Advice: Connect PCT to SHR near Twin Lakes (Matterhorn Col?)
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:50 pm
First, I just want to say thank you to everyone who contributes to these forums -- there is a wealth of accumulated wisdom here that is incredibly helpful to aspiring Sierra hikers. I have posted my “I’m not lurking anymore” self-introduction to the appropriate thread, and I would like to ask for a bit of route advice.
I completed a JMT variant this summer -- Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point to Illilouette Creek to Red Peak Pass to Vogelsang Pass to Lyell Canyon and from there the standard route to Whitney. Needless to say, I want more. My plan for next summer is to pick up the PCT at either Granite Chief Wilderness or Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe, hike to Yosemite NP, and then test myself on the northern section of the Sierra High Route perhaps as far south as Red’s Meadow. (I got caught in the early July storms this year from Vogelsang Pass [snow?! -- looked just like a 10,000’ elevation version of winter in Wisconsin -- if I could see the mountains it wouldn’t be so ridiculous!] over Donahue Pass and on to the Thousand Island Lake region -- I’d like to revisit those areas in what I hope will be nicer weather next year. Fingers already crossed.)
My thoughts on connecting the PCT to the SHR are to leave the PCT at about mile 1001 on Hoover Wilderness Trail 056 (I’d call it Cascade Creek Trail?) to Trail 046 (Kirkwood Creek?) to Trail 068 (South Fork Buckeye Creek?) and then over Buckeye Pass on to Peeler Lake and then Mule Pass and Burro Pass. The crux of my Blofeld-like plan is to do a 1.5 mile off-trail section from Burro Pass to Spiller Creek to “join” the SHR, and that’s where I need your input. There is a pass/saddle between Whorl Mountain and Matterhorn Peak ESE of Burro Pass that I am hoping is doable with nothing particularly scary along the way. Does anybody have experience/opinions about this? I could simply go down Matterhorn Canyon and back up Virginia Canyon to catch the SHR a bit further on, but that isn’t as nifty (nor as short) a solution as this could be.
On the matter of a permit, I called the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the USFS and was assured that with a two-week lead time a permit for the trip could be issued that was not subject to quotas (the ranger I spoke to said they really don’t want to hear from me much sooner than that because “plans change,” and I was also told that I would not have to make Desolation Wilderness campsite reservations on recreation.gov ahead of time). I also called Yosemite NP to see if such a permit would be valid outside the PCT corridor, specifically on the SHR, and was told it would be okay -- the standard language about obtaining the permit from your starting trailhead and that it would be valid for your entire hike was quoted to me. Hopefully, restrictions similar to this year’s Donohue Pass exit quota won’t be enacted in the mean time.
Anyway, thanks for your input, I really appreciate it.
Dennis
I completed a JMT variant this summer -- Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point to Illilouette Creek to Red Peak Pass to Vogelsang Pass to Lyell Canyon and from there the standard route to Whitney. Needless to say, I want more. My plan for next summer is to pick up the PCT at either Granite Chief Wilderness or Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe, hike to Yosemite NP, and then test myself on the northern section of the Sierra High Route perhaps as far south as Red’s Meadow. (I got caught in the early July storms this year from Vogelsang Pass [snow?! -- looked just like a 10,000’ elevation version of winter in Wisconsin -- if I could see the mountains it wouldn’t be so ridiculous!] over Donahue Pass and on to the Thousand Island Lake region -- I’d like to revisit those areas in what I hope will be nicer weather next year. Fingers already crossed.)
My thoughts on connecting the PCT to the SHR are to leave the PCT at about mile 1001 on Hoover Wilderness Trail 056 (I’d call it Cascade Creek Trail?) to Trail 046 (Kirkwood Creek?) to Trail 068 (South Fork Buckeye Creek?) and then over Buckeye Pass on to Peeler Lake and then Mule Pass and Burro Pass. The crux of my Blofeld-like plan is to do a 1.5 mile off-trail section from Burro Pass to Spiller Creek to “join” the SHR, and that’s where I need your input. There is a pass/saddle between Whorl Mountain and Matterhorn Peak ESE of Burro Pass that I am hoping is doable with nothing particularly scary along the way. Does anybody have experience/opinions about this? I could simply go down Matterhorn Canyon and back up Virginia Canyon to catch the SHR a bit further on, but that isn’t as nifty (nor as short) a solution as this could be.
On the matter of a permit, I called the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the USFS and was assured that with a two-week lead time a permit for the trip could be issued that was not subject to quotas (the ranger I spoke to said they really don’t want to hear from me much sooner than that because “plans change,” and I was also told that I would not have to make Desolation Wilderness campsite reservations on recreation.gov ahead of time). I also called Yosemite NP to see if such a permit would be valid outside the PCT corridor, specifically on the SHR, and was told it would be okay -- the standard language about obtaining the permit from your starting trailhead and that it would be valid for your entire hike was quoted to me. Hopefully, restrictions similar to this year’s Donohue Pass exit quota won’t be enacted in the mean time.
Anyway, thanks for your input, I really appreciate it.
Dennis
I will be sure to report back after next summer's trip -- stay tuned...