High Sierra Topix

I'll get to posting a TR, but as with all vacations, I'm currently inundated at work with month-end approaching. I got through about 20 of my 300 shots taken and so far, a few very nice ones. So, to be continued.

maverick wrote: Hobbes, Met Tom K. on the way down, and he confirmed the lake in question, which will be most likely next years, 2015 Meet-up, location. 18"-20" trout , should
even have Rlown foaming at the mouth, and any other fishing person on this board.

Yes, "3 Bay lake" - I can see on my 7.5m map that it's a little below the lake we were looking at on your T Harrison map. West-siders could come in via Harrison, Lucy's or Milly's, whereas it would be a straight shot up Shepherd & across Tyndall from the east side.

Screw Shepherds! Oh, did I say that out loud?

Here's a brief photo travelogue of the path from Shepherd to Wales. Unfortunately for Mav, Jim & Schmalz, the weather was absolutely perfect! So, while they didn't get any cloud cover for color & atmospheric effect, the sun was blazing from dawn to dusk. (Which is why it was cold in the mornings - see photo above. But once the sun peaked over the range, it was a full on Venus effect, especially @ that altitude and amount of pure exposed granite.)

Rockwell Pass Seen from just leaving the Tyndall trail after crossing Shepherd pass. Shepherd is 12,050, whereas Rockwell is 12,100. The trail to Tyndall drops almost 1k, but if you go x-c, you can keep the loss to around 500'. It seems like you can stay higher without any loss, but there are large boulders, etc. So, as usual, it's faster/easier to drop a bit and stroll through the grass. When you get to the base of Rockwell, there is a faint use trail that switchbacks up the scree/boulders.


Rockwell Pass Seen from the first pond in WLB.


WLB - upper Looking down towards Wales/Wallace drainage beyond tree lined shoulder in center of photo. It may look "dry-butt" (my wife's parlance), but what the photographs fail to convey is the immense largeness of space. I guess that's the thing about Sequoia - big, big country. I didn't see a single soul for 3 days, until Schmalz said hi while I was fishing near the meet-up spot.


WLB - lake My own private beach- this lake was protected in a small bowl, hence I kept referring to it as the pothole. It was probably 10 degrees warmer than elsewhere. The lake was also pure line-of-sight fishing. I suggested it as a good stop for the crew on their way back towards Shepherd:


WLB - lower At around 2-3 miles long x .5+ mile wide, this might be the largest high meadow in the Sierra. At 10.5k+, it's the same elevation as Crabtree, but orders of magnitude larger. While Tuolumne, Pete's etc may be larger, they are also lower - and have a lot more people. It's incredible just to be able to stroll x-c without any fuss & muss. Pure line-of-sight dead reckoning to the shoulder on the left to cut over to the Wallace/Wales watershed. Kaweah off in the distance.


Wales lake - cascade from outlet When I arrived below the meet-up spot, my first thought was Mav had sure picked an incredible location!


Wales creek drainage This was day 2; I still wouldn't see anyone till the next afternoon.


Mt Russell Scary, and beyond my pay-grade. Tulainyo is above that vertical headwall. I believe Oleander climbed up and visited the lake the day I left for home.


Wales This is what I meant by the Venus effect - full sun blast @ 11,700'. Oleander, Jimr & yours truly.


Snack Time Our host, Maverick, Schmalz & Jimr cooking up the catch:


Fish pron It's 16.5" from the butt of my rod to the black stripe. Jimr actually caught a larger one, with a fly rod on his own, hand-tied fly to boot. Major props, bro I, on the other hand, C&R'd (landed) almost 2x the keep limit, had 5 break off my 2lb line (with drag set at -0- no less) plus one break off a treble hook. In addition, I lost an equal number due to fishing with barbless hooks combined with wild, thrashing, leaping fish who consistently shook free. Only constant pressure worked, yet too much resulted in broken lines. When I realized Jim had a cook set-up, I caught one more to finally keep to add to our communal meal:


Summary You can't get there from here, without going trail/x-c 40-50 miles r/t over a couple of 12k+ passes with major elevation gain/drop thrown in for good measure. When Mavericks, the famous (and dangerous) big wave surf spot below SF, was first exposed, people worried that it might become become too popular. But the original saying still remains true: "Mavericks will take care of itself".

Same for this area; it's not really dangerous per se (well, maybe now with Shepherd), even though you are far, far off the beaten path. It just takes a lot of mental commitment and physical preparation. Other than a couple going up over R-C pass, it was just the 5 of us (+ Cam/Joy who stopped by for a quick hi) there the entire time.

Hi everyone,
Thanks to Carl for saying everything better with words and photos than I can do. Mav, it was a great experience for which Joy & I cannot thank you enough. It was great to meet several other Sierraphiles, though I'm sad we missed Oleander. The only grand addition that I can make right now is that we ran into Sierrasummit (Drew and Rebecca) close to the summit (appropriately) of New Army Pass on our way out. He was disappointed that work precluded making the meet up, but was keen to hear about plans fomenting for next year. At the same time, with how the weather has turned since Sunday, I'm not sure whether his current expedition is going to be all strawberries and cream. There were some big, black clouds over the crest when we left Horseshoe Meadow! It could make for a wild TR on his part. At the same time, I'll look forward to Jim's report and any photos from Tulainyo!
Cheers,
Cameron

PS. I will try to get a couple photos up, but it may take a while..........as usual!

Glad to read you all actually were able to meet up given the variance in entry points, dates, and routes. Will enjoy meeting others on this board on one of these meetups maybe even next year.

Given the notorious vertical required to get into that upper Kern Basin area and the fact this is a record drought year meaning vegetation and wildflowers were certain to be sub-par, last year I immediately dismissed the idea of joining the trip. That has been a good call as what I have seen this summer is sunny exposures in the high country already turning yellow and brown like one usually sees in late August that is a negative for aesthetics. I have had a 9-day trip into that region planned in detail and queued up on my list for some years now. However most of my off trail route will be closer to the trench down at timberline areas where wildflowers and foxtail pine provide more interesting photographic fore and middle grounds to the big peaks and the ponds there are probably full of frogs not golden trout.

Thanks for the travelogue. What a great trip and GREAT fishing from the looks of things. I had imagined 20 to 30 people camped around a lake in the middle of the sierras, which didn't seem all that appealing. The reality looked both fun and inviting. My vacations are limited in length, so the amount of time it would have taken me to get there and back (5 days) and a layover day or 2 would have been impossible (thus the 4 days to Ram Lakes), but I sure wish I would have been there instead. Descriptive story and descriptive pics, Thanks

Really am wishing I were there now! Actually I will, in September, beyond fashionably late but still excited by the prospect. I really hope I discover all that you did and shared with us in your wonderful trip reports...and Hobbes, your base weight and clever writing are awesome! In one picture you mention the Golden as "fish pron" Well done!

I have been eagerly waiting for the trip report from the member meetup. Sounds as good as it gets. Wish I could have been there....maybe next year!

Hi, glad to have meet the guys at Wales. Here are some photos of my out and back over Sheppard.
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