TR: Visiting Sarah's Lake (Shangri-La)

[lambertiana]

About ten years ago, my niece (Sarah), who lives in Tennessee, saw a picture of the lowest lake on Picket Creek in Sequoia NP and said that she wanted to go there. In 2012 I planned a trip to go there, trip report can be found here:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9372&p=69787#p69787

However, at the last minute, my niece dropped out because wedding plans (hers) got in the way. This year we decided to remedy that. My niece came out with my twin brother and nephew. We were joined by two young brothers from Visalia (one is in my scout troop) and one other friend from the Bay Area

The lake has no official name, but some call it Picket Guard lake, or, in a recent post here, Shangri-La). I will call it Sarah's Lake. It is in a remote area in the middle of Sequoia NP, and no trails go there. It requires some rock scrambling to get there. Due to the remoteness, it takes some time to get there; I worked out a nine day loop to get there.

We started at Crescent Meadow in Sequoia NP. The first day was spent primarily in deep forest cover, going 11 miles to Bearpaw Meadow. Visibility was poor due to smoke from two large wildfires (one near Los Angeles, the other on the central coast). This is a typical view from that first day, looking toward the Great Western Divide. Later in the trip we would come over the highest saddle in that view on our way out:



We spent that night in mosquito heaven, also known as Bearpaw Meadow. The next morning we went up the Over-The-Hill trail toward Elizabeth Pass. We were treated to great views as we came out of the tree cover:


Ever upward we went, a total of 4000' vertical to get to Elizabeth Pass (11,370'). Near the pass is a granodiorite face that I liked:


Reaching the pass, we could see down Deadman Canyon:


And looking east along the headwall of the canyon:


We dropped down Deadman Canyon a few miles and stopped for the night. Here is sunset in upper Deadman Canyon:

[lambertiana]

The next morning we got a late start, and headed down Deadman Canyon. Not far below our camp was Ranger Meadow:


I had noticed on the geologic quadrangle maps that there is an outcropping of orbicular granitic rock at Ranger Meadow, so I spent some time locating it:


Each of those orbicles is golf ball to tennis ball size. It is orbicular granodiorite, in the fine-grained facies of the granodiorite of the Mitchell Peak intrusive suite.

Further down Deadman Canyon:


At the bottom of Deadman Canyon, we turned up Cloud Canyon. The finest view in Cloud Canyon is Big Wet Meadow. However, due to our late start that morning, we got there as the sun was going down and did not get good pictures, this will have to suffice:


We camped that night at the base of the Whaleback. The next morning we headed up over Colby Pass (12,000'). On the way we went through an area that I have always liked, just below Colby Lake:


Then we got to Colby Lake (10,600'):


And above Colby Lake, we went over the pass (12,000', the right hand saddle on the top of the talus slope in the middle):



Once over the pass we descended the pleasant basin to the south:


We descended to Gallats Lake, where we spent the night.

[lambertiana]

The next morning the light was good for pictures at Gallats Lake:




A couple miles below Gallats Lake we left the trail and headed up the talus and granodiorite slabs to get to Sarah's Lake. This is early in the day, just after we started up the slope, looking back up the Kern-Kaweah canyon (you can see my brother and Sarah in the lower right):


After a lot of talus and slabs, including walking a five foot wide ledge with a 1000' drop, we finally reached Sarah's Lake:


The lake is at the top edge of a large granodiorite face. Immediately behind the granodiorite wall on the opposite shore is a big drop, on the left side it is 1500' down to the Kern-Kaweah river, and on the far right it is 2500' down to the Kern River proper. Pictures just don't convey the feeling that you get there.

From a spot a little above the lake, you can see the Mt Whitney group in the distance:


And an evening shot from the same spot:


The two young brothers caught some nice rainbow trout in that lake, and we had some delicious trout/mozzarella burritos. This lake must have been stocked by air drop years ago when they were doing such things; there is no way anyone could get a mule with barrels of water with fish to that location.

The next morning we went up Picket Creek:




And then we ascended to the top of the divide between Picket Creek and Kaweah Basin:


Of note for the dendrologists out there - between Gallats Lake and the divide between Picket Creek and Kaweah Basin I saw four different white pine species: Foxtail pine, western white pine, whitebark pine, and limber pine. It is very unusual to see all four of those in close proximity, and over only a 1500' vertical difference. The western white pine was at the top of its elevation range, the whitebark pine was at the southern limit of its geographic range, and the limber pine was at the western edge of its geographic range. The foxtail pine is common in that area.

From there we ascended Kaweah Basin. It is a beautiful place, and because there are no trails that go near it, we had it to ourselves:






We stopped to camp for the night at this lake at 11,300':


Evening shots from camp (the first one is looking east down the basin, toward the Mt Williamson group, with Mt Williamson at 14,375', the second highest peak in California):

[lambertiana]

That night it rained on us, and the next morning the clouds were threatening. Of all days to have storms, that was the worst scenario, because we planned to cross Pyra-Queen col (12,800'), which is bad enough in dry weather. At first it was clear, with the area north of us still in sunshine. Morning in Kaweah Basin:


Nice reflection of the Kaweah ridgeline in one of the higher lakes in the basin:


And the highest lake in the basin (we would cross the ridge about 1/8 of the way in from the left, at 12,800'):


But then the rain started. We still had about 1200' vertical of talus (mostly desk to car sized boulders on the west side) to do in the rain before we got to the col. Once there we could see the initial chute on the west side of the col. It is a 60 degree chute with extremely loose talus; you have to hold onto the rock face as you gingerly descend, otherwise you create a rockslide with you on top of it. It is bad enough when dry, but in a cold 40-50 degree rain it was especially fun:


Since I had been down it before, I went first to show the others how to do it. Then I got pictures as they descended (my nephew is on the left, Sarah is in blue close to the top, and my brother is in red at the top waiting for his turn to start)


Everyone made it down that first part without any serious difficulty. Then we had another 1000' to descend on loose small talus to the lake at 11,683':


Then about 3/4 of a mile of hopping desk-sized and larger boulders to get to the far end of the lake. Then past the next lake in the drainage:


Then another lake below that:


Getting close to our next camp, dropping down a pleasant basin below that lake:


And then through a stand of fine examples of foxtail pine:


Finally stopping in Nine Lake Basin for the day.

[lambertiana]

Some views in Nine Lake Basin (note the large number of glacial erratics):






The next morning we went over Kaweah Gap and started the long descent toward our next camp. At that point, the two young brothers decided that they wanted to go all the way out to the trailhead instead of taking two days as we had planned. One of them is working on his hiking merit badge, and one of the requirements is to do a 20 mile hike in one day. From Kaweah Gap to Crescent Meadow is 21 miles, with a net total of 5500' drop and 1500' gain, starting at 10,700' (Kaweah Gap). That is nothing to sneeze at for someone who lives at 300' above sea level. They made good time, arriving at Crescent Meadow at about 5:30 PM. Meanwhile we took our time. Just over Kaweah Gap is a nice view of the south buttress of Mt Stewart:


A little lower, looking at Eagle Scout Peak:


Just below that is Precipice Lake. No self-respecting Ansel Adams fan would pass up the opportunity to take pictures there:


Another 2000' descent below Precipice Lake is Hamilton Lake:


And just below that, a good view of Angel Wing:


That day we made it to Nine Mile Creek to camp for the night. The next morning we made good time to Crescent Meadow. Then it was time to set our priorities. First, we went to Lodgepole to get some ice cream. Then we did the Congress trail in Giant Forest so my brother, nephew, and Sarah could see the big trees. Here they are at the President; a couple years ago they got a good core sample and dated the tree to 3400 years:


Overall it was a very rewarding (and difficult) trip. It is especially nice that the most beautiful places were off trail so we had them to ourselves.

[lambertiana]

I'll add a few more pictures showing different moods at Sarah's Lake






Plus another one in Kaweah Basin that I like a lot:

[toejam]

Wow! This place is gonna get a lot more traffic.

[Mike M.]

Beautiful report! That's a studly route to tackle with youngsters. Thank you for sharing.

Mike

[wildhiker]

What a great trip! And fabulous photos! I'd love to get into that country but I may be too old already. Still, your report is an inspiration.
-Phil

[gary c.]

Beautiful!! Thanks for sharing.