TR Kearsarge to Whitney Portal-Upper Kern 8/10-18

[Wandering Daisy]

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Onion Valley to Whitney Portal 8/10 to 8/18
(note: see the fishing forum for the fish pictures)

Day 1. Kearsarge TH to Heart Lake. 2.0 miles, 1595 feet gain, 2.3 hours. Plus 7 hours driving.

The original plan was to exit to Cottonwood via Crabtree and New Army passes and my husband would pick me up. Concerned about each pass, I then decided to loop back via Kearsarge. I assumed a Whitney exit permit would not be available. At the Mono Visitor Center, I asked out of curiosity and there were several permits available. I immediately changed plans, stuffed in a map of the Whitney area, and called my husband to see if he still was willing to come pick me up. I arrived at the trailhead at 3:00 and left at 3:30 hiking to Flower Lake, which was quite crowded with campers. I recalled that Heart Lake had fish, so found the use-trail and was setting up on the little hill near the outlet by 5:00. I was the only one there. I could see fish in the lake but they were not interested in my fly and, honestly, I was not to focused on fishing after my long day. After a futile half hour of fishing I gave up, cooked dinner and called it a night.

Day 2. Heart Lake to bench north of Forrester Pass. 9.6 miles, 3015 feet gain, 8.0 hours.

Luckily I found a good use-trail/game trail from the little saddle above the lake that lead back to the trail, with a bit of bouldering at the end. Two other groups were coming down as I went up to Kearsarge Pass. I took the high trail that although longer, would avoid the swampy area near Bullfrog Lake. I was pleasantly surprised that the high trail view was actually very nice. The intersection with the JMT is a bit vague, but I eventually dropped down to the junction with the lower trail where the trail became crowded with large groups doing the Rae Lakes Loop. Lower Vidette Meadow was a zoo. Turning up Bubbs Creek the JMT’ers remained; quite a few of them. I had to at least get to the Center Basin junction. I arrived early enough to slog on up to the next bench with the little lakes. With my pack loaded with 10 days food, the last chug up the hill about did me in! I found an excellent campsite across the creek, away from the other campers. Clouds began to build; one of the peaks even became covered with clouds, but it did not rain. Several deer were grazing in the meadow as I wandered around photographing after dinner.

[Wandering Daisy]

Day 3. Lake South America via Forrester Pass and Lake South America trail. 7.4 miles, 2580 feet gain, 6.4 hours.

I decided to sleep in a bit and let the early-bird crowd kick the steps in the snow that was sure to come. The JMT was busy with both north-bounders and south-bounders. The well-worn “path” at the upper part pf the pass now climbed straight up a narrow band of low angle snow, avoiding the switch-backs, before a traverse across a bit higher angle snow with huge sun-cups, to the actual pass. A group was at the top socializing. I briefly rested and then descended the mostly snow-free south side, again, passing many north-bound JMT hikers. At about 11,600 feet, I left the trail and traversed to the less maintained and little used trail to Lake South America. I used my head-net as it went through a swamp to the very steep, loose scree hillside that led to the little pass. There was a band of snow at the top, but thankfully, it was low angle. I was surprised to see that someone had recently taken a horse up there! I dropped to a small lake and circled the north side because the south side had snow on the trail. Back on the trail, I dropped a bit to Lake South America.

Crossing the outlet, I spooked many nice sized fish! I set up camp and then tried my luck at fishing. These fish were exceedingly skittish. After an hour I gave up. Just at sunset, two fellows came down from Harrison Pass. Curious, I caught up with them and asked how the pass was. They had instead, come all the way up the Kern River, planning to go over Harrison Pass on a trail, as shown on the map. One look down the pass and they retreated! They had one car parked at Road’s End. We chatted. They were about to go back all the way down the Kern, which they reported was full of mosquitoes. I mentioned that they could detour via Forrester Pass. Not sure what they finally did, but they did not camp at Lake South America. In the late evening, coyotes howled all around me.


Day 4. Lake South America to “Jordan Lake” plus side trip to Lakes south of Lucy’s Foot Pass. 5.0 miles, 550 feet gain, 4.5 hours, plus fishing.

Now that I was into the headwaters of the Kern River, it was time to slow down and explore and fish! There are basically two off-trail routes to the lake southeast of Mt. Jordan (I will call it “Jordan Lake”); the lower route that drops 750 feet on the Kern River trail to a set of lakes, and then traverse off-trail past many little ponds; or the high route dropping 250 feet to the large lake west of Lake South America (I did not stop to fish this lake) and then along a higher string of ponds and small lakes to Jordan Lake. I chose the latter so I could also go up to the three lakes south of Lucy’s Footpath and see if they had fish (they did not). After that foray, I dropped to the set of numerous small lakes and ponds, where each cast brought out a nice golden trout! Not big fish, but 20 minutes to catch six fish for dinner is not bad. I then traversed to Lake Jordan, dunking my stringer of fish in every little pond along the way. I then tied the fish to a rock at the northeast arm and hunted for a campsite up on the hill towards the outlet. I purposely set up on the top of the hill to get a breeze to keep mosquitoes away. It was quite windy so I could have done fine closer to the shoreline. I had a good view, both directions, even if it was a bit of a trek to water. I fished near the outlet and all along the north shore to the inlet. There were fish, but they were not interested in my fly. Not sure I really wanted to catch any as I already had my limit and would have to release any fish I caught. On the way back, I picked up my stringer of fish, cleaned them. I only brought one pot, so I simmered them in butter and sprinkled them with bourbon-maple BBQ rub. It was a fun day with enough time to explore, fish, bathe and wash clothes.

[Wandering Daisy]

View from Forrester Pass

[Wandering Daisy]

Day 5. “Jordan Lake” to “Casper Lake” plus side trip to upper valley and lakes. 5.3 miles, 1035 feet gain, 4.8 hours.

The plan was to fish the little lakes between Jordan Lake and Casper Lake. I decided to just get going as these lakes were a bit swampy and I did not want to deal with mosquitoes. At the inlet to Casper Lake, I could not decide if I should drop the pack and day-hike the upper valley, or just haul up my pack in case I wanted to camp up there. I hauled my pack, set it at a campsite, and then hiked up 700 feet to the lake at 11,930 southwest of Mt Jordan. This lake still was partially frozen! Back at my pack I agonized over camping in this lovely valley or going down to the outlet of Casper Lake. It was still early in the day and as much as it would be fun to see if there were fish in the upper valley, the drainage was swampy and buggy. I decided to drop to Casper Lake where I knew I could get some nice fish. After much walking around I settled on a campsite on the top of the little peninsula on the lower northeast shore. I had a view plus a nice wind to keep the mosquitoes away. I then walked back to the outlet and fished all the way back to my campsite. I caught a 9-inch fish and a 12-13 inch fish. I think the fish are rainbow-golden hybrids. They look like subdued colored golden. It was another wonderful relaxed day with good fishing, a nice bath, exploring and a tasty dinner.


Day 6. “Casper Lake to Wrights Lake Basin. 9.7 miles, 2085 feet gain, 7.8 hours (including 1 hour fishing).

This day did not turn out as planned. I started out traversing to the Kern River Trail where I had planned to then drop off-trail past a little pond to intersect the cross-trail to the JMT. The initial traverse was trickier than anticipated and I had to wade across a stream. When I reached the well-maintained Kern River Trail, I decided that I would just walk up it to the lake south of Lake South America and return on the same route I did on Day 3 to intersect the cross-trail between the two large lakes at 11,500. Although longer and with more elevation gain, I am really glad I did! The Kern River Trail to Lake South America is outstandingly scenic and I had not been on it before. It gave me a close-up look at the whole string of lakes east of where I had been. I met a couple as I dropped back down through the “swamp” on the Lake South America Trail. I intersected the cross-trail and ate lunch shortly before intersecting the JMT. I crossed Tyndall Creek (amazingly easy) where there are campsites that are marked for restoration and then intersected the trail from Shepherd Pass.

I had initially planned on going over Rockwell Pass. It had a snow band cross the north side, and it looked to be a cornice, although I am not sure of that. To play it safe, I again chose the longer detour. A few JMT hikers were on the top of Bighorn Plateau, where I left the trail and traversed the southeast slope at about 11,400 feet, through an ancient forest of gnarled Sequoia. I reached the first of a series of small lakes at the head of Wrights Creek. At the second lake, I stopped to fish, catching a nice 12-inch golden. By now I was darned tired. I thought of camping here, but it was exposed and windy, so I dropped to the next lake (I call this “ugly lake with fish” because the last time I was here, the water was gross but I caught big fish). I found a nice campsite and went fishing. This time I had less luck only catching a small fish. But with this year’s snow, the water was not gross at all! Well if the fishing is not great, at least I could take a refreshing bath and wash clothes. I cleaned my two fish and enjoyed a nice fish dinner again. The area where I camped looked like a Sequoia graveyard as many gnarled, wind polished stumps surrounded my campsite. I was beat when I climbed into the tent, as the coyotes howled.

[Wandering Daisy]

Back up to Lake South America

[Wandering Daisy]

Day 7. Wrights Lake Basin to Wallace Lake, 9.6 miles, 1815 feet gain, 7.6 hours, including two hours of fishing.

Again I was torn between day-hiking to Upper Wrights Lake or just hauling my pack up there. I decided to haul up the pack, giving me more options to return down the valley to Lower Wrights Lake. I had camped at Upper Wrights Lake before and recalled that it was in the shadows until late in the morning. I got there about 9:30, just about right for photographing the impressive cirque that holds the lake. Between fishing and photographing an hour passed. I got bites but could not actually hook a fish. Probably just as well since I would have to stop and cook it. The plan to return down the string of lakes to the south did not work out when I dropped too low before traversing over to the lakes. I hit cliffs and decided to just drop to the north back to the main Wrights Lake drainage. I followed this lovely creek on a come-and-go use-trail and then dropped down a steeper slope through another ancient Sequoia forest, and along the west side of Lower Wright Lake to the outlet, where I had lunch.

From here you could drop to the JMT and then take the use-trail up Wallace Creek. On Google Earth it looked reasonable to just traverse high over to Wallace Lake. At first it was working out really fine. I climbed up 350 feet to the lake at 11,470 and then traversed. First I had to avoid brush. Then, the bench I had planned to traverse turned out to be car-sized boulders so I had to go higher and traverse a miserable loose scree slope under a cliff. I was forced to lose elevation and drop to a band of Sequoias. After traversing through this lovely forest, I was again forced to drop about 200 feet. I then had to go up another 150 feet until I could traverse to Wallace Lake. So much for the “route” I had picked from Google Earth! But it still did save a lot of miles and time; although it seemed longer, it only took 2.5 hours. As I jumped across rocks at the outlet, several nice fish swam by! I again picked a windy spot to camp (later I would regret this as the wind picked up as the day went on).

First order of business was to hike up to Wales Lake to take advantage of the afternoon light for photographing. I had camped at the outlet of Wales Lake years ago, and the sunset was marvelous. But this time, I also wanted to fish Wallace Lake, so dropped back to camp and got out the fishing gear. It did not take long to catch a nice 12-13 inch fat golden trout. The wind even died down for a while so I could take a bath. But by the time I cooked dinner it was cold as hell and the wind was howling. I retreated into the tent and listened to music for the early evening. I contemplated the fact that so far I had the upper Kern, Wrights Lake Basin and now Wallace Lake basin all to myself. My timing on the JMT had even managed to miss the slug of hikers that leave every morning from the established campsites.

[Wandering Daisy]

Day 8. Wallace Lake to Lower Crabtree Lake, 10.3 miles, 1585 feet gain, 7.1 hours.

It was a very chilly morning! I cooked breakfast in the tent vestibule, something I rarely do for fear of burning down my tent. But it was the only place I had any shelter form the wind. Taking down a tent by oneself, in a wind, is a challenge. Thankfully nothing blew away. I followed a very nice, well-marked use-trail to about 11,100 feet elevation, where I lost it. Since I was not interested in going down to the JMT at Wallace Creek anyway, I just headed cross-country through fairly easy terrain to the JMT after it had climbed 400 feet up out of Wallace Creek. Even though I was fairly sure where I was going, there was some anxiety as the terrain is not easy to navigate through; timbered and with few landmarks. I was mighty happy when I ran into the lake about a third of a mile east of the JMT. All in all, it was 3.7 miles from Wallace Lake to the JMT at 10,750.

Once on the JMT highway, I could really make time. When I got my permit, the ranger said I should pick up a “wag-bag” at the Crabtree Ranger Station. Not exactly the correct information, but the ranger did find me a “wag-bag” so I could be legal in the Whitney zone. I then dropped down to upper Crabtree Meadow (very soggy- got my feet wet) and intersected the trail top Lower Crabtree Lake. Again, by the end, I was really dragging. It had been another long day. I found a great campsite about mid-shore on the north side of the lake. I had enough time to walk around a bit, but it was becoming overcast so the photography was not great. I decided not to fish and instead concentrate on exploring. Besides, I had to start eating up all my excess dinner food.


Day 9. Day-hike to Upper Crabtree Lake, and move to Arctic Lake. 9.7 miles, 2545 feet gain, 7.4 hours.

The day-hike to Upper Crabtree Lake was a highlight of the trip; absolutely stunning and an area I had never seen. Water was flowing, meadows lush and green with wildflowers and a no mosquitoes! The north cliffs of Mt. Chamberlin and Mt. Newcomb are quite impressive. Middle Crabtree Lake was sapphire blue and even had a large sandy beach! The upper lake was still a bit frozen with snowbanks on the shorelines, but Crabtree Pass was mostly snow free. On the way back to camp I jumped into the lower lake for a refreshing splash.

I packed up and headed out to traverse off-trail to the JMT at Timberline Lake. Previously, I had traversed the opposite direction and got sucked into the miserable canyon. This time I aimed high, and overshot, having to “sand ski” down about 150 feet to round the cliffy buttress before reaching Timberline Lake. It was back to the crowded JMT. Although I was quite tired, the masses at Guitar Lake put me off, so I trudged up the 700 feet to Arctic Lake. It would have been wiser to camp on one of the upper benches and just day-hiked up to photograph.

Arctic Lake really lived up to its name! The grassy inlet where I had previously camped was still covered with snow, so I hunted around the outlet, finding only one suitable campsite where in spite of the big boulders, the wind seemed to whip around every direction. At the outlet I noticed a splash in the water. Could it be a fish? I took out the fishing rod and tried to fish the choppy waters next to my camp. During one calm spell, a fish did come to the surface. But soon it was again windy. I got a bite, but no fish, so cannot say what kind of fish or size inhabit Arctic Lake. Shadows fell early, at 5:30. I put on every layer of clothing I had and hunkered behind a rock to cook dinner. After a brisk walk to warm up I gave up and went inside the tent at 7PM.

[Wandering Daisy]

Day 10. Arctic Lake to Outpost Camp, with 1.5 hours fishing at Consultation Lake. 7.8 miles, 2235 feet gain, 8 hours.

Early morning I was also in the shadows and the wind was still howling. I cooked inside the tent vestibule and ate breakfast while still in my sleeping bag. Then I quickly packed up and dropped back to Guitar Lake, thankful to walk into the sunshine. I slowly trudged up to Trail Crest, meeting several day-hikers on their way back down from early ascents of Mt. Whitney. I had no desire to walk the Whitney trail, as I had climbed Whitney twice by the East Face, once by the East Buttress and descend the Mountaineers Route. Just walking up a trail to the top would be a big disappointment. There was an amazing pack of people stashing gear just below Trail Crest. Stupidly, I did not stop to rest on the sheltered side and once over the crest I only stopped briefly as the wind was cold and howling. The trail became ever more crowded as I descended to Trail Camp. The switchbacks are now totally snow-free. Trail Camp was pretty empty so I stopped and took photos.

It was early enough that I could do a side-trip to Consultation Lake. The drop to the lake involves some rock scrambling and zig-zag ramps, but I finally reached the outlet, which was literally full of fish! The fish at the outlet were not interested in my fly, but once on the adjacent shores, I caught two nice Rainbows. Needing just one more little fish for dinner, I cast out and caught the biggest fish. Now I had to decide if I would camp here, which would be wonderful with good campsites and a fine view and enough privacy for a bath. On the other hand, I was to meet my husband the next morning at Whitney Portal, and I did not want to be late. So I cleaned the fish, put them in a gallon zip-lock, and stuffed an extra sack with snow, and climbed up out back to the trail and lugged my bag of fish down to Outpost Camp. I got there about 5PM and set up among the small city of tents already there. I stuffed myself with my fish wanting little else except a hot cup of cocoa. Although there was little privacy, everyone was nice and quiet and Outpost is really a very scenic area- even has a spectacular waterfall. In spite of the big wet meadow adjacent, there were no mosquitoes.

Day 11. Outpost Camp to Whitney Portal. 3.3 miles, 0 feet gain, 1.7 hours

It was a quick walk out. Luckily I stayed on the regular trail and waded across the creek, or I would have missed my husband. (There is a short-cut trail just before the crossing). While putting on my shoes, Lupe, our border collie came bounding up to me, followed by my husband. Doggy kisses, belly rubs, husband kisses, and we were ready to drop to the Portal, buy a few cold beers and drive back to our trailer parked at Lone Pine Campground. My husband forgot to bring any clothes for me, so I took a shower, washed my stinky hiking clothes in a bucket while wearing his boxer shorts, T-shirt and my Crocks. We drank beers and caught up on news. I tried to fish Lone Pine Creek, but it is brush choked and all I caught was Lupe’s paw and many branches. Other fishermen had pulled out 16-inch fish that had been recently planted just above the campground. The afternoon was really hot!


Next day we drove up the road, picked up my car (thankfully I now had some clean clothes and tennis shoes) and then camped at McGee Campground, to get up a bit higher and out of the stifling heat in the Owens Valley. I hiked up the trail a bit with Lupe. McGee Creek was still raging! The camp host told me that the bridges and logs across the creek were all washed out this summer, but the pack station people had replaced them and rebuilt the trail recently.

Sunday we drove home over Monitor Pass. The Carson River was tempting- so beautiful and we had good luck fishing there previously, but my husband needed to be home Sunday. Dropping into the Sacramento smog soup was a real downer for me after so many days in crystal clear air. To add agony to misery the traffic from Tahoe was terrible. All in all, this ended a wonderful successful trip.

[Vaca Russ]

Daisy,

Another great TR. I am glad you had a great time.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

-Russ

[texbob]

Great read. I really enjoyed it.