TR: Walkers Pass to Kennedy Meadows 5/19-20/2018

[cloudlesssky]

I had originally planned to hike PCT CA section G from Walkers Pass to Cottonwood Pass coming out at Horseshoe Meadow, but my swollen and painful knee decided otherwise and I finished at Kennedy Meadows. (Thankfully my wife was available for an early pickup.) My original interest in doing this section was twofold: 1) I was itching to get out earlier this season; and 2) I've been interested in seeing the transition from desert to Sierra for several years. Even though the trip got cut short I accomplished both goals. I just hope my visit to the orthopedist this week doesn't end the remainder of this years hiking season.

I was originally concerned about a few things about this hike: high temps; lack of water; and PCT through hiker crowds. I ended up having none of these problems. The weather was nice (50s to low 80s), water wasn't a problem (thanks to info on PCTWater.com), and I just didn't run into too many people (much less than an average summer day in the Sierras).

My wife dropped me off at Walkers Pass early so she could get to work (we live in Ridgecrest which is nearby). Thankfully it was a cool and breezy start. The prior week had seen daytime highs in the high 90's.

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The trail gains altitude and traverses along towards the base of Owens Peak.

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About 10 miles from Walkers Pass the first water spot is Joshua Tree Spring. The trail drops down to a spot where a trickle crosses the trail. There was a small clear puddle that you could scoop to resupply. Because of the cool weather, the extra water I had been carrying, and info from PCTWater.com telling me there was water another few miles up the trail, I didn't need to refill. The conditions are right for Joshua Trees and there are quite a few scattered about.

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After Joshua Tree Spring the trail climbs along a long traverse. Eventually you come to a nice vista of the Spanish Needle ridgeline where you can see the next available water source. Just left of center in this picture is the small greener patch where the creek crosses the trail. The trail drops down to this spot. You can also see where the trail takes a miles-long switchback back up to cross the ridge on the lefthand side of the picture.

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I watered up at the creek. The small pool of water that collected near the trail was clear but I was glad I brought some water treatment tablets. I rarely use more than my Sawyer squeeze filter when hiking, but the tablets gave me added peace of mind. The delay in using the water while the chemicals did their thing was something I hadn't considered, fortunately I had sufficient water left that I could use until the freshly collected water was ready.

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I got back on the trail and started up the long climb under Spanish Needle. The temp was pleasant, but by then the May sun was starting to beat down and I was very thankful I had my hiking umbrella to deflect some of sun as I made that long climb. I ended up spending the night in Chimney Creek campground after collecting as much water as I could carry at the Chimney Creek crossing. There were only two other people in the campground - a couple of guys from Florida doing the same section hike I was.

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In the morning I got around and started up the trail towards Rockhouse Basin in the Domeland Wilderness. This 13 mi stretch of trail seemed really long to me. Once you reach the summit the vegetation changes to a very dry scrub brush environment that seems to go on forever. There is one magical moment though when you catch your first glimpse of the snowcapped Sierras in the distance. Even though I hadn't hiked 700 miles of CA desert it was a sight to see.

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Eventually the trail comes upon the south fork of the Kern River (which was flowing nicely) and turns towards Kennedy Meadows. Strangely (for May) there were thunderheads building and as I hiked along thunderclaps started sounding increasingly and eventually it did rain for a while. By then I was close to the highway where my wife was waiting to pick me up.

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I was disappointed to miss the 2nd half of the planned hike, but I'm glad I decided to exit early. My knee was so swollen and painful the following morning that I had trouble hobbling around even without a pack on. Fortunately my wife is a physical therapist so the rehab is now well underway and the pain and swelling is mostly under control (the Dr will have more definitive information this week).

This was a really neat hike despite the knee injury. If you are able to time it right like I did, this is a great early season hike.

[zacjust32]

Great report on some underrated territory! I've done Owen's Peak as a day trip and now you've got me considering this section next spring. How early in the year could you consider doing it, would the flowers and vegetation be better earlier? How many miles did you end up doing?

[cloudlesssky]

If you watched the weather you could definitely do it much earlier. Some of the early PCTers went through about 3-4 weeks earlier. There's always that late spring storm that you need to be careful of (it snowed a few weeks earlier).

The wildflowers were actually quite nice when I went considering the average rain year. Earlier might have been only slightly better.

According to the PCT maps I have I did just at 50 miles in the 2 days. You can get an excellent map set from https://www.pctmap.net/maps/ and there is good water info at https://pctwater.com/