On 8/19 I found myself on an early Southwest flight from Orlando to LAX, then on a familiar drive to the SEKI east side with Woadie in his Honda Civic / mobile home. Thanks to our impeccable preparation we made 4 stops for supplies, including a pair of bright red Walmart swimming shorts, questionable backcountry attire.
7PM Saturday night we rolled up to the Cold Creek campground and pulled in to one of a couple open sites. Sleep came easily with the rushing creek drowning out all sound (a few shots of bourbon didn’t hurt either)
8:30 AM the next morning we strolled over to the ranger station across the street. The lights were still off so I entered slowly. We were the first customers of the day. What a refreshing experience after having waited for hours in the cold dark mornings at Yosemite and Glacier only to have to alter trip plans due to availability. This is the way backpacking should be. Our itinerary is as follows:
Mineral King >> Franklin Lakes >> Lil Claire >> Big 5 (Upper) >> Little 5 (Long Lake)>> Hamilton Lake >>Cliff Creek >> Mineral King.
The Route
Hike Stats: 52 miles and a bit of up and down
Kaweah Gap / Hamilton Lake was a late addition to the itinerary thanks to a timely trip report here on HST. Though we had been through the high sierra trail, this area is magnificent, and there’s something nice about linking up with a familiar place.
Gear and food loaded, we weighed in just to make sure we were carrying our fair share (I caught Woadie sneaking a pillow into his pack). Surprisingly we were both right at 28-29 lbs. We hit the trail for Franklin Lakes.
No issues with altitude until wham, we reach the dam and Woad is sprawled out on the concrete surface hugging a backpack like a baby while I scope for a campsite and fishing spots. The obvious looking choice was around the south end of the lake (across the dam), where I found a double site up the slope tucked into the rocks.
Note sleeping beauty on the left
I selected my weapons and moved down to the shore. The brookies were biting. I pulled in about 10 using a 13ft tenkara rod with a Biggs Sheep Creek Special tied on. This being only the second time I’ve used this rod, I was feeling pretty masterful with the term Trout Slayer circling in my head. This confidence in my fly fishing abilities would prove to be unfounded as the trip progressed.
An angry displaced marmot viewed from my tent. After the faceoff, we had no trouble.
Clouds started rolling in shortly after we arrived
Not to be outfished, Woad battles mild AMS
Its been a while since I used the pyramid (the wife prefers a bug barrier)... so photogenic
Dinner: Beefy mashed potatoes
Bob’s Red Mills potato flakes (7 servings), Dehydrated Ground beef (1 cup)
Beef Boulion (2), Butter Buds, whole milk powder, dried peppers and onions, bacon bits, spices
8/21 Day 2 (Eclipse day)
The wind had picked up at about 2AM, rattling everyone’s tents and continued to blow cold as we packed up and headed up the trail. The trail goes high above the lake, but is a well graded “highway,” an impressive bit of trail building all the way to the pass.
Just as we topped out at the pass at 11,800 ft, the moon passed in front of the sun. Minds blown.
Franklin Lakes
Franklin pass looking toward Forester Lake
We altered our plan slightly and headed to Forester Lake instead of Little Claire after gathering that a group of 7 would be camping there. No mind, Forester is beautiful and we had the whole lake to ourselves (this would be a theme for the next three nights). We headed clockwise around the lake to a wide open, flat, forested, soft duff covered area a few hundred yards from the trail. Off came the shoes, and out came the fishing rods, Woadie slinging a Kastmaster, me with the tenkara. The brookies were biting to say the least. This time we decided to build up a stringer for dinner given how early it was.
clouds still looming: intermittent sprinkles mixed with sunshine
Dinner: Fish Tacos
10 small brookies poached over fresh lemon slices and garlic. The stripped meat was added to tortillas, topped with crushed corn chips and tabasco. Made four meaty burritos.
Mosquitos:
Our site selection, with its many merits, also lent itself to skeet life. At bedtime, I questioned my decision to bring a light open tent and threw on a head net. Once the sun set and night fell, the skeets returned to their comas and I had peace. Decision validated.
The night sky was too good, so I broke out the Sony RX100 and mini tripod
8/22 Day 3 (12 miles)
We packed up early after oatmeal and coffee, heading up the hill between Forester and Claire. We passed the larger group packing up and continued toward the outlet and then down steep switchbacks to Soda Creek. More skeets down there so we deployed the keep it moving method.
A last look at Forrester Lake
The conversation led to the differing Greek concepts of time, chronos and kairos. Chronos dominates modern life. It is clock hands, meeting schedules, mechanical. Kairos is more ephemeral, opportunistic, operating in the background and based on present conditions. I decided to stash my watch for the rest of the trip.
Moving up and and over to lost canyon, the trail heats up. Another climb opens views of the Kaweahs and the big 5 basin. We dropped down to the lowest lake, a beautiful place, but it was crowded already, with the group of 7 to arrive later. We headed up to the next big lake. The trail attacks the hillside with switchbacks and an ascent that felt like a thousand vertical feet (its 800, I checked) before giving back 200 on the descent to the lake.
It was worth the effort. Once again we had solitude in an incredible location.
Woadie set to work with a gold Kastmaster, hauling in some nice rainbows from his first stance. Too breezy and wide open and deep for flies, I grabbed my spinning rod and tied on a long casting Z-Ray… then a Kastmaster… without putting up much of a fight, I was skunked.
the pyramid again
Dinner: Loaded Mac n’ Cheese
Dehydrated Ground beef (1 cup), Box of mac n’ cheese, dehydrated peppers and onions, chili powder. Top with hot sauce and crumbled cheez-its. Call it the Mac Daddy.
8/23 Day 4
It was a welcome low mileage day, but we were pumped to be on our way to the off trail lake that shall remain unnamed (it doesn’t have one). At the creek below the ranger station, we took the big arroyo trail past the beautiful lower Little 5 Lake.
Last look at our Big 5 lake
At the next crossing, we turned up the drainage, treading lightly through the brush and marshes following the stream.
Lower little 5
Heading up the drainage
Sierra Garlic blowing up
We pushed on up the north shoreline scoping for a flat spot, but the rugged basin is filled with boulders, so we ended up dropping our packs and extending our fishing rods for what would be known as the Kastmaster Classic. Woadie hooked up first with a nice healthy rainbow. I worked the shore, occasionally glancing over to see another fish being released.
Still fishless since two days ago, I found myself dealing with a tangle in my twisted line, pissed. I heard two more shouts of joy. Each were met with a not-so-muffled curse from me.
Finally with my line sorted, I found a sharp drop off and cast out over it. I hooked up on the retrieve and found myself with a beautiful rainbow, the biggest of the trip.
Shore lunch:
Fried trout in olive oil with garlic, cooked in a jet boil (held well above the flame and kept moving to distribute the heat. Followed up with an Asian soup with all the remaining chunks of fish and garlic in the pot, so good.
We camped high on the slope above the outlet, a spot that afforded us dual views, the lake basin and the Kaweah ridge. To say this location is amazing is an understatement.
The Kaweahs
Some incredible weather rolled in dropping rain intermixed with hail for an hour.
Afterward we continued the Kastmaster Classic with Woadie continuing his domination (though I kept the largest fish title). I traded the rod for the lense.
Dinner: Spaghetti with meat sauce
Dehydrated ground beef (1 cup), dehydrated pasta sauce (2/3 jar), angel hair pasta (~75g), dried peppers, onions, mushrooms, spices. Top with plenty of parmesan cheese and crumbled cheez-its (trust me). I call this meal The King.
The stars were bright in the aftermath of the storm. I watched satellites orbit and meteorites streak across the sky with the booming rumble of evening flyovers from Edwards AFB echoing off the granite.
8/24 Day 5
The intended early start didn’t happen, as I woke up to the hot sun shining over the high wall onto my back. Coffee and a snack had us on our way. Mellow trail leads down to the big arroyo creek and a double crossing at the patrol cabin.
We stopped at a section of flat slabs along the creek for a snack and a dip as one should. I collected two sprigs of Sierra garlic for dinner before heading up big arroyo.
The gap’s east side had a couple sections of trail choked by lingering snow. We stopped at the top by the plaque to get ready for the views that we knew were ready to unfold.
Precipice Lake
We counted about 15 people at Hamilton Lake, but had the private site on the slope to ourselves. After that long day I was enjoying a soak in the relatively warm water when I heard a shout “Nate, stringer,” which I ignored. My rods stayed packed as I watched the fish instead. The loan catch was released.
Dinner: Chili (Dehydrated beef, peppers, onions, lots of spices, black beans and refried beans, Sierra garlic bulb mixed in and the stalks chopped up as a topping. Served with tortillas)
8/25 Day 6
Another late start despite some miles ahead. We picked our way down the canyon with four letters in my head b-e-e-r. The mid-morning highlight was a pair of cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale’s at Bearpaw meadow ($7 each). A fair price at $2 for the beer and a cheap $5 delivery fee. One can’s enough to do the trick.
the library at Bearpaw had some interesting reads
The trail drops way down to 6100 ft. and the air gets thick and saturated with smells that have been absent in the higher regions. The trail has a few creek crossings to cool off; Hamilton Creek and Eagle Scout Creek do the trick.
Next is Redwood Meadows, that giant backcountry Sequoia grove we hadn’t done our homework on. Amazing. The lower limbs littering the floor are thicker than some tree trunks. We hung around for a while. Woadie collected a few cones to digitize into a logo later.
The last 4 miles following Cliff Creek upstream were nice, but my Bearpaw buzz had worn off. No worries, some passersby and other trip reports had good things to say about the Cliff Creek campground. Well they were all wrong. There were 15 people or so camped there, no views, slanted tent sites, if you could even find one. I ended up laying my pad 10 feet away from another tent on the uphill side of a tree where there was a hump preventing me from rolling downhill. **** hole. There was a group of people crowding the best looking spot, clothes lines strung across the opening with towels and clothes drying. Campfire flames leaping 6ft before the sun went down. One kid came down to the river while we were getting water to wash a pair of cotton pants. I told him laundromat was back in town. Buzz definitely gone.
The next morning we were the first up and out, hiking up the slope to Timber Gap, one last leg workout. A dip in the creek chilled the joints as well as the two beers we had waiting... beautiful
looking into Mineral King
Cold creek beers
Nice report. And another Flickr convert...
