Where to next?

[maverick]

Thanks J
I read that quite a while ago. Bill has alot of good trip reports
on his site.
Phil Arnot "High Sierra,John Muir's Range of Light" has some detailed trip
reports to some great areas, which I have used many times in the past.

[giantbrookie]

Phil Arnot "High Sierra,John Muir's Range of Light" has some detailed trip
reports to some great areas, which I have used many times in the past.

I always found that an interesting and enjoyable book. There are a lot of off trail exotic destinations in there. The one thing I always wondered was: how on Earth did he persuade publishers to publish that book? I mean, how many potential readers actually do THAT kind of hiking--the hardcore off trail backpacking folks are a vanishingly small percentage of backcountry hikers. I don't imagine that book sold too many copies.

So, Kendrick Creek (I still haven't done the Edith to Twin part of that trek) and Stubblefield are off the list. What about Lake 11482 north of Kern Point?

[maverick]

Nope only to the lakes northeast of the Kern Ridge and the lakes
of Milestone Bowl.
11482 is a big lake and looks like it would have a fine view of the
Whitney Region and more!
Yes Phil's book describes alot of hardcore x-country routes which is why
I think it appeals to you and I.
Have you followed any of his routes or done a route and then find
Phil discribing the exact route that you just finished?
By the way I met him at REI a several years back(San Carlos)
he was giving a slide show of his trips, it was pretty cool.

[will_jrob]

Re Enchanted Gorge, this Matthew Holliman's report:
http://sepwww.stanford.edu/.mh/kcnp_aug ... x_web.html

[rightstar76]

Wow everyone, this is a great thread. Glad to hear from others who are interested in visiting these lakes. Sometimes it's easy to think you are the only one who likes to visit these places. Giantbrookie, thanks for your advice. I've been wondering which way was the easiest. I'm going to try to convince my wife to go over Reinstein Pass. Maverick, I was looking at my 7.5 minute Mt. Goddard map and it looks like if you went east from Tunemah Lake you could drop down quite easily to the lakes just below. There is a great photograph of Tunemah Lake on Matthew Holliman's report: http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock ... -peak.html

Even though the east drop off from the lake is in shadow in the photograph (according to the caption it was taken in the middle of October), it doesn't look too difficult. Probably, the long cross country approach is the most difficult part and why most people don't go. Whether you entered Blue Canyon from Crown Basin via Mantle Pass or took the Tunemah Trail from the Rancheria Trailhead, you'd still have to go over Dykeman Pass and drop into Alpine Creek before climbing back up to the lake-quite a detour. The only direct route from upper Blue Canyon to the lake would be to cross country along the White Divide from Finger Peak and Blue Canyon Pass which is what Holliman did. This appears in his photographs to be considerably technical. For this reason, most people including myself would choose the Dykeman Pass/Alpine Creek route to get to this area. And repeat the feat on the way back. Despite the difficulties in getting there and back, it sounds like an adventure worth taking one day.

[AldeFarte]

Rightstar, I visited That lake years ago on a trip from Wishon and thru Blackcap basin. Seems like we went from Valor and around the north side of Reinstein. I recall it was Beautiful and easy. I also recall seeing what I thought at the time was bighorn scat. The lake at that time was teeming with gorgeous 6 to 7 inch rainbow. We watched a guy spend all day decending from Ionian. I climbed up onto Le Conte divide a couple times in those years and it was an interesting "straddle". Very remote at the time. I think one of the most remote backwater areas of the sierra's is everthing west of Kennedy creek and north of Kennedy pass. Gorgeous country.Needs more fish, though. jls

[sekihiker]

Finally remembered where I had read about Enchanted Gorge. Here is a write-up on it. I have not been there personally, but thought it fit the description of what you're looking for. Good luck.

http://sierrahiker.home.comcast.net/Enc ... index.html

URL is now: http://www.sierrahiker.com/EnchantedGorge/index.html

[giantbrookie]

Neat to recall this thread after 12 years. I hadn't realized that Mav had been wondering about Blue Canyon and the lakes E of Tunemah. As of '07 I hadn't been there but that changed in '08 with what I called the "Tunechuck" trip (which was planned as "Tunepite" but morphed to Tunechuck because a fire burning in Tehepite had it closed down as of when I picked up my wilderness permit). I think of all the remote places I've been in the Sierra, the basin downstream of Tunemah may in fact be my favorite.

[sekihiker]

I've been caught up in reading posts about some of my favorite areas, most of which I will never see again. If the report is well written and the photos well taken, it's almost as good as being there. Some of your reports are among those, John. I can't remember which trip it was even though I read about it yesterday, but I was awed by the number of fish you photographed and described. I really miss your fishing website although it's not to hard to figure out why it's no longer on line.

[cgundersen]

Hi Gents,
Yes, fun to see what folks were considering a dozen years ago! And, I still have not made it to Tunemah (frustrated by fire once and weather another time), but it's been great to read about and see photos of others' success getting there. In the meantime, I'd add the upper lakes of Amphitheater basin as a cherished spot. Amphitheater itself gets folks doing the High Route, but the upper reaches of that basin are largely untouched. And, though I got skunked trying to do Fair Trade pass a couple years ago, I want to check it out again in a low snow year. Cameron