Our meeting place in Big Pine. There should be a giant US flag here. We met here Saturday morning at the junction of Hwy 395 and 168 for the drive to the east side of Waucoba Mountain just off the Waucoba Saline Road.

A view of the Sierra to the west from the meeting place, the snow is melting fast.

First view of the snow covered Waucoba Mountain from the Waucoba Saline Road.

It was still really green along the Waucoba Saline Road.

We drove into a pinyon forest as we neared Waucoba Mt. Soon we will come upon the short rough road that will take us a little closer to the base of the mountain.

Joe (me), John, Sooz, Scot, Susan and Ken at the start of the hike. We drove up this road untill we found some good campsites next to it. We'll hike the rest of the way to the base of the mountain.

It was about a three quarter mile hike on the road till we reached the slope of the mountain.

The slope is just starting here. My GPS showed the distance to the peak as 1.4 miles. It was almost a 4,000' gain to peak. Subtracting the road from the hike, it was a 3,500' gain in 1.4 miles. This was a steep hike.

Squaw Peak at 10,358' to the north.

The slope is starting to get steeper.

Looking back on the pinyon forest as we gain some altitude.

Found some trail ducks along the way, but mostly we were on our own finding a route to the peak.

There were a lot of trees on the lower part of the mountain.

Susan, Scot and Ken.

The route we took was just going straight up the northeast side of the mountain.

Ken with Kelly the dog.

Shasta the dog.

Snow capped White Mountain to the north.

Scot, Ken and Shasta. We took a break here at about the half way point.

Susan and Sooz on the rocks above. We been coming across patches of snow to this point. They were small enough to just go around them.

A view to the southeast from our break spot.

John and Sooz. This is on the mid section of the hike which was the steepest part.

A view to the southeast while I'm catching my breath.

Sooz still on the steep part.

At about the 10,000' level we came upon large areas of soft deep snow.

John and Scot ahead. There were no other people tracks on the whole hike. The register on the summit showed the last group to climb this peak was in October, about 7 months before.

With about 500' of altitude to go, the slope flattened out and cleared of snow. Felt good to be on soild ground again.

The last 300' of altitude was on snow.

Susan on her way to the summit.

Sooz and Scot

John's tracks leading to the summit, almost there.

On the last 100 yards to the top.

Ken and Susan on the summit.

Group shot on the summit of Waucoba Mountain. At 11,123' it's the higtest peak in the Inyo Mountains.

Looking to the southeast into the Saline Valley from the peak.

The Sierras in back with the Inyos in front of them.

Another section of the Sierras to the west.

White Mountain to the north.

Zoomed in on White Mountain.

Starting the hike back down.

The start of the steep stuff.

Back in the deep snow, it was easier going down.

Sooz and Susan making their way down the steepest section.

The guys checking out the view, still have about 2,500' to go to get down.

On the road that will lead us back to camp.

Hanging out around the campfire.

Next morning, this lizard was running around in the ashes from last night's fire.

Part of area we camped at.