Badger Pass; Day One

We started at 6am from Jim's house.  After coffee/gas in Gilroy we made it to Madera and stopped for breakfast at Black Bear Dinner.  Taking it to go we ate or omelets overlooking a grassy area with flowering trees, very beautiful.  

Arriving at Badger Pass around 11:00 we collected our permit and finished packing.  We checked our pack weight, Jim's was 50.2 pounds, mine was 42.2 pounds.  Jim said he had to much food and water.  Backpacker parking only had about 15 cars. 

The trail was recently groomed and either firm or frozen, so walking without snowshoes was easy.  During the day we encountered some clear spots, but with a good trail we made good time.  We were passed by about 10 skiers, about half backpacking.  One woman who was clearly older said she was hurrying back to Badger Pass to ski with her Granddaughter.  We met a guy skiing at our pace and began talking.  He joined us for lunch at Mono Meadow trailhead.  The bear boxes were visible and one was accessible, so our new friend left his boots/skies at Mono Meadow and continued on foot.  

The plan was to head East when we got near Sentinal Dome.  I didn't check the map when we started into the woods, but the trees were spaced so travel would be easy so I decided this would be a good spot.  We put on snowshoes and started hiking up.  Our new friend decided to join us, he was visiting from Chile.  After about 30 min we were still hiking up so I checked the map and we choose the worst possible spot to turn.  Jim was getting grumpy but we had to press on.  

The hiking was not very difficult, and with Jim and I making a trial in snowshoes, Bernd was able to follow in his shoes.  We found a location with views and had the tents up by 5:30.  The sunset was beautiful, dinner was amazing, and we had a great time talking with Bernd.  

Strava had our distance at 10.25 miles with 1,530 feet of elevation gain.