Worst Switchbacks in the Sierras...

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balzaccom
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Re: Worst Switchbacks in the Sierras...

Post by balzaccom »

You guys are aiming way too high.

Copper Creek out of King's Canyon? That's about 5,000 feet in five miles. And the lower elevation makes it even hotter. And there is no water. And if you don't stop after five miles...it's another tough few miles to ge to the next stop....
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Re: Worst Switchbacks in the Sierras...

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Copper Creek switchbacks are GREAT! I went up these this summer late August with 10-days food (moderately heavy pack)- left 5:30 AM and got to Grouse Lake by 1PM. Cannot think of an easier way to get up 6,000 feet. I think these are some of the best switchbacks - very well graded - just get into a groove and keep going. Also, there are plenty of water sources along the way so I did not have to carry much water.

I recall Mt Lassen being very easy to climb. I do not even remember any hideous switchbacks.

Switchbacks get no respect! The worst switchbacks would be those that are actually harder to do than simply going off-trail stright up. I do not know of many passes where this is true. I do a LOT of off-trail passes, and believe me, I will take those switchbacks any day. I do agree that switchbacks that go on for nearly a mile and only gain a few feet are a bit silly.
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Re: Worst Switchbacks in the Sierras...

Post by BSquared »

Wandering Daisy wrote:Switchbacks get no respect! The worst switchbacks would be those that are actually harder to do than simply going off-trail stright up. I do not know of many passes where this is true. I do a LOT of off-trail passes, and believe me, I will take those switchbacks any day. I do agree that switchbacks that go on for nearly a mile and only gain a few feet are a bit silly.
:soapbox: Exactly the point I was trying to make about the east-coast trails! We'd be delighted with a few switchbacks now and then! (Well, I would anyway, transplanted left-coaster that I am...)
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Re: Worst Switchbacks in the Sierras...

Post by quentinc »

I can think of (and listed) several trails that would be better off without the switchbacks that are actually there. The problem with switchbacks that are absurd overkill is (i) they encourage people to cut them, thereby often degrading the trail, and (ii) for people like me, who would rather go cross-country, they often get in the way and I'm afraid of cutting them. For me, if a trail is steep, I'd rather just stop now and then and just rest for a few moments, rather than walking pointlessly from side to side.

I'm not proposing "no switchbacks" as the solution, but rather switchbacks that are rational.
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Re: Worst Switchbacks in the Sierras...

Post by maverick »

Not in the Sierra's, but in the Siskiyou Wilderness is a place called
the "Devil's Punchbowl" talk about endless switchbacks!
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Re: Worst Switchbacks in the Sierras...

Post by giantbrookie »

I'd second Markskor. That is easily the most annoying set of pointless switchbacks I've ever seen, except for another one that was bypassed sometime in the the early 80's: this was between Blue Lake and Dingleberry Lake. Technically you wouldn't call this a switchback: the trail went down one side of a low angle gully (losing at least 100' and probably more) than reversed itself and came right back with the two ends of the thing no more than 150 yards from each other across terrain that was no more difficult to build a trail than that which the spectacularly pointless hairpin was built over--the whole thing felt like a mile, but I'm sure it wasn't that far. I know I did this in 1977 (while hiking on a blown-out knee) and I recall they had built across the gully by 1983 and certainly by 1997. In 1977 there was a wooden sign at Blue Lake that was supposed to read Dingleberry 1 mile which was woefully short. Some person who clearly felt as we did carved a "0" after the one. My dad and I took a photo of that sign.

I would agree that the 500' drop on the way up to Shepherd is frustrating but it isn't so much the switchbacks that are the issue as the fact the trail loses elevation that was so hard fought.

Now I can think of some switchbacks I actually think are cool....Lower Sphinx Creek coming off of Bubbs. Those are spectacular. You really feel like you are looking straight down on the lower switchbacks.
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Re: Worst Switchbacks in the Sierras...

Post by sierramel »

ceragold5150......
Are we not insulted here...... ? Boys (girls?)?
You are talking down to ( ;) ) a group of superbly conditioned specimens of the genus: "mountianeous manus" (except for probably me: older, studmuffin, chick-type person). These guys are not weekend warriors. No hanging around, spare-time, couch potatos here. No! These guys can do push-ups with their tongues! (Watch out girls!).
The switchbacks mentioned (and I've been up a LOT of them), heretofore, can kick the a$$ off your average mountian gorrilla.
No forays, up middlin little hills, these. They be big, bad, grunty, dirty, sweaty, rocky, altitudinous, crazy, often pointlessly and poorly designed goat-tracks in the wilderness.
Ah, HA! But what satisfaction one derives from making it to the top (or bottom) of one of these miserable marvels without killing oneself, and seeing what "the bear saw".
:moon: :)
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Re: Worst Switchbacks in the Sierras...

Post by Baffman »

I have climbed Baxter, Sawmill and Taboose numerous times, but I have to say I really disliked going up the Copper Creek trail out of Roads End. I was already tired and got a late start though.The worst I've ever seen is the trail between Simpson Meadow and State Lakes. Luckily, I was going downhill, but that was still rough. Super steep, open (hot) and sandy.
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Re: Worst Switchbacks in the Sierras...

Post by DoyleWDonehoo »

Baffman wrote:...I was already tired and got a late start though.The worst I've ever seen is the trail between Simpson Meadow and State Lakes...
Nice thing about the State Lakes area, it really has the feeling of being remote and not so visited, and the lakes are beautiful. I went UP the trail from Simpson Meadow to State Lakes, and it did not seem so bad, but then again, I had been on the trail for over two weeks.
The Copper Creek Trail, which I have done too many times (once covered with snow), should only be done (going uphill) with an early start and rested. That last pull to the first camps can be a real trudge. What is interesting it that trail is a very old trail, a trail John Muir did. If you get off the trail and on the ridge leading to the trees 3/4 the way up to Granite Basin (near the "tent" rock) you can find the old trail, which went pretty much straight up, but not too bad. A trail made by bears and Native Americans.
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Re: Worst Switchbacks in the Sierras...

Post by AldeFarte »

I don't normally think of switchbacks as being "worst" .They are just part of the "game" However, Going downhill is another story once the knees and ankles become an aggravation. I have been out of Kings Canyon on the Copper creek trail and to Swamp lakes via Deer cove trail via Grizzly lakes, etc. Going uphill was actually quite cool both ways. The trick is to tackle the slog uphill in the PM and overnight at Frypan meadow , and ,or Ferguson meadow. {not my idea} But the summit passes are much more amenable and pretty in the AM light. I must say that both returns are tough and were accomplished after an already tough hike to the passes and finished by headlamp. Young studs insistence indeed! That region seems like a backwater of the sierra. The only disappointment was the fishing, but what do I know? Maybe I will check it out again someday.
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