I don't much like hiking, and always considered it more of "approaching" to do climbing. In the alpine, that term may be modified appropriately to "approachaneering" under certain circumstances, usually involving slide alder or manzanita...

But hiking just to hike?
Never really cared for it, and that is why I DON'T have a profile over on Hiking.com (or whatever) and am subjecting all of you to a non-climbing trip report.

I have done a few overnight trips in the mountains before, 2005/2006 - two in the north cascades resulted in a 25-pitch FA,
http://www.mountainproject.com/v/the-devils-club/106363896
and another trip into the southern pickets for "Plan 9" - 14 pitches:
But that was 10 years ago

I had to trick my mind to get psyched for a two-day hike with the usual "slow-and-heavy" approach. It was going to be stormy - so potentially good photos, it was an opportunity to test my chops to see if I was still good at putting one foot in front of the other with a substantial load on my back, and of course the scenery was supposedly amazing!

I set out Sunday morning at 10:30 from South Lake under gathering clouds with the goal to get to Dusy Basin in a reasonable amount of time. Ugh, this pack is heavy...

The information I could glean about the trail was this: 16-mile round-trip, 2300 feet of elevation gain, and it takes "most of a day" to get out to Dusy Basin.

I made good time out to Bishop Lake, where I was overwhelmed by the beauty and diversity of wildflowers coming up after the recent storms:
I finally put the pack back on and got back to humping up the hill, heading into the storm. WTF, you can't swing a cat around here without hitting some wildflowers!
Looking back towards the better weather:
About a third of the way up Bishop Pass the rain started, with a surprisingly cold wind behind it. Here we go! Luckily, it was just spitting, and I made it to the top still fairly dry from the exertion, although my pack-cover was quite wet. Not quite there, looking back:
As I dropped down the other side, I saw thick clouds rolling up fast from Kings Canyon:

I ran towards them to get off the ridge. About a half a mile below the summit, I threw on my raincoat, ducked under a tree and sat on my pack crouched over as the rain hit. Quickly it turned to hail, and I was able to relax for about a half hour - LOL. After the hail-storm:
I finished the hike to Dusy Basin, and arrived lake-side at the upper lake at 3:30 - 5 hours after I started. About an hour of that was pictures and sitting out the storm. Not bad for an over-loaded, out-of-shape 53-year-old!
Just hangin' with the locals:
I sat out another small storm, then set up camp and brewed up:
Then another storm - this dark at 5:30:
Things cleared up for a bit, so I made dinner, cleaned up, got the camera out and waited for cool light. It came:
The big triangular peak is Isosceles Peak, with a few routes on it:
http://www.mountainproject.com/v/isosceles-peak/106823458
Not long after that, the weather hit again, and I spent the evening sipping whiskey and reading. Later, the wind picked up, and did a cycle of quiet/small gust/big gust all night. Not a good night's sleep, and I got up early and decided to make track back. Both the mountains and I were feeling a little "under the weather". Coming down:
3-1/2 hours back to the car, and it was warm and nice at South Lake. People in t-shirts and shorts - I think I still had all my polypro on...
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.