#I’ve been bringing my jetboil to work so I can have hot soup and it has been so nice

[sexyorc]

hot miso soup for lunch on a rainy ass day outside, yummmm

[beyondlimitsonfoot]

*Originally hiked: August 10, 2019

McGee Creek Canyon is one of those hikes that I’ve been waiting to do, since last year I had to cancel it due to other plans getting in the way.  The original overnight permits I got were for Sawmill Pass, which would be a 6,000+ feet elevation gain to the pass.  Either way, for some reason I kept checking  Recreation.gov to see if other permits were available for the weekend.  On the Thursday before, we decided to cancel our permits for Sawmill and head to McGee Creek area.

If you read my last blog for Ruby Lake via Mosquito Flats Hike, we had some trouble with elevation and being out of shape.  The last few weeks I did exactly what I said I would need to do to feel better in the mountains!  We killed it and I can’t wait to get even in better and better shape for more of these kinds of trips.  I fell in love with hiking again and can’t wait for the next trip.  Motto: do it for the mountains!  Hence, go work out and get your body ready for what you want to do!

Want to read more about the hike?  Check out some of the details below and if you want to skip ahead to more pictures and our adventure, it’s at the end.  Save the best for last.

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What’s in this Guide?

I have put together a lot of information on this hike, so if you want to skip ahead here are some of the sections I will be covering. Enjoy the adventure!

Backpacking McGee Creek Trailhead to Big McGee Lake Stats – Mileage, elevation gain, map of hike, weather.

How Do I Get Permits for This Hike? – just a quick write up of how to obtain overnight permits for McGee Creek hike.

Directions to the McGee Creek Trailhead – in case you don’t want to look it up on google.

About McGee Creek Area – I put together some interesting stuff for you to read about the pack station and the area.

Geer Recommendations –  Some items I’d like to shout out because of heavy use on this trip.

My Blabbering – Best part with photos and me writing aimlessly.

Backpacking McGee Creek Trailhead to Big McGee Lake Stats

Mileage Elevation Gain Location Type Difficulty 15.44 2950 feet John Muir Wilderness Out-and-back Moderate

map of hike

Want maps like the one above, get the Garmin Fenix 5X Plus Watch for your next adventures. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "beyondlimit03-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_design = "enhanced_links"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B07FP1QJJ5"; amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "96ad624cfa2f3fa32cdc362f1545973e";

weather

The McGee Creek Trailhead sits at 8,131feet.  The forecast below is for much higher, so expect much warmer weather as it’s 3,000 feet elevation gain to the pass.

McGee Pass: 11,900 feet

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How Do I Get Permits for this Hike?

There’s a couple of ways to obtain permits for the hike. One way is to go onto recreation.gov up to 6 months in advance and reserve permits for McGee Pass. Day use does not require a permit.  The other way is to go to a permit office and pick up an overnight permit. The locations of permit offices for the Eastern Sierras are: Permit Issuing Stations. *Note: for this entry the closest permit station is White Mountain Ranger Station.

Go to RECREATION.gov

Click on Inyo National Forest – Wilderness Permits after searching for it

Click on Explore available permits

Under Detailed Availability, click No unless you are a commercial guided trip.

Pick the date you would like to go and the group size.

Under Filters in the Search you can enter the Trail which is McGee Pass and click Show Results.

Scroll down to McGee Pass under the Sites and see if the date is available.

If it is click on the entry date of choice and click Book Now.

Follow the rest of the steps to book the overnight trip.

If you have any questions on this process, please go ahead and contact me.

Directions to Get to McGee Creek Trailhead

The closest permit pick up station is White Mountain Ranger Station Visitor Center, but we ended up picking it up at the Eastern Sierra Agency Center.

About McGee Creek Area

The McGee Creek area is very close to Mammoth Lakes, CA a popular ski area in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  If you wish to visit the area, I definitely recommend jumping in and checking out Mammoth Lakes.

McGee Pass Trail

McGee Pass Trail – I must say that the wildflowers weren’t in full bloom when we were there, but I bet earlier this spring it was!  There were still many left in the canyon and I’m thinking of making it out during wildflower season.  There are a few water crossings, one especially high this year to where the water was up to our knees.

McGee Creek Pack Station

The McGee Creek Pack Station is located very close to the trailhead; it gives you another option to possibly pack in or go for a horseback ride.  See more of what McGee Creek Pack Station has to offer on their homepage:  https://www.mcgeecreekpackstation.com/pack-trip-vacations

Camping

If you arrive the night before, a good place to camp is McGee Creek Campground.  July and August the campground has it’s busiest season, so don’t count on finding a spot mid Summer.  We ended up not finding a spot and sleeping near the trailhead.  Closest towns are Crowley Lake and Bishop that have campsites and places to stay.

Gear Recommendations

I have a longer list of items that I pack on my trips including some of my Backpacking Gear Ideas.  Check those out if you have a moment. The list under here were items I was especially happy I took with me.

Water Shoes – Crocs or you can get something similar like the KEEN Women’s Newport Sandal

Tent – Big Agnes Copper Spur UL Backpacking Tent – we have the 3 person and for this trip the 3 of us slept in the same tent.

Stove – Jetboil Zip Cooking System – I have owned mine for over 6 years and wouldn’t get any other stove.

Towel – Sea to Summit Drylite Towel – This is a towel similar to the one I have owned for over 10 years.  I definitely recommend adding this to the packing list especially in the summers when dipping in alpine lakes is a thing.

Mosquito Repellent – Ben’s 100% DEET Mosquito Repellent – much needed still in August.

Hat – Taking it Easy Retro Trucker Cap – Everyone always should bring a hat, this one is special to me because my sister and I designed it and if anything take a look at help us out by buying one and sharing it around.

Water Filter – LifeStraw Gravity Filter – don’t go without this.

Sleeping Pad – VENTURE4th Ultralight Sleeping Pad + Thermarest Zlite Pad – the perfect combination I tell you.  I’ve also written a review on the VENTURE4th Sleeping Pad if you want to check it out.

Spice Holder – GSI Outdoors Spice Missile

Soup – NongShim Shin Black Noodle Soup – once again makes the list, seriously good stuff especially if it’s cold and windy outside

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Blabbering-

I put together a video that is premiering today at 5:00PM PST on YouTube.  Please go check it out if you have some time: https://youtu.be/CiHghSOhjHM

Instead of driving up the morning of the hike, we decided to still head out around 5:00pm.  Surprisingly traffic wasn’t as bad as we thought it was gong to be.  We picked up our permits at the Eastern Sierra Interagency Visitor Center in Lone Pine, this or the White Mountain Ranger Station in Bishop is also a good option to pick up your permit.

We reached the trailhead around 10:00pm and went straight to sleep after putting all our food in the bear boxes.  The trailhead also has two vault toilets available and a good sized parking lot.  The next morning we woke at 6:30am made some coffee in the back of our Subaru.  Before we came out I boiled some eggs that we could have for breakfast and the day after too.  After eating and coffee, we packed up and headed on the trail around 8:15am.

getting started

The beginning of the trail is nice a gradual, a perfect warm up for a long hike.  The sun didn’t peer out behind the mountain yet, which was extremely nice as we climbed into the backcountry.  I was thinking it was smart for us to get a head start early, because I’m sure this canyon gets very hot during the day.  With the wind against us, once we were sweating a little it was a bit chilly.  After about 2 miles we finally got into the trees, which the sun wasn’t on us just yet but it was getting there.  We took a quick break and snacked and continued on.

I was thinking around this time that we hadn’t seen a soul, just one day hiker who started before us and was on his way out.  The reason I was thinking about this was that there were over a dozen cars parked in the hikers lot.  The spot that we picked to snack was just below Horsetail Falls which we had a great view of it from almost as soon as a mile in from the trailhead.

water crossings

The next couple of miles there were some water crossings, one especially at about 3 miles in where we changed into our Crocs to cross McGee Creek (more like a river).  After this water crossing the scale of up in compared to mileage went up drastically.  I did enjoy the fact that after a big hill there was a flat portion of the trail almost the entire way to the lake.  There was a hill right after this major crossing that leveled out with an amazing view over the creek below.  The creek flows in this valley in a few different spots and the water was extremely turquoise.  We spotted an old beaver damn as well down there, which I don’t ever recall actually seeing one in person.

About 4 miles in there is another crossing where you end up back on the other side of the creek.  I remember getting to the crossing and thinking “Oh my, we might be swimming across”.  But literally just around the bend and behind a bush there were two logs that would take you easily across.

much more hills and meadows

I honestly didn’t know exactly how far Big McGee Lake was because there aren’t that many write ups about it, but some sites said 6 miles, some said 8 miles.  I kept looking at my Garmin Fenix 5X Plus Watch to see if even the first lake was on my map screen.  If I remember correctly about 4.5 miles in there is a turn off to head to Steelhead Lake.  Just before this we stopped at a perfect bench (fallen tree) to eat our To Go Wraps for strength to finish of the hike to Big McGee.  After the turnoff for Steelhead there was a nice flat stretch.  After another lovely uphill we hit the first lake (pond) near the trail, this is a great spot to eat lunch if you are on a day hike.  This is where I finally saw a few day hikers taking a rest with a nice view of the lake.

The last 3 miles were gorgeous, we kept being spoiled with more and more views and the meadows we got to go through were spectacular.  We got to the lake around 1:30pm and made some soup (NongShim Shin Black Noodle Soup, Spicy) because it was windy and cold.

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setting up camp and fishing

Just after we set up camp we set out to fish for a few hours.  I MUST say that we had literally best campsite ever.  Our Big Agnes Copper Spur Tent fit just perfect in a spot that showed to have a bit of use.  We even had a kitchen area with a perfect table and view of the lake.  While fishing one by one we jumped in as the clouds and wind allowed us and between the 3 of us we caught 8 fish total just with lures.  Unfortunately I lost two lures that I just bought because I wasn’t paying attention and let them drop into the rocks.

Just passed 7:00pm it was getting quite cold so we decided to hit the tent and all 3 of us were fast asleep.

quick coffee and packing up

Since we fell asleep so early, we woke up at 5:30am on our own and fell back asleep till about 7:00am.  There’s a reason I come up to the mountains and it’s to get my good sleep apparently.  I don’t remember sleeping over 10 hours in a long time.  While drinking our coffee we packed up and headed out on the trail by about 9:30am.  It was shorts weather, much better than the day before.  It took us just under 3 hours to get back to the car and in turn perfect timing to hit lunch at the Burger Barn in Bishop just 20 minutes into our drive.

Hope you guys enjoyed the write up. If you have any questions about this hike or the area, please contact me.

Happy Adventures,

Annette, Adventurer – Beyond Limits on Foot

Related Links

Here are some other great links to check out on the hike to read further:

Mid Sierra Musings:  Overnight Hike To Big McGee Lake Overnight Hike To Big McGee Lake

Hiking & Walking:  McGee Creek to Steelhead and Big McGee Lakes

YouTube Channel

Beyond Limits on Foot YouTube Channel.

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Big McGee Lake via McGee Creek Trail: John Muir Wilderness - Big McGee Lake, a gem hidden farther than some would want to venture. Hike through meadows, views that vary and take a dip when you get there. *Originally hiked: August 10, 2019 McGee Creek Canyon is one of those hikes that I've been waiting to do, since last year I had to cancel it due to other plans getting in the way. 

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A winter adventure up to Brewster Hut in the snow

Ohh winter. How conflicted I feel about you.

One the one hand, a little part of my soul lights up when I think of cozy fires and hot cocoa and bundling up. The other part of me, of course, enters a mild state of depression that slowly increases every day after summer solstice.

Where did the sun go? Why am I always freezing? What happened to all the summer energy and motivation I had? This happens to me every year.

Each April I make a goals list for winter in New Zealand. I tell myself this is the year I’ll become a better climber through my many indoor climbing sessions. Or perhaps this is the year I’ll become a major book worm and hole up next to the fire while I digest book after book. Maybe this is the year I’ll learn how to pickle things or bake extravagant desserts.

Sigh.

And every year I get all the way through June and wonder what exactly I’ve been doing with myself.

How have I let two cold weather months sip by so easily? After weeks of making excuses, I finally decided on a weekend in the mountains. We have them in abundance here in Wanaka.

An experience to slap me in the face and bring me back to life, to give me some inspiration and recharge my batteries.

It didn’t matter that it was cold. It didn’t matter that daylight is limited. All that mattered was finding a mountain that made my lungs burn again and a cozy little hut far from civilization, a place where I could take a brief break from my never-ending mental to-do lists.

And there are plenty of mountains still accessible in the wintertime in New Zealand for hiking.

10 of the most iconic backcountry huts on the South Island

After much debate and contemplation, I chose the iconic Brewster Hut, a picturesque red hut not far from Makarora, perched on a flat plateau hanging over the valley 1,000 meters below.

It was a hut I’ve been to many times before but unlike all the other times, this time I’d be treated to the hut while it was cloaked in white.

I knew it’d be the perfect adventure to make me fall in love winter again.

Disclaimer: Snow, ice and avalanche conditions are possible to Brewster Hut in the winter – winter alpine skills and equipment are required if you are considering completing this track or visiting this hut in the winter. It’s a good idea to check in with the local DOC office for an update on conditions (and river level for crossing) and register your intent and plans with someone before you go. 

New Zealand Mountain Safety Council Plan My Trip is a great tool for the backcountry here

After a leisure breakfast of coffee and crepes at home, we set off for the mountain around mid-morning.

The drive from Wanaka isn’t long and the hike itself, while insanely steep and tiring, is actually not that long. Having lost our summer fitness, we knew the climb would be strenuous despite being a short 3 kilometers.

First step: crossing the icy Haast River.

Crossing a river is never a pleasant experience for me, someone who loathes any water colder than a tepid bath. The river crossing is only 50 meters from the carpark so I knew we’d at least get it over with quickly but this also means we wouldn’t have time to work up a sweat so we knew the water would feel extra cold. To our surprise, the river was low and only threatened to reach our kneecaps. We took off our shoes and hobbled across the freezing water, trying our best to ignore the piercing aches shooting up through our bones.

With fresh socks and dry shoes, we headed up the track.

The Brewster Hut track is a classic New Zealand approach to hiking. Why bother with switchbacks when you can just go straight up a mountains?

The climb is relentlessly steep, climbing over 1,000 meters in just 3 km. I tried to ignore the feeling of being completely unfit and instead tried to focus on the crisp air filling my lungs and the warm sunshine on my back. We were surprised to have been treated to such a warm day, hiking in t-shirts and shorts and still sweating our asses off.

After a few hours, we popped out of the bush and were greeted with our first steps of deep snow. The entire mountain was covered but there were ample footsteps to lead the way. A short walk from the bush line put us eye to eye with the ever-stunning Brewster Hut.

A red beacon of comfort and warmth, waiting to be our home for the night. I could already feel my spirits lifting and that joy I knew in summer returning.

We spent the first few hours like kids in a candy store: running around in the snow, throwing snowballs and snapping photos.

The western facing deck, normally the best spot for sun bathing, was covered in a few feet of snow so perched ourselves on the railing, face to the sun, soaking up that much-needed vitamin D.

Eyes closed. Deep breaths. Nothing but the sound of a gentle breeze and the distant squawk of the keas.

No tourists. No noise. Just us and the mountain. A necessary reminder at what brings me inner peace and what makes my heart happy.

Despite the sun, the air was still frigid and brisk so we soon headed in for my favorite part of hut life: kicking off the heavy boots and crampons, putting on your granny slippers and warming up with a cup of coffee and hot meal.

Honestly, nothing ever tastes as good as a big feed after a huge effort. Luckily, the hut was empty so no poor souls were subjected to my savage feed.

There was once a time when I stressed about hiking food.

My first ever backpacking mission was a food disaster, filled with canned beans, cooked potatoes, large sticks of salami, jars of peanut butter and jelly. Can you imagine carrying the weight of that on your back?

I had no idea what I was doing and focused only on a lot of food that would give me lots of energy. (I know, I know, keep your criticism to yourself, nothing you say could ever be as bad as my own self-criticism on this!)

One day, someone told me about freeze dried meals. I don’t know why these weren’t on my radar. Perhaps I was trying to be cheap ($2 noodles, anyone?) Perhaps I didn’t think they’d taste that good. For some reason, I never thought seriously about it until after one of my many hikes with an overwhelmingly heavy pack. I decided I was done with heavy food and promised to treat myself to dehydrated meals on my next trip.

I haven’t looked back since. Seriously, you guys. The amount of weight I saved in my bag was incredible and the little forethought it required was unmeasurable. I now feel like a weightless fairy, bounding up the hills.

If you haven’t used dehydrated food before, let me break it down for you.

Dehydrated meals in New Zealand come in 1 or 2 people serves. Since I have the appetite of an elephant, I can usually manage a 2 person serve on my own but really, they’re quite adequate for two people. These metallic pouches weigh only a few ounces and are completely self-containing.

All you have to do is boil your water, open the pouch, add the water, give it a stir and reseal for 10 minutes and pull on the bottom of the bag to open it flat so it stands on its own . Once it’s rehydrated, you can rip the top half of the package off to make it into a bowl. Too easy.

Fun fact, for winter missions, stuff the sealed packaged underneath your sweater for a hot water bottle effect.

REMEMBER: most huts in New Zealand, especially in winter, don’t have fuel sources, so you have to bring your own. We love jetboils.

Like most Kiwis, my go-to is Backcountry Cuisine meals because they are literally readily available almost anywhere in New Zealand and because they are super affordable. With a mission to produce fast nourishing food that’s lightweight and tastes good, and based down in Invercargill, New Zealand, it’s an easy choice.

Breakfast scramble in the morning, creamy mushroom soup for lunch, beef curry for dinner, apple crumble for dessert. Every meal is covered and it all weighs practically nothing, which is much appreciated when you’re hauling everything you have up steep rooted hiking trails. Having an instant, warm and delicious meal is no non-negotiable for me when I go on overnight missions.

On this particular night, we had beef curry along with wild mushroom and lamb risotto. It was like a Christmas in July. But winter since we’re in the southern hemisphere. Have I confused you yet?

A few ski tourers arrived back at the hut around 6 but only stopped in for a few minutes so they could pack up their bags and head back to their cars, leaving us to an empty hut.

Snuggled in our sleeping bags with a cup of tea, we read through the log book of the adventurers before us who called this hut home for a night. What a mecca for adventure lovers.

One of the best parts of being in the wild is resetting your internal clock to work with the sun.

It’s a return to a simple life: wake up, walk, rest when you’re tired, eat when you’re hungry, sleep when it’s dark. It’s uncomplicated life, perfect for clearing the mind. It wasn’t long after the sunset before we were tucked into our cots and snoozing away.

The clouds had come in overnight making for a lackluster sunrise.

With some hot coffee and porridge in our bellies, we packed up camp and slowly began making our way back to the car. We made quick work of the descent and before long were back at the car, indulging on our car snacks, completely satisfied with the trip.

It can be so hard to get yourself outside in the winter but if you can get out of your own head and make the first steps towards an adventure, you’ll be well rewarded.

What an adventure, now, where to next?

Are you a fan of hiking in the winter? Have any good spots to share in New Zealand? Spill!

The post A winter adventure up to Brewster Hut in the snow appeared first on Young Adventuress.

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