Tehipite/Gorge Of Despair Sept 2013
Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 7:40 pm
Here are some notes of a trip in September 2013 from Taboose Pass to the Lakes Basin, then down Cartridge Creek and the Middle Fork Kings to Tehipite Valley and down the (trailless) Middle Fork Canyon to Yucca Point. We wanted to try the canyon since it was a dry summer and a low-water year. We found only a few accounts of previous trips through here.
The hike from the Lakes Basin down Cartridge Creek to the Middle Fork is very rough bushwhacking starting pretty soon after Marion Lake (the lowest lake). Although the John Muir Trail was routed through here 70 years ago, we couldn't find it. Once down to the Middle Fork the trail is now in good shape all the way to Tehipite Valley (recently cleared and brushed by the Park Service), except for the washed-out bridge at Simpson Meadow, traversing miles of very impressive old-growth mixed conifer forest. Tehipite Valley is magnificent; the huge relief and scale makes it like being in Yosemite except my son and I were the only ones there!
From Tehipite there is a trace of a trail down to Little Tehipite, with some beautiful oaks and meadows. After Little Tehipite the Middle Fork enters a rough, deep canyon with no trail at all. This is barely passable at very low water. We had to cross the river 9 times (generally 3-4 feet deep) and very often scramble up several hundred feet of cliffs or rocky slopes on each side of the river where the canyon walls became vertical. It took us almost 2 days to bushwhack 9 1/2 miles. The exit is at the confluence of the Middle and South Fork Kings, but then it is a 2000+ ft climb (on a good trail, though) to Yucca Point and the road! All in all, rough going even for experienced backpackers.
The hike from the Lakes Basin down Cartridge Creek to the Middle Fork is very rough bushwhacking starting pretty soon after Marion Lake (the lowest lake). Although the John Muir Trail was routed through here 70 years ago, we couldn't find it. Once down to the Middle Fork the trail is now in good shape all the way to Tehipite Valley (recently cleared and brushed by the Park Service), except for the washed-out bridge at Simpson Meadow, traversing miles of very impressive old-growth mixed conifer forest. Tehipite Valley is magnificent; the huge relief and scale makes it like being in Yosemite except my son and I were the only ones there!
From Tehipite there is a trace of a trail down to Little Tehipite, with some beautiful oaks and meadows. After Little Tehipite the Middle Fork enters a rough, deep canyon with no trail at all. This is barely passable at very low water. We had to cross the river 9 times (generally 3-4 feet deep) and very often scramble up several hundred feet of cliffs or rocky slopes on each side of the river where the canyon walls became vertical. It took us almost 2 days to bushwhack 9 1/2 miles. The exit is at the confluence of the Middle and South Fork Kings, but then it is a 2000+ ft climb (on a good trail, though) to Yucca Point and the road! All in all, rough going even for experienced backpackers.