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Taboose Pass/Kings River

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:26 pm
by wingding
My plan to go over Taboose Pass then north on the JMT to Split Mountain didn't work out so well this past weekend. I headed up the Taboose Pass Trail early on Saturday (July 1), made it across the two not so friendly Taboose Creek crossings, over Taboose Pass, and then down to the Kings River. The Kings River was roaring - there was no way I was going to try to cross it, so I made camp at a nice spot on the east side of the River. Yesterday (July 2), I went back out over Taboose Pass getting back to the trailhead about 3:30 (hot). I tought about trying to head in a different direction, but it was so soggy on the west side of the pass that I figured I just save the vacation time for later in the year after it has dried out a bit.

Here are pictures I took:

http://kathywing.smugmug.com/gallery/1599299

Bugs weren't much of a problem or was the snow, but the wet soggy ground and high creeks and rivers were.

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:48 pm
by giantbrookie
Wow, it sounds like you did all the hardest part, then turned back. You may have (depending on snow and side drainage runoff) been able to make it to Upper Basin, by staying entirely east of the Kings. In 1980, when I did Split via Taboose, I recall the trail junction and crossing of the Kings was lower than it was nowdays, which made me and my dad opt for "rounding the corner" on the way back to avoid unnecessary elevation loss. I recall cross country travel east of the river was over very easy ground. Certainly further upstream it gets easier still. Of course, my memories of Sept 1980 need to be taken with a grain of salt, given that in those days the backpack over Taboose and into the lower part of Upper Basin (about 6800' of gain) didn't seem terribly hard, either. In contrast, in my current condition, I doubt I could make it over Taboose Pass in one day, especially in the conditions you encountered.

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 1:25 pm
by wingding
I did think about staying on the east side of the river and going north, but with how soggy it was up around Taboose Pass I just didn't feel like going north to a higher elevation and having to deal with all the soggy and slushy ground. It wasn't until I was down by the Kings River at 10,100 feet elevation that I found some nice and fairly dry campsites. Some of the side creeks were raging pretty good too, so I was worried about those crossings. Turning around and heading out felt like the right thing to do at the time. I think that I'd like to go in at Bishop and come out at Kearsarge eventually and cover that section of the JMT inbetween. I also would like to go in at Kearsarge and come out at Whitney - I want to do Mount Barnard along that section.

Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:58 am
by burtonfm
Well, I hope the Kings calms down in 4 weeks as that's is when I'll be there. It sure looks like it was raging by the pics you took. I'm surprised there are no bridges built to cross. I wonder if the JMT has one further west. I guess I'll find out soon. Thanks for the report Kathy. BTW, I'll be at Split Mt on Aug 5th if you are around and want to join me there.

Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:01 am
by burtonfm
Well, I hope the Kings calms down in 4 weeks as that's is when I'll be there. It sure looks like it was raging by the pics you took. I'm surprised there are no bridges built to cross. I wonder if the JMT has one further west. I guess I'll find out soon. Thanks for the report Kathy. BTW, I'll be at Split Mt on Aug 5th if you are around and want to join me there.

Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:32 am
by madeintahoe
Very Beautiful pictures Kathy! Picture # 33 & 34 are absolutely breathtakingly GORGEOUS I think...they should be blown up and framed. Nice that there were some pretty puffy clouds in the sky.
What a beautiful part of the Sierra that is, Arrow Peak is really beautiful. Sorry about not getting to Split, but it looks like you still had a wonderful time out there. :D
Thank you for sharing

Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:15 pm
by DoyleWDonehoo
Seeing all that snow and knowing how bad the Kings can be, I think I would have headed for Bench Lake. For sure the crossing in that direction would be no problem. :cool:
Still looked like a great trip. Those kind of conditions can be special.

Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 6:12 pm
by copeg
Beutiful photos Kathy. That area is quite amazing. Too bad the conditions weren't the greatest for exploring.

Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:24 am
by giantbrookie
wingding wrote:I also would like to go in at Kearsarge and come out at Whitney - I want to do Mount Barnard along that section.
I can see that with a lot of side runoff, forcing the east side of the river would be unpleasant, plus it was at the end of a very hard day already. You had quite an adventure as it was.

As for Barnard, it is a pleasant peak with a nice view. Wallace Lake below it is not only a gorgeous place to camp, but also a good place to fish (and keep yourself well fed). I wonder if the original register is still there. As of 1996, the original (1936) was still only about 65% full. As long too many folks since then didn't leave "War and Peace" length entries, it should still be there. It was a trip to see all the great names in there (Norman Clyde, Jules Eichorn et al.).

Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:41 am
by langenbacher
giantbrookie wrote:... I wonder if the original register is still there. As of 1996, the original (1936) was still only about 65% full. As long too many folks since then didn't leave "War and Peace" length entries, it should still be there. It was a trip to see all the great names in there (Norman Clyde, Jules Eichorn et al.).
:angry: Unfortunately the register and container have been gone for a while. We found none on May 7 this year. I would have liked to have seen those signatures.

I planted a register and container on Trojan that day, but having only 1 of each, I left Barnard bare of these ammenities. But I did leave a $65 hiking pole there :(

I enjoyed it thoroughly :)

Harry