Brief Report - Shepherd - Lake SA - Crabtree Pass - Cottonwood

[Balsamroot9]

Just back from a lovely 7 day trip. Here are a few notes on conditions encountered.

Dates -- - July 26 - Aug 1, 2020
Bugs -- no bugs on this trip. :-)
Water was not a problem even though it was a dry winter
Sun and heat were intense even at elevation. No rain or thunderstorms.
Acclimation -- we slept the first night at 10K at Horseshoe Meadows, and the second at 10K at Anvil. Regardless, since we were all coming from near sea level (and had had a elevation sickness failure on our last Sierra trip attempt), we took Diamox as a preventative. Side effects included tingling hands and frequent urination and thus the need to drink copious fluids. We discontinued use after being at elevation for 3 days. Diamox got the job done and I'd probably use it again if needed. That said, everyone was very happy to stop using it when the time came.

Day 1 - Symmes Ck to Anvil -- hot of course. There's a creek crossing between the saddle and Anvil Camp that provides the only reliable water between Symmes Ck and Anvil Ck.

Day 2 - Anvil to Lake South America. Shepherd Pass is in great condition, easy to follow, no snow on trail. Once over the pass, we rambled cross country to join the footpath over the little saddle into the Upper Kern. Lake South America -- gorgeous! One other party was seen all day (that was at the lake).

Day 3 - Lake SA to Wallace Lake. Very quiet. No sign of recent use. No bugs. We cut into the basin on a compass bearing from the JMT Wright Creek crossing and almost missed the Wallace use trail, which is faint in places.

Day 4 - Tulainyo and Tunnaboro. Lovely. The calving snow bank along the lake margin made it difficult to get water here. Great views from Tunnaboro ridgeline. Heading back down to Wallace there is a headwall. We went decended on the left side (facing downstream) on very large talus blocks. They were stable and it wasn't too much of a problem, but use of hands was required.

Day 5 -- Wallace to Middle Crabtree Lake. I'm not sure how we lost the use trail in the Whitney meadow area, but lost it we did. So we shot a compass bearing and walked up the slope until we intersected the trail near the top. Camped at Middle Crabtree Lake, along the north shore near the sandy beach.

Day 6 -- Over Crabtree Pass to Siberian Outpost. The walk between Middle and Upper Crabtree Lakes was a highlight for me. Just beautiful. Easy path around the upper lake led to the base of the pass. As many have noted, the pass looks very steep from the lake outlet, however, it lays back and is very reasonable when you actually get up to it. No snow on the pass. We went up the left of the two main chutes and there was a good trail all the way up. Very easy. For the Miter Basin side we used Adventure Alan's map points and it was not a problem. Our last water was where the New Army Pass creek crosses the trail. We filled up there and made a nice dry camp near Siberian Outpost in the company of magical Foxtails.

Day 7. Out over Cottonwood Pass. Soft, sandy trail but it got the job done.

The High Sierra is magnificant. Thanks to those who host this helpful forum.

[frozenintime]

i might steal this route some year! sounds great -- hadn't thought of combining upper kern and miter basin before.

[cgundersen]

Wow, you guys pretty much hit the highlight reel for that region. I've not been back to Crabtree/Wallace since the HST meet up several years ago, so it's probably high time to return......I'm just not sure it's gonna happen in this covid-strange year. Thanks for the TR! cameron

[giantbrookie]

Now that is a fine trip. I envy the lack of thunderstorms, too (was out jul 21-28) as well as the lack of bugs (see below). That is a lot of ground to cover in 7 days. In 1996 my wife and I did this in reverse (Cottonwood-Shepherd), took 9 days and added a few things but it's very close. Our 1996 trip went to High L. (Cottonwood side) first, then over New Army and up past Sky Blue (mistake should have stayed at Sky Blue) to a high tarn, then over Crabtree Pass to the Crabtrees, then around the corner to Wallace, then around the next corner to Wrights, then to the upper Kern (including LSA) and finally Williamson Bowl and out by Shepherd Pass. When I say I envy the "no bugs" it is with respect to the (early July() 1996 trip which was the most mosquito plagued trip I've ever been on, exceeding even one of those Emigrant Wilderness blood donation drives. In 1996 we were utterly swarmed as high as New Army Pass (12300) and I set my dubious personal altitude record for a mosquito bite: 13500 while climbing Mt Barnard. Anyhow what a great route hitting some serious highlights of the region.