High Sierra Topix

The lake below Cartridge Pass is reasonably well known and Bench Lake is still a very good fishery, but "Arrow Peak Lake" sounds a bit more curious and exotic. Does "Arrow Peak Lake" refer to L 10960+ SE of Arrow Pk? It looked lifeless in 1997 and nothing responded to the usual retrieves my wife and I were making with our lures (that had scored very well in many other lakes in the Sawmill-Taboose region that week). I thought it looked as if it might have marginal spawning habitat, but concluded at the time that it was probably fishless. The lakes further downsteam looked more promising (in terms of spawning habitat), but my wife had detoured there after climbing Arrow from Bench and were eager to go back to the very reliable fishing at Bench, so we turned around and went back over the saddle.

Giantbrookie, I think he might be referring to the little lake below Cartridge Pass, just above the steep switchbacks leading down to the King's River. That lake looks like it's full of fish.

Mike

Thanks for sharing the trip report and photos! A fun read

On the rare clear days out of Fresno it is THE peak on the skyline. On those days, it is the first peak I look to and admire from here. It rises in solitary fashion towering above the skyline as an isolated white (now) pyramid--the skyline is composed of superimposed ridgelines including the White-Le Conte Divide and the highs of Woodchuck country. In the many years that followed I gazed at Goddard from all sorts of near vantage points and admired its dominance.

Quote above from Giantbrookie:

I followed the recent conversation about the bushwack up Cartridge Creek to this 2010 thread from MikeM. I was glad to find it. Great trip report! I grew up in Fresno and my first backpacks were from the west side in the early 1970s during my high school years. I always loved the view of Mt. Goddard on the skyline. My brother, who introduced me to backpacking on a trip to Sunrise Lakes out of Tuolumne Meadows, gave me a visual tour of the Sierra skyline from Fresno and told me that the prominent peak was Goddard. I didn't know that it is the White-Le Conte Divide and the Woodchuck country high elevation areas that are visible--that's great to know! On a clear day you can also see Sawtooth Peak clearly far to the south. I used to gaze at the Sierra skyline on those clear winter days as a girl and wonder what it would be like to hike in the high country below those peaks. Later in the 70s and 80s, I backpacked to many west slope areas (Dinkey Lakes a few times, a remote camp on the North Fork of the San Joaquin, which a local Forest Service ranger led us to, a great loop west and north out of Courtwright Reservoir, and hikes near Yosemite, Hetch Hetchy, and Sonora Pass, etc.) but it would be a while before I would get into the high Sierra back country.

PS: I left Fresno a long time ago but still go back to see family. I still wonder what peaks I'm seeing on the skyline north of Goddard? Are those southern Yosemite peaks? There's also a large, perpendicular slash through a forest in mid-elevation on the skyline from Fresno that's been there as long as I can remember. I had thought it was a ski run but I don't think so. Interesting!

SweetSierra, glad you liked my humble TR -- it was fun writing it up, like getting in a time machine. How about that nice paint job on the old Valiant!

I still wonder what peaks I'm seeing on the skyline north of Goddard? Are those southern Yosemite peaks? There's also a large, perpendicular slash through a forest in mid-elevation on the skyline from Fresno that's been there as long as I can remember. I had thought it was a ski run but I don't think so. Interesting!

It could be Mt. Humphreys or maybe Gabb or Abbot. I climbed Goddard most recently in 2010 and Humphreys was clearly visible in the distance. But it's hard to tell what you might be looking at from the valley floor in Fresno.

Mike

Two thumbs up, great stuff, Thank you. 1975 was the year I took my first backpack trip.

Mike M, very nice paint job. In 1975, I drove a Rambler that I bought from my grandmother for $200. It didn't have as nice a paint job as yours.
I'll have to get out a map and see if it could be any of those peaks. Quite possible. Mystery yet unsolved.

I too can attest to the evilness of the section of Goddard Ck from Disappearing Ck to Simpson Mdw. I did it with a buddy after graduating from college in June 1977. We were so foolishly lucky it just didn't make sense.

We had started out at Wishon, stopped to climb Tehipite Dome, and then went to the top of Blue Cyn. Somewhere N. of Tunemah Lake, we camped on a ledge overlooking Goddard Ck and the Enchanted Gorge whereupon it promptly snowed 6 inches. We were too scared to climb back up into Blue Cyn, so we figured we were safer going down one of the chutes into Goddard Ck and make our way to Simpson.

Big Mistake.

We immediately saw one rattler after another. Big Fat Ones with attitudes. And then we hit the 8 foot high continuous buckthorn brush. It didn't let up until the Mid. Fork Kings 9 hrs and 4 miles later. It was the most brutal thrashing from hiking anywhere I've ever received. Our clothes, packs, and skin were shredded. There was no way around the stuff, we had to throw ourselves on it and then walk on top of it.

And the last bit of dumb luck was that the M.F. Kings at Simpson was low enough to wade across in JUNE! It just so happened that the previous winter had been the lowest snowpack in 100 yrs.

Simpson Mdw was like landing in paradise after Goddard Ck. However, the rattlers didn't let up until we started climbing out of Tehipite Valley. I think we saw one every quarter mile. And then my old VW van wouldn't start back at Wishon, so we hitched a ride down to Fresno with a logger to get auto parts.

It was a hellishly amazing trip that is forever etched in my memory -- I remember every footstep.

Deleted.

Great trip report. I hiked the JMT in July, 1975. I was 16. Maybe we crossed paths.