Friday arrived and I was beginning to feel the week. I had climbed five SPS peaks in the past two days and hiked almost 60 miles with nearly 19,000 of climbing in that time. I think Shannon may also have wanted to use the car this morning, though I can’t recall for certain. After sleeping in, I headed down into town and picked up a hearty breakfast at The Stove which we ate at the AirBnB. After lazing around most of the morning and early afternoon, I figured I should get out and do something with the day I had taken off. Knowing the SPS list well enough by this point, I knew I didn’t have the time or energy for any of those peaks. I thought a run or hike in the Little Lakes Valley could be nice, but wanted a bit more structure. So, I came up with the idea to try and climb Mount Starr, a not-too-high peak just off of the Mono Pass Trail out of the Little Lakes Valley. Game on!

I drove down and reached the trailhead around 3:30, setting off with only my running shoes and shorts, a tee shirt, and my phone. I “ran” up the trail, branching off at the Mono Pass Trail junction, and passing lots of people milling about.

Bear Creek Spire from the lower section of the Mono Pass Trail.

Mount Abbot, Mount Dade, and Bear Creek Spire above Ruby Lake. I always love this view of Mount Abbot and am looking forward to trying to climb this impressive peak one day.

After just under an hour I was at Mono Pass and started up the sandy slope towards the summit of Mount Starr. It only took another 15 minutes or so to dispatch with the final 800 or so feet of class 2 climbing to the summit. The summit block had a tricky little class 3 section that I negotiated before signing into a summit register in a tupperware container.

The view from the summit of Mount Starr. I ran into another hiker here too who had relocated to Mammoth during the pandemic. We chatted for a bit and took photos of each other before setting off on our way.

The sand slope off the summit was even easier on the way down and I was back on the trail in no time, plodding down towards the trailhead.

Mount Abbot above the little sandy valley near Mono Pass. It took all of 45 minutes to get from the summit back down to my car, where I gulped some water before heading back to Mammoth. Two hours and ten minutes car-to-car to climb a nearly 13,000’ peak, evening cold beer earned!