High Sierra Topix

Hiked over Taboose Pass and north until I could see enough of the peaks I was after to realize they were still too snowy for me to keep trying to deal with the creeks.

There is a section of water damage on the road that begins about 1 mile before the TH and ends about 0.5 mi before the TH. It looks like it's been "smoothed over" but is still pretty rough.

I knew I wouldn't be able to cross Taboose Creek, so I did a 1 mile bypass on the north side of it that took a heck of a long time, through old rockfall debris.

Several sections of snowfields cover the trail on the east side of the pass above about 9600 ft. Lots of suncups across the pass and down the upper part of the west side.

PCTers are staying on the east side of the South Fork Kings River when heading north from where I reached the river. I'd marked 3 log crossings to look at that I saw on the satellite imagery. One had water lapping over it, one had disappeared, and one was completely submerged.

Snow is thick in the trees along the east side of the river, as far as I got.

First crossing of Taboose Creek: Second crossing of Taboose Creek: Kings River: Snow in trees on east side of Kings River:

I hope everyone sees this report. The pics are worth millions of words, not just a thousand words. That stream looked incredibly like a bad idea to cross.

Teresa, thanks for posting!

Awesome and incredible with the snow. The pic with the snow cave looks like a glacier! haha

Thanks so much for posting this report Teresa!

Great report and photos. Nice job on your bypass of those crossings, too. In addition to the scary stream photos, the high altitude photos are also very informative, including the view toward Arrow Peak and Bench Lake. Jeez that's a pretty intense overnighter trip! Up and over the pass (under less than ideal conditions) and then out and then post the next day. Whew.

I camped in a dry mound of sand in the midst of snow at 11000 ft on the west side of the pass. The second day I hiked down to the river and north to the crossing of the creek that comes down from Cardinal Lake. I could have crossed it on a snow bridge, or waded it without too much worry, but I was not sure I'd be able to in a few days on the return. I hiked all the way out from there at that point. Long day, primarily due to the slow creek bypass and the suncups.

I've been comparing the line graph that shows snow water equivalent for this year to 2010-2011. There was more snow this year than in 2011, but it started melting sooner, and for the last month, it's showed less to about half as much snow this year as then. Also, the maps that show snow cover depth have shown this area as almost snow-free for a week or two, which I knew not to believe. Satellite imagery showed snow-free lines on steep sections of south slopes on the peaks for snowy years/seasons on Google Earth's historical imagery. But south sides of my peaks were still practically all white. Guess you can't make good decisions with bad data.

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowap ... art.action
To add insult to injury, the forecast had a low of 40 degrees at 12000 ft, but it was below freezing overnight. Everything was ice in the morning.

Other things I should have mentioned: mosquitoes were about non-existent. Gnats were only a problem near the creeks. I used microspikes, but not crampons/axe/snowshoes/gaiters. Snow was solid even in the afternoon.

Thanks for the TR and pictures!

Here is a shot from a similar location, taken from a little closer to the top of the pass Teresa, but in Aug of 2011.

Teresa Gergen wrote:...
There is a section of water damage on the road that begins about 1 mile before the TH and ends about 0.5 mi before the TH. It looks like it's been "smoothed over" but is still pretty rough. ...

Thanks for the report.

Several of us are hoping to drive up there for the meetup in a few weeks. Would you say the rough part is passable by a typical sedan? Or will we need to add another low and hot mile to our trek?

Teresa any pictures toward Ruskin? Thanks so much for the pictures!

Teresa Gergen wrote:I've been comparing the line graph that shows snow water equivalent for this year to 2010-2011. There was more snow this year than in 2011, but it started melting sooner, and for the last month, it's showed less to about half as much snow this year as then. Also, the maps that show snow cover depth have shown this area as almost snow-free for a week or two, which I knew not to believe. Satellite imagery showed snow-free lines on steep sections of south slopes on the peaks for snowy years/seasons on Google Earth's historical imagery. But south sides of my peaks were still practically all white. Guess you can't make good decisions with bad data.

So far the best predictor for conditions, based on the reports I've heard, appears to have been the snow accumulation as of ca.May 1 at specific spots (ie DWR snow courses). In examining this and comparing past records we find that at the higher elevations (>10000' for "High" Sierra Yosemite and south) the 2017 May 1 snowpack was in the same league as 1969 and 1983 both of which were far greater than 2011 at those elevations. Below 8000' in the "High" Sierra the snowpack was actually not so impressive, so there has been some comparatively early thaw of the lower elevations based on reports (plus my own personal experience in the Jamison Creek area near Lakes Basin three weeks ago). The higher elevations are still thawing out at a pace that is reminiscent of 1969 and 1983, based on the reports that have trickled in.