Sierra Adventures in the new Millenium

Little Five Lakes

September 9–11, 2000
Sequoia National Park
Camps: Lost Canyon, Pinto Lake
Passes: Sawtooth Pass, Black Rock Pass, Timber Gap
Trailhead: Mineral King (Sawtooth / Timber Gap)

I adore the drive eastward across the San Joaquin Valley at dawn. The silhouette of the Sierra Nevada slowly emerges in the light of dawn, and my eyes wander off the road to try to identify the peaks and recesses. Once the sun appears, however, the fun is over.
I met John and Judy at their home south of Armona. We visited for a bit, then John and I were on our way for the first time in fifteen years.

We got to Mineral King a bit after the Ranger Station opened, got our permits, and shot off toward Sawtooth Pass (~11,730’). We made it to Monarch Lakes in great time, and had an enjoyable break.

Soon after we left Monarch Lakes, we received some advice about avoiding a direct ascent of the pass. We were told the deep sand was very difficult to ascend through, and that we should proceed beyond the trail and ascend across country. The ascent was difficult, but it did not take forever. This was the first time either of us had made it over 11,204’ feet in the Sierra, and it is still a high water mark for us.

Sawtooth Peak from Sawtooth Pass

What was perhaps more difficult to take was losing the trail on the other side of the pass. The descent began as a conventional trail, but then the trail disappeared. By the time we got to Columbine Lake, the terrain was forgiving enough to manage cross-country.

We had to race against the setting sun to find a good camp site down in Lost Canyon, so we didn’t stay long at Columbine Lake. It is a rough, rocky place, so it didn’t strike us as a great place to camp. We found the trail and crossed into Lost Canyon — this was the first time either of us had crossed into the Kern watershed (Sawtooth Pass is a pass between the East Fork and Middle Fork Kaweah watersheds).
It was dark when we finally found a place to camp (~10,300’). When we got around to dinner, we realized that neither of us had packed utensils, so I used my sanitary shovel and John used a couple of sticks.

One thing I remember best about morning in Lost Canyon was eating frozen cliff bars for breakfast. They are quite a bit harder to chew in this state.

We continued down Lost Canyon to the trail junction, then turned north and proceeded to Big Five Lakes, and then to Little Five Lakes. At Little Five Lakes, we cooled our feet in a lake, and thought long and hard about our plans to keep travelling up the Big Arroyo. I buckled under the pangs of homesickness and used the greusoime condition of John’s feet as an excuse to turn toward Black Rock Pass, to make a shorter trip of it. It was an excuse, though John’s feet did not look good. A better decision would have been to proceed a couple more miles up Big Arroyo and find a pleasant camp site. Instead, we took a foot-punishing trek over Black Rock pass and down to Pinto Lake. By the end of the day, my big toe nails were pried off and ready to detach.

Black Rock Pass was not so bad, rather, it almost seemed easy, and what a view! I was not expecting the otherworldly grandeur that we found on the Kaweah side. I never before understood why Cliff Canyon was so named, but as we descended into the Canyon it was obvious.

The trail was in fine shape. The descent, however, was endless, rocky, and painful. We got to the Pinto Lake area as darkness fell. We found a comfortable spot for the tent with good access to water and a bear box. We never saw the lake, as it was hidden by thick bush.

In the morning, we continued down Cliff Creek, passing a trail crew camp along the way. We cooled our sore feet in the creek before turning toward Timber Gap.
As this was taking place in September of a dry year, the hike over Timber Gap was a dry, thirsty one. We would have done better if we’d taken advantage of small water sources early on. Fortunately, the trail crossed a significant water source on the south side of the gap.

Our sore, tortured feet were happy to see the end of the trail.

Before I dropped John off at home near Armona, we had an evening snack at the Superior Dairy creamery in Hanford.

Tableland and Kaweah Gap

August 1–4, 2001
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Camps: Tableland, Lone Pine Creek, and Upper Hamilton Lake
Passes: Elizabeth Pass, Kaweah Gap, Panther Gap
Trailhead: Wolverton

I met John and Judy at the Overland Stockyard Cafe in Hanford for breakfast. It’s pretty much what it sounds like: a greasy spoon set in front of a feed lot. Lots of character, you might say, though I should have perhaps ordered something less on theme than bisquits and gravy.

We got off to a good speedy start as usual, unable to stand the sight of other hikers in front of us, and had a good rest and snack at the Watchtower. No outings to the rock itself this time. We then continued up the Lakes trail at a good clip, saw some people enjoying a swim, and we followed the route to the Pear Lake [Ranger] Hut. The ranger suggested that we scend directly over the saddle opposite the creek, so that’s what we did. We saw some startling rock: light gray with blueish dark grey spots. When we got over the saddle, it was a short descent to the River, and a wandering journey upstream punctuated by occasional outcrops. Along the way, we cooled our feet in a large water hole amidst a deep meadow. We realized that we followed the River a bit too far when we came upon the largest lake on the stream course. We cut directly up the north side of the basin, just east of a prominent hump (10,695’), and found a lovely campsite on the east side of the lake (10,559’ — nearly earning it the title “Lake Two Miles Up”) on its north side. We then scrambled up the hump.

I made a couple of cell phone calls from the summit. One problem that I have found with taking a cell phone is that it can establish expectations of frequent contact, and there are really few places where calls can be made, so an inability to keep regular contact can introduce unnecessary stress.

Of course the air was chilly in the morning, but not quite freezing. While fetching water for breakfast, I noticed that the lake water was remarkably warm; so much so that in contrast to the air it felt like bath water. Neither John nor I is much of a fan of cold water, but we had no problem taking a dip after breakfast. I even swam to the opposite shore, which was not a wise choice in retrospect. About 24 hours earlier, I had been a couple hundred feet above sea level. Now I was taking a swim at two miles above sea level and quickly began to bob up and down and gasp for air. I don’t know if it’s any harder to remain buoyant at high altitudes, but it sure takes more breathing.
We packed up and hiked eastward from the upper end of the lake, and rested at a narrow tarn on the Kings-Kaweah Divide (~11,100’). From there we ascended slowly on the Kaweah side of the Divide, then over a saddle (~11,270’) to the next easy saddle to the southeast (~10,900’). We then dropped about 300 feet to escape a boulder field, and then ascended slowly toward Lonely Lake (10,785’).

Perhaps the most emotionally challenging part of the trip occurred as we approached Lonely Lake. The pass above the lake looks like a steep exfoliated slide. I wasn’t sure we could manage it, but there was nothing but cliff to the right, and the ridge to the left looked tough, with a serious ledge on the far side.

We certainly didn’t want to turn back. We could head straight down. It was only about 700 feet down and across the bowl to the Elizabeth Pass Trail — somewhere down there, but the depth of the canyon (2,500’) from that point was intimidating to say the least.
I went through several dark scenarios, such as losing my balance under the weight of my pack, and sliding and tumbling to the bottom. Then I started to worry about leaving my daughter fatherless. So after a miserable pause, we chose to approach the pass from the ridge to the left. When we got near the top, I had just about talked myself into crossing the face of the side along a seam, when John muttered some note of hesitation, so we ascended the ridge in search of alternatives. This turned out to be the right choice, as the ridge, though treacherously high on its north face, was full of very managable blocks that we scrambled across to the pass itself. Sometimes it really pays to take the time to find alternate routes.

This experience changed my outlook with regard to the steeper sections of the route we had planned ahead, so rather than crossing Coppermine Pass and skirting around Lion Lake, we caught the first trail out, and crossed Elizabeth Pass. Our “plan B” destination for the trip had been Nine Lakes Basin. We eventually got very close (Kaweah Gap), but there would be no travel through the basin as envisioned.

We tumbled down from Elizabeth Pass to Lone Pine Creek, and found a campsite as darkness fell. John was visibly weary and lagging behind. I was weary enough myself, and I was hit by a brief but frightening intestinal ailment that night, perhaps brought on by stress and fatigue.

The next morning, we made our way down Lone Pine Creek and up the High Sierra Trail to Hamilton Lakes. We pitched the tent at the main lake, and made a day hike of Kaweah Gap.

The High Sierra Trail route from Hamilton Lakes to Kaweah Gap cuts through some fantastic terrain. The trail passes through a man made tunnel as it cuts, quite literally, through a narrow, vertical canyon. At age 36, I was beginning to feel older as I felt an accute fear of hieghts coming on.

More persistant threats, as we ascended the sunny trail, were thirst and sunburn. We were challenged by the hike, even though we had left our packs with the tent.
It was a great feeling to finally reach Kaweah Gap, though it offers no view to the west.
Before giving up on the Coppermine Pass route, we had hoped to cross the Kaweah Peaks Ridge by way of Pants Pass. This pass is not said to be very difficult on the west side, but it looked like a challenging talus chute from Kaweah Gap. Perhaps I was letting fatigue affect my judgement, or maybe I was just being sensible.

The last day of this trip was a race back to Wolverton by way of Panther Gap. The last miles of the day were punishing, as our feet began to revolt. We enjoyed a dinner at a Carl’s Junior in Visalia. We tried an alternate route down to Corcoran, and got a bit lost on some dusty dirt roads, but didn’t lose much time.

Enjoying civilization at Bearpaw

Kern Canyon — September 2003

Golden Trout Wilderness and Sequoia National Park
Camps: Grasshopper Flat and Trout Meadows
Trailhead: Lewis Camp

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This time we set off hoping to complete a loop from Lewis Camp trailhead over Coyote Pass that would efficiently show us many miles of the old Hockett Trail, but a fire near the headwaters of the Little Kern River made this unsafe, so we did the best we could do under the circumstances. We headed up the Jordan Trail to meet the Hockett Trail at Trout Meadows, then headed up the Kern Canyon on the Hockett Trail.

After spending a night at Trout Meadows next to some entertaining fishermen from Tehachapi travelling on horseback with a dog and a plentiful supply of meats and alcoholic beverages, we travelled west on the Hockett Trail to Sagebrush Gulch. I'd figured that this was also a leg of the old Dennison-Coso Trail. This stretch of trail appeared to have been unmaintained for years, though we lost it only momentarily in the great sandy wastes of Burnt Corral Meadow. The route is very easy, though somewhat dry in September.

We followed the aptly-named Sagebursh Gulch down to the Little Kern River. I had guessed that this was also likely to be a leg of the old Dennison-Coso Trail. We lost the old Forest Service trail and proceeded mostly on the south side of the gulch. We then crossed the river, which was black with ashe from the fire upstream, and headed south back to the trailhead.

Cahoon Ridge — May 2004

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I wanted to see whether we could follow the old Hockett Trail route, and especially in late May, the challenge of the season being to ford the Kaweah River at Ladybug Camp. Any assessment of a trans-Sierra route has to consider river crossings. 2004 was a dry year, but the river was still flowing strong in late May. John and I scrambled up river from Ladybug, looking for a spot that didn't threaten to flush us downstream, until the canyon became too difficult for us. We then escaped the canyon by scrambling up to the trail to Cedar Creek.

This called for a change of plans, so we decided to try the old cattle trail up to Cahoon Meadow. After hiking up trail aways, we ascended to the ridge top via a large meadow, and followed the ridge awhile before descending to Cedar Creek, and followed the general route up to near Cahoon Gap. We'd see evidence of a trail on occasion, but not enough to get us anywhere. Clouds moved in, making it hard to see where we were going, and we turned up to the ridge prematurely, running into large rocks everywhere. I began to feel desperate, as we were running low on water and daylight, so we turned west to find the headwaters of Cedar Creek. We descended through some pleasant sequoias, but we were not in a sightseeing mood. We ran into Cedar Creek just above where it splits, and it turned out we stumbled on a nice natural campsite. We stayed the night there, and descended the Cedar Creek canyon the next morning. We travelled lower than before, and encountered numerous obstacles. We also encountered about five salamanders. We eventually ascended up the west slope, and encountered no lack of obstacles up there, eventually crashing down the ridge to find the trail.

Garfield-Hockett — October 2004

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We failed to cross the South Fork at Ladybug in May, so I thought we might concede that the ford is difficult and cross later in the year, so that we could at least have a try at the old Hockett Trail route up the ridge between the river and Garfield Creek. It may be that in Spring we overlooked a good ford directly below the old bridge site, where rebar can be found sticking out of large rocks on either side of the river. In October, the river is crossable just about anywhere, so it's hard to say. We'll have to try that ford some future May.

We turned around and descended to Ladybug. We then hurried down to South Fork to give the Garfield-Hockett Trail a try. In general, we found this trail difficult, but very consistent in grade, even more than the map indicates. In October, the autumn foliage is just past peak, and very pleasant in spots. We got up to Snowslide Camp well before dark, set up camp and got a good fire going.

Just as darkness fell, I had a moment of anxiety. I was washing my hards we I accidently glung my wedding ring into a bush under the trail. I could see it where it landed, but then I lost track of it after I took my eye off it once. I went and got a flashlight, and recovered it. I had already dropped my ring at the parking lot as we prepared for the hike. John noticed that I dropped something, so I looked down and there was my Celtic band laying in the dust. This was during a period when Carolyn had misplaced her ring, and we had turned our house inside-out looking for it.

The next day, we left camp up, making sure it was clean and unzipped, and hiked light up to the South Fork crossing on the edge of the Hockett Plateau. What a lovely hike it is, especially—I daresay—in early October. One particular grassy flat is handsomely smattered with giant sequoias, and there are noteworthy trees to be seen over much of the length of the trail.

Morning in Garfield Grove along the Garfield-Hockett Trail

On the way, we spotted the old trail markers at the gap atop the the ridge that the old trail ascended. We crossed the river, had a snack, and returned, but with several side trips. First we hiked out onto the rocks that overlook the river canyon just above the junction of the old and new trails (just under 8400 feet). Later, just above a similar rocky promontory, we found what looked like the Summit Trail. We followed it, but it soon vanished, and we returned to the Garfield-Hockett Trail. Further down trail, I spied what looked to be a good route up the ridge, so we left the trail and ascended directly up, until we encountered the old Summit Trail, which we followed until it became impossibly overgrown. I battled through about 40 yards of bush only to run into a large log crossing the trail on a difficult slope. I turned back, and found John quite a way down the trail. He was tired, and so was I. I was concerned about water, and the ridgetop was not in site. We descended to the Garfield-Hockett Trail and returned to Snowslide Camp. When we got there, we decided to break camp and head home.

It was during this trip that we heard about the Floyd Otter Tree from a Visalia boy scout troupe. One of the leaders indicated that this tree, somewhere in Garfield Grove, was recently remeasured and discovered to be the fourth largest giant sequoia.

This trip we saw a bear at South Fork Campground, and deer in Garfield Grove.

A few helpful links

• Kings Canyon and Sequoia Wilderness Hikes
  
• Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
  
• Sierra Region Index — An Annotated High Sierra Photo Album.
  
• GORP: Sequoia and Kings Canyon
  

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