Leavitt Creek Drainage
We peeled off the trail near where Leavitt Creek comes out of a drainage that is fed by several lakes, including the biggest, Leavitt Lake. We played on the hills and valleys before climbing over a ridge and dropping into Leavitt Lake. Actually, we stopped on the ridge to take in the view of Leavitt Lake, the surrounding mountains and ridgeline and rock outcroppings. It was stunning.
And loaded with snow. The snotel site (http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/snotel.pl?sitenum=574
&state=ca) read 123.6 inches on day one of our ride to Leavitt Lake (9,556 feet). On average, the area sees between 200-300 inches of snow each winter. The Sierra Nevadas are world famous for the way 
that snow arrives, too. It's not light flurries but big dumps. The proof is in the snotel readings. For instance, on Jan. 6, 2008, the snotel marker on Sonora Pass read a snowfall of 31.9 inches. That was after 16.4 inches fell on Jan. 5. On Jan. 28, 19.1 inches fell. There were similar readings for the Leavitt Lake snotel marker, which is about 800 feet higher in elevation than the Sonora Pass marker.
You can test your mettle and metal on the bowls and sheer vertical climbs above the lake. When you're done there, you can head over to Koenig Lake and do it all over again. There is plenty of climbing here with lots of long pulls.
It's around 9,000 or so feet that you get above the treeline but even below that, the trees aren't so close that they're intimidating or impossible to play amongst. There was only one spot in the entire two days of riding the Sonora Pass area that we really had to work to turn in the trees. Nearly everywhere, the trees seem to be just about perfectly spaced for the ultimate in tree riding-when you're not playing on the hills or climbing.