Kaweah Basin questions

[pilgrim2]

September 30, 2010

Field Report: 9-day out and back loop from Wolverton through the Kaweah-Kern and Picket Creek drainages and Kaweah Basin.

Dates: Sunday, Sept. 19 - Monday, Sept. 27
Weather: Beautiful, clear skies and sunny, all 9 days
Reporters: "Pilgrim" (70 yr. old Jesuit Priest), "Pilgrim's Hiking Buddy" (58 yr. old Business Man)

Day 1. Wolverton to Buck Creek Campsite
Normal day of hiking. Beautiful forest and vistas. Trail very dusty due to heavy use.

Day 2. Buck Creek Campsite to Hamilton Lake
The crew at Bearpaw was in the process of breaking down the camp for the season. Walking from the footbridge up to Hamilton Lake was a bit warm in the afternoon sun. The crews (trail construction and trail maintenance) at their Hamilton Lake campsite were also breaking down for the season.

Day 3. Hamilton Lake to Heart-Shaped Lake
We were carrying 42 lb. packs. At Heart-Shaped Lake we cached approx. 15 lbs. each of gear and food to reduce our packs to approx. 27 lbs. each for the next four days. This helped substantially in the subsequent scrambling over three passes.

Day 4. Heart-Shaped Lake to Lake 10,875
We followed the route suggested by Maverick, that is: going out via Pants Pass and returning via Pyra-Queen Col. Pants Pass was loose and frustrating, but we got to the top three hours after leaving Heart-Shaped Lake. (We ascended the north notch on the west side, traversed the ridge to the south, and descended the south notch to the east side.)

[pilgrim2]

Day 4. (continued)
We had lunch at the pass and enjoyed the view looking out east over the upper Kern-Kaweah area. At the lake at the eastern base of Pants Pass we looked south at the pass over into the Picket Creek drainage, but we were not up to it and we felt that crossing it would leave us in difficult terrain (upper Picket Creek drainage) for a camp that evening. So, we followed Wandering Daisy's very helpful suggestion to enter the Picket Creek drainage further east. So, we headed to Lake 10,875. At Lake 10,875 we camped at the western end of the lake. We could see 2 or 3 others camped at the eastern end of the lake. They were gone the following morning. (These were the only other folks we saw in our four days "off trail.")

Day 5. Lake 10,875 to Picket Guard Lake
Following Wandering Daisy's suggested route, we left Lake 10,875 heading east, trying to contour around the nose to the west of the two lakes in the basin just west of Picket Guard Peak. When we rounded the nose and got our first look at Picket Guard Peak Pass (leading south over into the Picket Creek Drainage) we sort of gulped. The dark grey/black wall looked worse than Pants Pass. But, as we approached closer and got some depth perception, we could see a route up. And, unlike Pants Pass, the footing (and hand holds) were firm and not loose. It did take both feet and both hands to reach the top of the pass.

[pilgrim2]

Day 5. (continued)
We took a slightly right-tending route to the top. The view into the Picket Creek drainage from Picket Guard Peak Pass is stunning. We had lunch at the pass and enjoyed the vista. Coming down from the pass to Picket Creek and walking east along the creek, we came apon a beautiful, multi-stepped water fall/slide that was dazzling in the afternoon sun. Continuing east along the creek we then passed the first two lakes and came to Picket Guard Lake - definitely the "Pearl of Great Price." The lake is a gem of Nature! That evening we enjoyed a full moon rising over the Whitney Range to reflect itself on the lake's surface, an exceptionally beautiful scene. The well-positioned campsite at the lake appeared to be very infrequently used.

Day 6. Picket Guard Lake to Upper Kaweah Basin
Leaving Picket Guard Lake and walking to the second of the two lakes to its S/W, we then crossed the low, obvious saddle leading south over into the Kaweah Basin, just N/W of the Lake With the Island in it. We then proceeded in a S/W direction, first along the creek and then along the wooded ridge, until we came to the end of the tree line. Here we made camp. The Kaweah peaks and ridge line are spectacular. The base of the ridge line was covered in snow.

[pilgrim2]

Day 6. (continued)
Even though the sky was cloudless, it seemed that every hour or so a different aspect of the range would present itself. This was a short hiking day for us, good for resting, looking at the scenery and washing up.

Day 7. Upper Kaweah Basin to Heart-Shaped Lake ( A hard day!)
Leaving the tree line of the upper Kaweah Basin, we proceeded up the basin over various configurations of talus fields. Our route to the base of Pyra-Queen Col was highlighted by two features: some delicious snow-melt water for drinking that presented itself just at the perfect times, and a couple of accommodating stretches of snow which gave us a welcomed break from talus walking. Coming to the top of Pyra-Queen Col (we took the obvious ramp up the eastern side), it looked like we were faced with a vertical drop on the western side until we located the ramp leading south off the pass on the western side. We had lunch on the pass and enjoyed the spectacular views on both sides of the col/pass. A Monarch butterfly appeared as a good omen just as we arrived at the pass. The view of the north wall of Black Kaweah was most impressive as we walked down to and around Lake 11,682.

[pilgrim2]

Day 7. (continued)
Several snow patches on the south side of the lake came right down to the water, so we traversed around the north side of the lake. Leaving Lake 11,682 and the smaller lake just to its N/W, we dropped down to the next lake and from there headed in, first, a N/W and, then, a W arc, staying away from steep drop offs, until we came down to the Heart-Shaped Lake and our cache. There must have been a forest fire over in the Kings Canyon area because, as we walked north from Lake 11,682, the views of both Lion Rock and Triple Divide Peak were somewhat obscured by smoke. The talus this day, which we were on from the upper Kaweah Basin all the way to the second lake past Lake 11,682, made this a long and tiring day.

Day 8. Heart-Shaped Lake to Nine-Mile Creek.
The walk back over Kaweah Gap, past Precipice Lake and down to Hamilton Lake was easy and it was a treat to not be walking on talus, even though our packs were now back at full weight. The walk after lunch at Hamiltion Lake, down the canyon and up to Bearpaw, was hot again in the afternoon sun. Bearpaw was vacated for the season. We planned to stay at Buck Creek campsite but it was occupied so we continued on to Nine-Mile Creek campsite.

[pilgrim2]

Day 9. Nine-Mile Creek to Wolverton.
This was a relatively uneventful day. We noticed again how dusty the trail was from heavy use. The 2.2 mile uphill trail from the High Sierra Trail to the Alta Trail would not have been necessary had we parked at Crescent Meadow, but we took it easy and it is a well-constructed trail, mostly in the shade of a beautiful forest. We arrived at Wolverton at 2PM and went over to Lodgepole for showers. Driving out of the Park, we were delayed for a full hour at the road re-construction project. Around 6PM we walked into the bar/restaurant at the Harris Ranch where the Monday Night Football scene was in full swing. What an environmental contrast, sociologically speaking, to our previous 9 days. Welcome back to civilization!

Reflections:
1. Special thanks to Maverick and Wandering Daisy for suggesting very workable routes.
2. The Picket Creek Drainage and Kaweah Basin are beautiful to look at, but difficult to walk in due to all the talus
3. Picket Guard Lake is definitely one of the gems of the Sierra Nevada Range.
4. It was very helpful to have lightened our packs before going over the three "passes."

[maverick]

Very cool Pilgrim 2, happy to hear you had a good time, got to visit a very special place
that is not highly visited offering some of the best scenery, plus solitude in the Sierra!
And that PGL is a very, very pretty, and a special place!
Yes, entering the drainage further east was a good call if you were strapped on time
with the days being shorter it is not a place you would want to have to find a camp site
though once over and down the drainage a bit there are 2 small lakes that are quite
pretty to stay at if need be.

[rlown]

Nice report, pilgrim2.. any pics and did you fish?

[giantbrookie]

Nice report and trip. I'm surprised you saw someone at 10875. That is quite a remote area and a wonderfully rugged and interesting place. (for Russ): not a place to go to if fishing is the main priority, however. Very few lakes in that region hold fish.

[pilgrim2]

Sorry, rlown, no pictures. Neither of us has developed any skill with photography and we did not bother to bring cameras along. There are so many stunning photos of the area by Maverick and others, we left the photo business to those who know what they are doing.

We were not actively looking for trout, but at Picket Guard Lake, in the late afternoon and evening, many trout were feeding and breaking the surface. It's difficult to say anything about the size of the fish.

Pilgrim