Benson Lake Loop, Hoover Wilderness, California

I joined my backpacking bud Mark Lowry, and his wife Marilyn, and my friend Nam from New Oreans, for a 9 day backpack in the Sierra Nevada. The Lowrys go on a 9 day backpack in the Sierra each yeara, and I hoped that with Mark being my age I might be able to keep up with somebody. We started at Twin Lakes outside of Bridgeport (40 miles from Carson City NV) and headed toward Peeler Lake for our first night. It was 2500’ of elevation gain, about 7.7 miles, and the lake was at 10,600’ elevation. One the way we passed Barney Lake, at about 3.9 miles, shown below after the map.

We got to Peeler Lake late, and it was nice to get the pack off and relax in my camp chair as I cooked some dinner. We had smoke in the air this evening, and on most of the other days.

The next day took us to the base of Seavey pass, a distance of about 7.3 miles, and mostly downhill. We had a nice swimming hole there, and Nam saw some fish he intended to catch later. It was a good campsite, off the trail and across the stream from the trail.

Day 3 took us to Benson Lake, about 4 miles distance. We went over a pass, Seavey Pass, which wouldn’t have been much except for the elevation, and still heavy packs. Benson Lake was surprising, one of the few alpine lakes that I have ever seen with a big Sandy beach.

Day 4 took us to Smedburg Lake, a distance of about 4.5 miles. It was a very pretty lake and had the granite that the Sierra is famous for. We had been on the Pacific Crest Trail since day 3, below Seavey Pass. The two pictures below are of Mark and Marilyn Lowry, and then one of our 1969 college cross country team, then a picture of Nam.

The picture below is our 1969 cross country team, Mark Lowry on the left, me on the far right. We had our team supplied Adidas Italia shoes, which is why I went out for the team.

At Smedburg Lake we decided to head back the way we had come, because I was struggling with the elevation. About then I also started getting blisters under my callouses on my heels, so I didn’t disagree with the decision to head back. Nam and I headed back to Benson Lake, and met Mark and Marilyn at the camp below Seavey Pass, then back to Peeler and out the next day. So it became an eight day trip. It was great fun to see Mark again after not seeing him since we ran on the cross country team in 1969. It took me two weeks for my feet to heal, but it was worth it.