Mosquito Pass

[cgundersen]

TITLE: Mosquito Pass

GENERAL OVERVIEW: This pass allows you to access the western side of the Le Conte Divide without wrapping around into Goddard Canyon and using Hell-for-Sure Pass. Hence, it connects the basin of the South Fork of the San Joaquin River with this area.

CLASS/DIFFICULTY: Class 2

LOCATION: John Muir Wilderness; Due North of Upper Indian Lake

ELEVATION: 10, 460 ft.

USGS TOPO MAP (7.5'): Mt. Henry;

HST Map: HST Map

This is a decent option for getting up into the high country from the South Fork of the San Joaquin (as it's approaching Florence Lake), or getting back down to the river after being in the back country. The photos posted below show the extraordinarily kind, class 1 approach from the south (around the shore of Upper Indian Lake). The mini-surprise comes when you finish your water break at the lake and wander a bit further to look down the chute toward Heather Lake. Yes, it's a jumble of boulders and some of them refuse to get out of your way. I even asked nicely and they refused. So, unkind! Well, take your time and you'll leave the jumble behind. Since one descends quickly into trees beyond Heather Lake, we did not get a good shot up at the pass from the Heather (north) side, but I know from past experience that if you managed to find Heather Lake, you'll find Mosquito Pass. One caveat: the one time I went up Mosquito pass, there was an ornery gob of ice about half way up the pass and it was a real pain to get over it. Keep this in mind if you're on a tight time schedule (like, trying to catch the last ferry at Florence), because I'm sure it's worse going down the ice than going up!

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[erutan]

While this is one way to do it, it's not mosquito pass as described by Secor (and can be a real issue if there's been a heavy winter). I found his set of steps a little confusing, but basically you gain the ridge just west of the steep chute and follow it until it's safe to drop down.

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[erutan]

Looking at the pass from a bit above Lower Turret lake, the following line is a general handwavey representation of where to go.

There's an old come and go path down to MTR from the pass that's pretty decently cairned.

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