Our original plan was to hike from Saddlebag Lake Dam, but we realized that would give us several hundred feet of uphill at the end of the hike. Instead, we started at Sawmill Campground, hiking up the canyon past Hall Natural Area, to the canyon and ridge between Mt. Conness and White Mountain. We descended by the east ridge route. Everyone else went ahead of me and descended north of the small peak just east of Alpine Lake. I had waypoints loaded for the route shown, by Alpine Lake, and decided to go that way. It all worked out fine, but the descent route was very rugged, with lots of scree and big boulders to deal with. We all agreed that it would have been better to go back down the same way we went up. Our campground at Ellery Lake and favorite dining spot at Tioga Pass Resort are at the lower right on the map.

Our original plan was to hike from Saddlebag Lake Dam, but we realized that would give us several hundred feet of uphill at the end of the hike. Instead, we started at Sawmill Campground, hiking up the canyon past Hall Natural Area, to the canyon and ridge between Mt. Conness and White Mountain. We descended by the east ridge route. Everyone else went ahead of me and descended north of the small peak just east of Alpine Lake. I had waypoints loaded for the route shown, by Alpine Lake, and decided to go that way. It all worked out fine, but the descent route was very rugged, with lots of scree and big boulders to deal with. We all agreed that it would have been better to go back down the same way we went up. Our campground at Ellery Lake and favorite dining spot at Tioga Pass Resort are at the lower right on the map.