climbing. I was an adrenaline junkie and we often found ourselves in remote places like the
Owens River Gorge just hiking around looking for good climbing areas even though Hal didn’t climb. Many of these trips we had found new fishing areas to explore and when the opportunity to go into the Pine Valley region of the Sierra was presented to me, I jumped at the chance to go.
The circumstances of this trip were a little on the unusual side in which my services as a photographer were to be required. The trip was on a long July 4th weekend and the destination was to be Honeymoon Lake above Upper Pine Lake into the back country. I have never explored this region of the Sierra so my interests were peaked and I said yes to the invite. My friend Hal had previously worked as an engineer for Boeing Aircraft and our invitation to come along on this trip was offered to us by an old colleague of his that wanted a unique place to propose marriage to a gal he was quite fond of, now living in the Chicago area. He offered her a wonderful weekend hiking in the mountains in California’s Eastern Sierra all expenses paid and she accepted his offer.
The plan was that our group would hire a packing station in Pine Valley to haul our camping gear up to the Lower Pine Lake camping area and we would hike the trail up to the lake with daypacks. I liked the idea of not carrying heavy packs and it offered me a chance to photograph some of the back country using a lot more of my photographic equipment that I normally could not bring on a trip like this. There was a catch. I was required to photograph Brad (the intended groom) proposing on one knee to his (hopefully) intended bride. Both dressed completely for the occasion. Her, in a beautiful dress gown and Brad in a black suit at the top of Honeymoon Lake Falls (11,500 feet). The agreement was that we could not say a word to her on the trip before the intended moment of proposal was to have taken place. In order to facilitate a place for changing out of their hiking attire, we packed a popup tent and their clothes for the occasion. We tried to keep the whole trip as much a surprise to the bride (to be) as possible.
We all met at the Pine Valley Packing station deep up in the canyon at the trailhead to the Upper/Lower Pine Lakes on Friday morning. The packers carefully loaded our camping gear on pack mules and started up the trail with us following in the distance. After a short time hiking the trail, we slowly approached the many switchbacks that seemingly looked to be cut out of the cliffside. The path was rubble and it was tough going due to the uncertainty of the loose rocks under our feet. At times I would slip on the rubble thinking this trip was not such a great destination after all but continued hiking along. Across the valley we could see a tungsten mine operation as large trucks moved material down the dirt road sending up clouds of dust into the air. We gained elevation quickly and it was quite a chore to continue hiking on the path of rubble. My ankles were really getting sore and stops to rest getting more frequent as we progressed upward to our destination.
After hours of hiking we reached our base camp and Hal and myself were the last to arrive. We set up our tent and a small fire was already going as smoke filled the immediate area around camp. At first, I thought this was rather unusual to have a fire going in the afternoon but found that the smoke was to keep the hordes of mosquitos at bay. Hal opted to relax inside the tent while the rest of us sat on logs surrounding the smoldering campfire constantly waving off mosquitos. A few minutes later, Hal unzipped the tent flap and quickly exited the tent. He lunged for the nearest bush and threw up. He had succumbed to getting altitude sickness and was feeling quite ill. After his upheaval the effects of altitude sickness lessened and he was able to join the rest of the group swatting skeeters around the campfire. The area we were camping at was a stone’s throw from Pine Creek and a marshy area. It was no wonder there were record amounts of mosquitos everywhere. The intended couple was much better prepared for our skeeter friends as both had mosquito netting over their hats and faces. I thought that I had come prepared for our unwanted guests and brought a large plastic bottle of REI DEET anti bug repellant along. Out came the DEET and I applied it liberally to my face, neck, arms and hands. Hal did the same but it had little effect on keeping those pesky skeeters at bay. A little while later I went into the tent for a reprieve but the damn mosquitos managed to find a way into our tent. As I laid on top of my sleeping bag the sound of a dive bombing skeeters would ring around me causing me to have constant arm waving motion even while trying to rest. It was very apparent at this time, that this weekend was going to be unpleasant in the backcountry. I could now envision in my head the television show where a herd of cattle jumped off cliffs to their deaths in Africa, swarmed by mosquitos. Seriously, the thought had crossed my mind. As evening approached, we stayed inside our tent swatting at the remaining mosquitos and huddling inside our sleeping bags. Morning had risen and we exited our sanctuary, made some breakfast and prepared ourselves for the day’s events at Honeymoon Lake. I packed my photography gear, beverages and snacks while Hal and friends packed the other gear needed in secrecy. Our group hiked the trail past Upper Pine Lake and then after a short rest continued onward and upward to our intended destination. We arrived at Honeymoon Lake and I could see why it was so named. It was a beautiful small lake fed by a scenic waterfall. The plan was to set up the popup tent adjacent to the top of the falls, then Brad would change into his suit. By this time, his intended bride had figured out the whole setup. Brad asked her to change into the gown inside the tent and when she came out Brad was on one knee, held her hand and proposed marriage. Doing what I was brought there to do, I photographed the blissed event from the base of the falls.
I have to say it was pretty cool being a part of this couple’s joyous moment. I had taken many shots of them in this very beautiful place. As we all congratulated the couple and ourselves for pulling this off, in a place well off the grid it was time to head back to camp. I took a lot of photos along our hike there and back. I even got a chance to use my new medium format camera as well so I was a happy camper till we got back to camp. Arriving at camp, we were greeted by hordes of blood sucking mosquitos and at that moment I had made a huge decision. The party was over and I was heading down the mountain. There was ample time left in the day for me to make it back to the packing station. My excuse to all present, was that I had it with the mosquitos and I was going into town to get the film developed. Hal looked at me with total disbelief, “Well, I can’t let you hike down alone. What if something happened to you?” He said. And with that, he and I packed up our daypacks and made arrangements with our camping partners to have the packing station return our gear when they had returned the following evening.
We hiked with purpose to get out of the area ruled by hungry, bloodthirsty, unrelenting, annoying, mosquitos and………. I was out of DEET. We arrived at our vehicle, unpacked our gear and headed into the town of Bishop several miles south down along the Highway 395. When we arrived in town it was nightfall and Hal pulled into the Denny’s restaurant. We went inside and ate a great meal and laughed over getting driven off the mountain by mosquitos. We were alive and still scratching those bites all over us and unlike the cattle in Africa, had not succumbed to jumping off a cliff. After our meal, we pulled into the Mountainview Motel, got a room, showered and headed over to Rusty’s Saloon for a couple of liquid refreshments. When morning came we headed back to Denny’s for some breakfast. We decided to do what Hal and I liked to do best up in the Sierra and went 4 x 4 driving in the great unknown. As evening was rolling in, we drove back to the Pine Valley Packing Station to greet our fellow campers at the trailhead. After some pleasantries we got our gear and headed back to Southern Calif. The photos came out pretty good too and looking back, it may not have been as bad a trip as I thought it would end up. Mosquitos may have won the day but common sense to leave, won the war.
