Shepherd Pass?

[Wandering Daisy]

Well, I am back and I did not go over Shepherd Pass or go up to see it. Nice to see it is feasible now without special gear. Thanks for the photos.

[freestone]

I am leaving tomorrow for this 11 day trip to the Upper Kern. I decided to loop in and out from Onion Valley, even though it takes 2.5 days to reach the Upper Kern and I have to repeat the miles returning. This gives me more flexibility if anything is impassable. I did not want to commit to getting to Cottonwood, and have my husband sitting there waiting for me if I got stuck. Even if Forrester Pass is a problem, I can now just turn around and visit Center Basin, go over to Rae Lakes, or 60 Lakes Basin or even Gardnier or Baxter Lakes. If I come to an impassable stream, I just turn around and go back. Lots of flexibility. I do hope to get to Williamson Bowl. Maybe I can peek down Shepherd Pass and have some photos to show when I get back on the 20th.

If all goes as planned I will do a loop from the south side of Forrester Pass: traverse by the lakes below Diamond Mesa to Williamson Bowl, Wright Lakes, Wallace and Wales Lake, across the basin to Casper Lake, and the cirque below Mt Jordan, Lake South America and back to Forrester Pass; or the reverse direction, depending on snow conditions. Not sure I will make all my destinations. I am out to catch a huge fish that eluded me a few years ago! Haven't seen Wallace and Wales Lake in many years. And I will go to the lake in Wright Lakes basin that I call "ugly lake with fish" where I hope a few nice fish in the pot are guarenteed. By staying in the upper part of the Kern Basin I hope to avoid any horrible crossings. Tyndall at the PCT is reported to be difficult, but that was more than a week ago.

Total pack weight is 32 pounds, 13 pound of food plus bear can. Not taking crampons or ice axe. SEKI trail reports say they are not needed unless you do Forrester Pass early morning, which I will not do. Lots of PCT and JMT traffic over the pass, so there should be a well worn path in the snow. Supposedly less stormy as the week goes on.

If you go into Jordan basin and come across a down vest, it's mine. I was up there last year and it didn't get back into my pack before leaving. My plan is to go back up there in late September to try and find It. Neurotic me.

[Wandering Daisy]

Sorry, but I did not see a down vest. I did a lot of walking around the lake. Well, now along with your orange vest, I left a small kitchen knife on the east shore. Seems like I lose something every trip. Luckily, I had a back-up pocket knife so I could still clean fish the rest of the trip.

[Tucson Tom]

You guys rock! This is going to save me and my party from carrying ice axes just to safely get across Shepherd Pass. Thanks.

[Tucson Tom]

Went over Shepherd this past week. Nothing more than a lot of hard work at this point. A section of trail above the pothole has had some damage from a downpour, but unless you are an imbecile it should pose no problem. One the final climb to the pass some switchbacks are blocked by snow and traffic is establishing a "scrambling route" to the right of the snow that uses some of the original trail and then just bashes up the slope as necessary to avoid the snow covered sections. We had a fine 6 day backpack that got us up on top of Whitney from the west.

[Harlen]

Yet another helpful job by Russ and his trusty camera. Kudos Russ, and go Daisy go! My how you manage to get out there a lot.