At 13,005 feet, Mt. Gould is not especially high in the scheme of things, but it seemed like a good option because I hoped its south facing approach would be relatively snow free from the recent storm of a few days before. The morning started off cold, cloudy and windy, but as the hours passed and we drove higher and higher towards Onion Valley the day was looking like it was turning for the better. Onion Valley is notorious for its bears, and there were recent signs of bears breaking into cars, so it took me about 20 minutes to round up all my food + other smelly things (sunblock, soap, hand clear, ect) since they were scattered about my truck in a rather unorganized manner.

Up Kearsage pass trail we went. Stopped for a brief lunch at Kearsage pass, and then off trail up the easy, but often loose, class 1/2 south face of Mt. Gould. Near the top, a sufficient amount of fresh snow made the going a bit slower in an effort to avoid it and stick mostly to the rocks. The final summit block was a bit tricky, as it was mostly full of snow and quite slippery, I had quite cold hands by the time I was finished.

Nice view but still a ways yet

Looking down from the top

Cool shadow of the mountains covering the Owen’s valley