June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

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kpeter
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by kpeter »

Thanks, Giantbrookie. I grew up fishing in Idaho, but I have never fished in California. Not that I am opposed to it--I just gave up carrying fishing gear when I started carrying camera gear, and I never got back to it.
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by phoenix2000 »

You shouldn't have to worry about the Kibbie Ridge Trail.

In 2010 the Kibbie Ridge trail was the worst trail I had ever been on. The trail was very hard to follow and disappeared for long stretches. I kept a count of the number of trees I had to step over and got into the 80's before I realized it wasn't an accurate count because I couldn't be sure that I was on the trail the whole time.

In 2011 a trail crew came thru, made the trail easy to follow and removed the sections of trees that were lying across the trail. I had no problems following or moving along the trail. There was only one section of the trail that they should have worked on to make the trail more obvious. The trail seems to widen to a six foot wide section of dirt and rocks that looks like it forms steps going up in elevation maybe 8-10 feet. The actual trail is narrow, runs off to the right and was hidden by tall grass.

I have never been over Styx Pass so I can't comment on that but there was 1 small creek I had to cross about 2.5 miles into the Kibbie Ridge trail. It was a small creek so even in June you probably will not have a problem crossing it.

From what I read to get to Many Island Lake people were suggesting turning south off the trail once you get to the last tarn before Styx Pass in order to get to Many Island lake. I however turned south early, once I got to the small forest of trees to the north of the trail before Mercur Peak. I probably ended up at the same spot of steep granite that you take to get down to Many Island Lake. The granite slope is pretty steep so I wouldn't advise trying to go down it if there is snow or the granite is wet. At the bottom I had to do maybe 30 yards of bushwhacking before reaching the granite and trees that form the shore of the lake. Since I had purchased a Clark Jungle Hammock and was not interested in having a fire I did not look around the lake for campsites with fire pits. I was more concerned with finding a nice ring of trees to provide shade and hang my hammock between. So I can't say that there are any nice campsites with fire pits but there are plenty of perfect spots to pitch a tent or hang a hammock that don't have a fire pit. The lake itself is very picturesque. You can get some great shots of the surrounding mountains reflected in the lake in the early morning.

Boundary Lake was very beautiful. It seems larger and more open than Many Island Lake. A constant breeze caused little waves on the water so I was not able to get any reflection shots. Like Balzaccom reported in his trip report there is only one fire ring on the whole lake. It is on the west shore on the southern part of the lake where it is at its narrowest. The fire ring is on open granite with very little shade.

From Boundary lake there is an easy trail to Little Bear Lake. Little Bear Lake is nice to look at and I got some great reflection shots. What I did not like about the lake was the majority of the shoreline was muddy with grass growing in it.

There is a route marked with ducks from Little Bear to Spotted Fawn Lake. The beginning of it is a steep decent through dense brush but once thru it is an easy hike to the lake. I was very impressed with how beautiful Spotted Fawn Lake was but disappointed that I was trapped on the North shore due to cliffs and thick brush on the east and west shores. There is one very good camping spot in the forest on the north shore of the lake.

Flora Lake was nice. The fire pits are on the east and northwest shores of the lake. The hike out of it, up and over the mountain, taking the trail to Kibbie lake then all the way out is long and little difficult to navigate thru the trees on the mountain.
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kpeter
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by kpeter »

Phoenix, that is very very useful advice. And it is good news that the trail was improved last summer--that probably happened after Doyle and I were in the vicinity. Thanks so much for taking the trouble to write a detailed post.

I take it, since you did not go over Styxx pass, that you went direct from Many Island to Boundary Lake? That looks pretty straightforward. Do you just head north of lake 7489 and south of hill 7883?
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

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kpeter, I went in August and yes I went directly from Many Island Lake to Boundary Lake but I did not go north of lake 7489. I had read this trail report where they said "As clouds began to form, we set off up the hill due east, over an easy pass and down to an unnamed lake at 7489'. We were hoping to skirt this lake and head northeast to Boundary Lake, but that proved not possible. Instead, we followed the lake's drainage to the south and curved around under an impressive granite edifice towards Little Bear Lake"

The map I used to plan my trip showed it to be pretty steep so I did not attempt it. Looking at my pictures it looks like maybe 30 foot drop at a 60 degree angle followed by a 10-20 foot drop off straight down. I had hoped that I would be able to make it across between Lakes 7489 and 7458 but there is a huge rock there with drop offs straight down to the water on either side. So I had to go south and crossed just north of the third little lake. I then went up and over to Boundary Lake just south of hill 7883.
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kpeter
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by kpeter »

Thanks again, Phoenix, that is fantastic information that will probably save me quite a bit of trial and error on the trip over to Boundary.
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Take internet reports with a grain of salt. The entire area has small-scale complexities. There are many ways to get around and just because someone did one way does not make it the best. Off trail, you can be 20 feet from someone's route and get into something entirely different. Just take your time and do not be afraid of turnning around and looking for something different if need be. All those complexities make the route finding really fun.

Spend some time studying Google Maps and try to transfer a few potentially good routes onto your topo. I do not use Google Earth, but I think you can actually get way-points off it. Inferno Lake is interesting, and if you have some extra time it is a worthwhile side trip. By the way, I walked nearly on top of the divide (Yosemite boundary) north to Huckleberry Lake. It is a climb to get up there, but views are nice and it is actually easier travel down lower. Take my suggestion with a grain of salt too, because as a rock climber, I tend to under-rate the difficult of technical stuff.
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by tomba »

See a mini report from a trip there July 1st last year.
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kpeter
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by kpeter »

Just took a look at the Kibbie Ridge sensor readings and wow! Last year at this time it had 65" of snow, this year it has 10". If there are not some major storms in the next month I think this trip will be doable early in June.
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by kpeter »

Kibbie Ridge had actually gone from 10" down to 0" of snow by a few days ago. It now has 27". This storm made a big, big difference.
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by oldranger »

kpeter

That 10" of snow on march 4 probably had 3 inches of water. The new 27" probably has about 3" of water and can disappear just as fast as the 10." The new snow is good but unless there is a lot more and another cold spring will not be a game changer for those (like me) planning an early season foray into the backcountry.

Mike
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Who can't do everything he used to and what he can do takes a hell of a lot longer!
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