A Solo Hike Along the Silver Divide

This looking towards Rosy Finch Lake (hidden) over Mott Lake with the unnamed peaks of the Silver Divide above.

Mott Lake

Silver Divide Trip from Edison Lake Trailhead, August-September 2001

Ah, but Mott Lake was worth the effort! I came upon it suddenly, and it splashed me in the face with its raw wilderness beauty. Carved by glaciers out of white granite, it sits in a beautiful bowl decorated with tastefully placed trees. Above, the Silver Divide showed its jagged teeth between out-flung arms of granite ridges. The water was the expected high Sierra crystal mantle hiding emerald depths. Here was a place to sit and admire the essence of natural wilderness beauty. Sad that conservationist Ernest Julian Mott never knew this lake was named after him.

Mott Lake island. It is pretty easy to get to the furthermost point of the island. Across the lake was my camp.

First things first: I headed around a hump of gruss and rock to a small packer camp with a fire pit (probably illegal) and sheltered (and exposed) flat spots ideal for my bivy-tent. After I set things up in camp, I went for a walk.

One thing I discovered was that there was a use trail to Blue Jay Lakes. I followed the trail for a ways, but why I did not go the last few yards to the first lake can only be chalked up to feeble-mindedness.

Looking north to the small spit and island, a nice place for a stroll and a view over the lake. Center picture is a possible cross-country route, going from left to right, to Bighorn Lake. Point 11871 is the hight point above.

I turned Mott Lake to the right and found the small island and spit of land connecting it. It was a small matter to hike out to the furthermost end of land on that island. Very nice.

On the east shore a small falls of the inlet could be seen and a big platform of rock that turned out to be a rather average place to camp. Further back in the trees were other places to camp, none as good as my present camp. I had heard there were good places to camp on this side of the lake, but I sure did not see any.

After a nice tour of the area, I headed back for a chair rest and some reading before dinner. It was getting cloudy again.