Peak 12,640', Mt. Gilbert, Mt. Johnson

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David, Brandon, Nolan and I planned to spend the weekend backpacking/camping at Treasure Lakes out of South Lake. David and Brandon brought their fishing stuff, and Nolan and I planned to do some peakbagging. Friday morning we picked up permits in Lone Pine then drove up to South Lake. We weren't on the trail until almost 11, but we only had about 4.5 miles to hike to get to our planned camp at Upper Treasure Lakes. 

Between Lower Treasure Lakes and Upper Treasure Lakes

We took our time and made it to the Treasure Lakes trail junction (1 mile) after 30 minutes, the lower lakes after an hour and a half, and the upper lakes after 3 hours. There were lots of fisherman and dayhikers at the lower lakes but absolutely no one at the upper ones. There were no fish in the upper lakes, but we camped there anyway because no one really wanted to walk back downhill to the lower lakes. 

North Ridge of "Trapezoid Peak"

With some daylight still to spare and the weather looking like it would hold out (there was a 30% chance of t-storms in the forecast), I decided to scramble up a nearby ridgeline that started near our camp and ended at an interesting-looking summit. I would later find out that it was a false summit of the unofficially-named "Trapezoid Peak". I started up the ridgeline around 3 p.m. moving fast over easy terrain. After about 1,000' of uphill, thingsturned more challenging and I had to stop a couple of times to look for a feasible way forward. I made a couple of exposed moves to get past a knife edge ridge section then traversed into a bowl on my right. From there it was an easy sramble to the "summit". At the false summit I found a cairn and a nice view of the real summit of "Trapezoid Peak". I also had a unique view of Cloudripper, Agassiz, and Goode and a good view of the planned route to Gilbert/Johnson for the next day. I thought about continuing along the ridgeline but decided against it. In retrospect, I wish I would have gone. There was plenty of time, as it was only 4 p.m. I was a bit anxious about the downclimb along the knife edge section I had come up (Secor rates it at class 4). 

Cloudripper, Agassiz, Goode (left to right)

I made it back to camp in about an hour. We made dinner and figured out plans for the next day. David and Brandon would move camp to Lower Treasure Lakes and fish while Nolan and I headed in the opposite direction toward Treasure Col. We hoped to bag Mts. Gilbert and Johnson, and Peak 12,640'+ in the process. Hitting the unnamed peak en route to Gilbert would save us having to ascend Treasure Col which is reportedly loose and dangerous in the summer. 

Treasure Col and Mt. Johnson from the slopes below Peak 12,640'

Nolan and I left camp around 7:30 heading cross country up a talus-filled gully toward Treasure Col. The use trail we had followed up Lower Treasure Lakes pretty much ended at our camp. We passed a small lake and eventually found a decent spot just past that to leave the gully and head up the class 2 south slope of Peak 12,640'. We aimed to climb over the top of the unnamed peak and into the bowl between Gilbert and Johnson on the opposite side of Treasure Col. We summitted Peak 12,640' at 9:15. 

No routefinding issues to get to Gilbert from the unnamed peak. It was a straightforward class 1/2 slog. I made it to the summit around 10:00 and enjoyed great views of the black divide to the west. For how close it is to a trailhead, Gilbert apparently doesn't see too many ascents. The register dated back to 1972. Nolan got to the top about 30 minutes later, and we scoped out the route down to Treasure Col and up the north ridge of Johnson. It looked pretty straightforward.   

Black Giant and Charybdis from Mt. Gilbert

The Black Divide from Mt. Gilbert

South Lake and the Lower Treasure Lakes from Mt. Gilbert

Route from Gilbert to Treasure Col and up the North Ridge of Johnson

Nolan wasn't feeling up for doing Johnson, so he headed back to camp the way we came over Peak 12,640' (actually he bypassed the true summit on the way back by crossing the ridgeline through the obvious notch that Secor talks about). So I continued on solo. I picked my way along the ridgeline near Treasure Col eventually finding that the col itself is located where the flat part of the ridge meets Johnson's north ridge. Someone had left their crampons there. I took a peek down Treasure Col, and it didn't look all that dangerous. 

Upper part of the ridgeline

The class 3 scramble up the ridgeline was enjoyable as reported online. All of the rock was solid, and the routefinding was easy. I made it to a small plateau and got my first view of the upper part of the ridgeline. At that point I dropped off the left side of the ridge to bypass a peaklet. Once I got back on the ridgeline things got a bit more exposed but the ascent angle was not as steep as the lower part of the ridge. I followed the ridge to a point just below the summit then circled around counter-clockwise until I found an easy way up. 

Black Divide and the JMT

Descent route off the southeast face

The views weren't all that different than those from Gilbert except that I couldn't see past Gilbert to the north. I wished I could drop off the back side of Johnson down to the JMT instead of hiking back toward civilization. I was depressed to find that I had cell service at the summit; nonetheless, I took a few minutes to return a couple of text messages :-(. In my defense, the texts were helping to plan a climbing trip for the following weekend(s). After about 30 minutes I began my descent down the class 2/3 southeast slope. I wasn't really sure what I'd find on the slope but it turned out to be an easy descent route. I wouldn't recommended it for going up though. I made it back to our camp at 1:15, about an hour from the summit. Nolan and I took our time packing up camp and moving it down to the lower lakes. 

The day's route: Peak 12,640', Gilbert, Johnson

We 4 camped together again then hiked out the next morning. Lower Treasure Lakes is less than 3 miles from the trailhead so the walk out was quick. I think it's the closest I've ever camped to a trailhead on a backpacking trip.