Little Joe's Pass

Member descriptions, photos, and map locations of Cross Country Passes in the High Sierra. This forum is for information only - discussions should be kept in the appropriate categories.
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erutan
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Re: Little Joe's Pass

Post by erutan »

The wider one that was better cairned was never unstable enough to consequential (you'd eat boulders), more that you'd slide down a bit with every step. The talus fields before you hit the chutes along the side were pretty stable iirc. The smaller chute I was in had a lot more vegitation than the main one, but I never felt unsafe in the main one... pretty standard class 2 if a little tedious.

I'll add in a few more photos in between the rest that I had written up for that trip:
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And here's a zoom in of the approach part of my labeled GPS waypoints:
Screen Shot 2020-11-02 at 5.42.32 PM.jpg
I was chatting with someone that did it differently this summer, and these are some pics from them:

"there was a lot of confusion and names for the chute we went up. Someone has named it Weyman chute and Leor Pantilat has called the shoulder we topped out on Point reflection [...] I got my info from blogs from Leor Pantilat who called it point reflection and Piero Scaruffi who called it the Weyman chute for his photog friend. It was a fun scramble. Good rock with loose stuff on the bigger ledges"

It seems like solid class 3, if you cut back in early enough you can skip the exposed 4 that people can run into, but it also doesn't seem quite as straightforward with a pack. It might be a better experience as long as you don't stray too far N towards the top...
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erutan
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Re: Little Joe's Pass

Post by erutan »

Someone uploaded their GPX track onto OSM, so it's trickled into Gaia and Caltopo. I had no real issues with the lower route of mine and can't comment on them staying higher (honestly that part of it isn't the interesting part). These tracks are always more of a "this is the general idea" as the one for crabtree pass wanders a bit drunkenly between a more direct route and snow bypasses for example.

The upper one part seem to line up more clearly with what I consider the "right chute" if you want to stick to class 2 and don't mind a little non-consequential looseness - so that's a nice check to see if you're going up in the right spot. The trail visibility label is charming.

Screen Shot 2021-01-19 at 8.29.31 PM.png
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Enigmagic
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Re: Little Joe's Pass

Post by Enigmagic »

erutan wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 10:00 pm The trail visibility label is charming.
I'm not sure who added the tracks but I added the visibility label, cleaned up the chute route and changed the name, it was previously Lucy's Foot. I've seen them mixed up on other forums and trip reports, probably due to how it's written on the USGS quads.
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erutan
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Re: Little Joe's Pass

Post by erutan »

I deleted the OSM track for this - it had zero ground truth and I never found anything resembling a use trail once it cut off from the lake.

Out of curiosity I tried following it and had a much harder time than my original attempt of doing the bottom 1k before the chute more or less blind just relying on topo lines and on the fly decisions. It made a lot of "armchair backpacker" decisions like following the solid use trail along the lake before cutting up to have more time on easy terrain, but this put it up a loose sandy slope vs more solid duff. Before the chute it went up a steep section of forest with a lot of deadfall and large boulders vs just cutting across some low angle small stable talus because from forests are always preferable etc.

I'm toying with just leaving a node at the bottom of the chute as a reference for people to aim for - that seems helpful while not trying force in a trail that doesn't exist.

It makes me wonder if the millie's footpath trail is also a "possible route" vs an actual use trail. It looked like there was actually some faint path leading from the solid lakeside trail on reflection going on, but I didn't poke around as I wanted to beat the heat heading up the pass.
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michaelzim
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Re: Little Joe's Pass

Post by michaelzim »

I'm adding my "distance view" photos of Little Joe's Pass and that north-south ridge it goes over, as I think the photos can be of help to someone trying to figure out where the pass is without a GPS device. I have written up my attempts to find the correct chute in my Trip Report here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22504 and others added to the discussion in that. Please note though that I did not "do" the pass so cannot give any details about the actual terrain on chute 7.

The photos speak for themselves though if anyone has any specific questions related to them please post and ask or PM me.

1. Overview of the north-south ridge photographed from the west side of Reflection Lake looking east.
1. Overview of the ridge.jpg

2. Chutes numbered for identification.
2. Chutes numbered.jpg

3. Closer up view & showing Little Joe's Pass at the top of chute 7.
3. Chute 7 = Little Joe's Pass.jpg

4. Distance telephoto view of the top of chute 7 - apparently it is not as steep as it looks.
4. Top of chute 7.jpg

Best ~ Michaelzim
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