Lone Pine Peak from Hwy 395 with the Alabama Hills in the foreground. I'm driving to Papoose Flat in the Inyo Mountains. John and Sooz plan to meet me there the next morning so we can hike Squaw Peak together.

Stopped near Big Pine for a short break.

At the junction of Hwy 395 and 168, the big flag isn't up again. Taking the 168 to the Death Valley Road from here.

A view of the Sierra Mountains from the Death Valley Road. The hills in front are cinder cones a lava fields. We'll get a great view of them later.

The sign I was looking for. I'm following a map and directions giving to me by Sooz. It will be about 12 miles on dirt roads to reach Papoose Flat from here

Got into a tight section of road with a lot of trees. At this point I was wondering if I made a wrong turn somewhere???

The Sierra Mountains come into view as I reached the top of a set of tight switchbacks. Just before this spot there was a sign showing that Papoose Flat was in this direction.

My first look into Papoose Flat, I was surprised now great this place looked.

Zoomed in on some of the rock formations. The area is at about 8,400'.

The Sierras in the background made for a great view.

The GPS was telling me that I was almost to the camping spot. That's where John and Sooz will meet me in the morning. Some of the photos came out dark due to the overcast sky, it rained for a couple of hours this night.

At the campsite, cool spot. After arriving, I hiked around the area to check the place out.

A view of the Sierra across the Owens Valley from the campsite. This is one of the two "windows" to the Sierra Mountains from camp. This is looking to the southwest.

View to the east, looks like rain.

One of the many rock formations at Papoose Flat. This place is a rock climber's dream and we didn't see one person the whole time we were in the area. Never knew this place was here before this trip.

Sunset to the west. Just finished eating dinner, after watching a movie I went to sleep.

Woke up the next morning to find that John and Sooz were here. They drove in late last night.

The Sierra to the west, took this while on a potty run from camp.

Squaw Peak comes into view as we near the end of the five mile drive from camp. The roads in this area are the nicest dirt roads I driven on. A little tight in places due to the brush, but so smooth.

The place we will start the hike from. This is going the be a XC route the whole way.

John, Sooz and me, Joe at the starting point of the hike in Squaw Flat. We will be climbing the peak from the west.

The plan is to start on the alluvial fan, then pick one of the ridges to follow to the peak.

We found these fowers growing on the alluvial fan, never seen these before.

Also found these strange looking flowers there.

Sooz is starting the climb up the ridge we picked to follow to the peak. The lower section of this hike had a lot of pinyon pines.

We are heading to the main ridge.

Didn't take long for it to get steep.

Blooming cactus. We saw a few of these on this part of the hike.

Closer look at the flowers.

Still on the steep stuff heading for the main ridge.

Looking across a section of Squaw Flat to the Sierra Mountains to the west.

We got into a little rock climbing on this route.

John checking out the view to the north from the main ridge. White Mountain in the distance.

Zoomed in on White Mountain. Looks like there is still a lot of snow on it.

The circle marks the truck. We still have about 1,000' to climb to reach the peak..

Not sure if these are limber or bristlecone pines at 10,000'. It's really steep here.

The view is getting better as we climb.

As we neared the peak the hiking got a little easier.

John standing on the summit.

Sooz almost there.

Us on the summit of Squaw Peak 10,358'.

A view of Waucoba Mountain at 11,123' to the south. We climbed that one on 5-21-05.

Looking east into Death Valley.

Zoomed in on the Eureka Dunes (the small white area at center). Also the striped Last Chance Mountains.

Zoomed in on Split Mountain to the west.

Looking north up the Owens Valley towards Bishop.

After about half an hour we started back down. I was alredy thinking about food back at camp.

The first of a three shot pano of Squaw Flat. This is the south end.