Hike Duck Lake Peaks Loop Inyo National Forest, CA

Aug 30, 2024 — After hiking Mammoth Mountain a few days ago and catching sight of the many peaks south of Lake Mary from a distance, I grew increasingly interested in exploring the area, particularly the summits around the basin holding the massive and beautiful Duck Lake. While several peaks surround the lake, my goal today was to reach unnamed Peak 11916 (which I'll refer to as Pika Peak due to its proximity to Pika Lake), Duck Lake Peak, and the provisionally named Herlihy Peak (aka Duck Pass Peak), which form the northern and eastern perimeter. These three grouped well together as there’s a reasonable traverse, not exceeding Class 3+, to connect them. I’ll need to come back another time to tackle the summits on the south and west sides of Duck Lake.

I parked at the busy Duck Lake Pass Trailhead and followed the Duck Lake Pass Trail through the forest. The hike begins with a pleasant grade on a well-maintained, heavily trafficked trail, passing short spur trails to visit the beautiful Arrowhead Lake and Skelton Lake along the way before reaching the north side of Barney Lake. Duck Pass becomes visible above, and the trail ascends numerous switchbacks and then wiggles around rock outcroppings to reach the pass.

From Duck Pass, I could see my three peak objectives clearly ahead. Initially, I had considered traversing from the unnamed peak south of Pika Peak, but from here I realized that would be a risky mistake filled with sketchy, loose ridgeline traversing. I was immediately glad I decided to group these three, saving the others for another time since they would make a nice grouping as well. My first goal was to reach the Pika Pass, the saddle separating Duck Lake Peak from Pika Peak. I followed the Pika Lake Trail down from Duck Pass, leaving the trail when it seemed logical to start ascending the forested and tundra slope, which quickly became steep and riddled with boulder obstacles as it entered the small basin beneath the peaks. I navigated granite ramps and made a couple of Class 2/3 moves to overcome little cliff bands, reaching the base of an extensive boulder field. Getting through this involved some Class 2 talus hopping, which brought me up to Pika Pass, though I hadn’t expected as much scrambling to this point. I quickly realized this outing would be longer than I had anticipated.

From Pika Pass, I headed southwest along the ridge crest, which initially had many massive, loose boulders that unnerved me, so I stayed just to the right until they seemed more stable. The ridgeline began wide and covered in large boulders, until it narrowed and I encountered a steep Class 3+ section, which I almost backed off from. I’ve been so accustomed to loose rock scrambling, so the solid granite of the Sierra surprised me. I took my time on the scramble even though it was a short section. Some more light scrambling led to a prominent gendarme along the crest, which I immediately decided to bypass on the right, dropping down on a Class 3 series of blocky moves in a guarded chute. I could see the summit ahead, but I stayed low, choosing to reascend to the crest only once I was sure I'd passed the gendarme. A few slanted terraces with small cliffs separating them added some scrambly moves. I gained the summit and was rewarded with excellent views in all directions. I could also see the traverse from the peak to the south and confirmed I had no desire to tackle that traverse.

I backtracked from the summit and began the ascent to Duck Lake Peak, where easy Class 2 scrambling took me up from Pika Pass. Above I could see a headwall that could possibly cause me to turn around, but I couldn't tell from here. Duck Lake Peak can be much more easily ascended via its west slope via Class 2, but I wanted to first see if I could save myself the vertical elevation loss and just take the crest, knowing I could always backtrack and ascend using the standard route. Just before reaching the base of the headwall, I encountered a short drop that required a brief detour around it. The obstacle in question began easier than I had anticipated, with a pleasant Class 2+ slab leading up to a point where I thought my little adventure might end. A serious-looking fractured face with a collapsed car-sized boulder looked like a dead end, but I poked around and got creative. From past experiences with granite, I knew that massive boulders often lead to talus caves. Sure enough, I found a crawl-through that might be difficult for larger people or those with big packs. This 20-foot, protected Class 3 crawl was incredibly fun and boosted my spirits, and I managed to make my way under the car-sized boulder and up to the base of a vertical face. Again I was sure I'd reached the end of the route, but I spotted a way to traverse beneath it on more massive boulders. These were precariously stacked, so I stepped gingerly. Thankfully, nothing shifted aside from a few pebbles that tumbled below. This traverse led me to a final Class 3+ move to gain the ridgeline above. I was thrilled the route worked out!

I continued northwest off Duck Lake Peak down a bouldery slope, which gradually transitioned to sandy terrain scattered with bushes. I tried to avoid the foliage but occasionally had to crawl through it. My final summit was Herlihy Peak, which I wasn't confident on how to access. I chose to ascend via the south ridge, which introduced some steep Class 2/3 climbing on boulders that looked stable but shifted slightly, as well as a short Class 4 downclimb. I enjoyed this scramble overall, though once I reached the summit, it wasn’t entirely clear which summit block was the true high point. After passing over a few slightly lower blocks, I’m fairly sure I reached the highest one. Rather than backtracking along the south ridge, I decided to try to drop east down the peak's steep slope, then traverse south to regain the crest before the south ridge scramble. I highly recommend taking this approach if you want to keep the route at Class 2, as it was straightforward and avoided the dangers of the ridgeline.

I made my way back to Duck Pass down Class 2 boulders, then contoured west on a combination of tundra and little cliffies. This was an unexpectedly fun afternoon outing, and I was pleased that my planned link-up route undfolded pretty seamlessly.