Emory Peak by way of Pinnacles Trail

I climbed Emory Peak a few years ago alone, then my wife and I climbed it last November. We camped the night before at the Basin campground, and unfortunately someone arrived at about 2 in the morning and was excessively noisy. We could have used that extra 2 hours sleep as I was dragging when we got up.

A high carb breakfast at the lodge is a good idea, as you'll need any energy you can muster. The trail is consistently up, nicely maintained, though not really well-marked.

Hikers on the way down tipped us off that they'd seen black bears, so we were pretty excited at the possibility. Sure enough, up on the saddle where the Pinnacles levels out and starts down towards Boot Canyon we came across one (see URL below for a picture). Afterwards, we went up the Emory Peak trail, and on the way down had another encounter with a mother a 2 yearling cubs. One tried to rush me, but I growled back and he ran off. VERY exciting!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jadinamo/3000176737/sizes/l/in/set-72157608625476248/