Pika Pass

[slade]

Thanks to sssdave, Wandering Daisy and sparky (again) for sharing your knowledge.

[Vaca Russ]

We were going the opposite direction last year and when I looked up at Pika Pass we decided not to do it. We had considered it only because it was next to our last day and we figured that with light packs it may be OK. But it looked REALLY miserable. The trail to Purple Lake is a bit hard to follow in a few places, but is a VERY nice scenic trail. We made it via trail from Ram Lakes to the inlet of Duck Lake in a relatively short day. By the way there is way better camping at Pika Lake than at Duck Lake inlet area. Even if you go via trail, I would still camp at Pika Lake. We stopped at Duck Lake and then day-hiked up to Pika and kicked ourselves for not camping at Pika.

Looking at the pass on the topo the trip from the north doesn't look too bad.

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Like Daisy said, the pass from the south, "looked REALLY miserable".

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The hike down to Purple, around the ridge on the JMT and to Duck is not a bad hike. I don't think taking the pass as a shortcut is worth it.

-Russ

[SweetSierra]

A friend, who's very experienced off-trail, took Pika Pass a few years ago. He said it had the biggest talus (huge--he was dwarfed by them in photos) that he had ever encountered and was very steep (I believe this was the north side).

[kpeter]

I dayhiked from Pika to Purple to Ram Lakes and back on one long day. Not bad at all. I found the use trail from Purple up to Ram Lakes to be quite enchanting in places. Photography was bad that day, overcast and a little rain. But here are a few pics for documentary purposes.

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[SweetSierra]

[quote="kpeter"]I dayhiked from Pika to Purple to Ram Lakes and back on one long day. Not bad at all. I found the use trail from Purple up to Ram Lakes to be quite enchanting in places. Photography was bad that day, overcast and a little rain. But here are a few pics for documentary purposes.

I thought the trail from Purple to Ram was beautiful as well. We didn't go all the way to Ram
but cut off to Glennette. It's a very distinct trail. It's interesting that most maps don't show a trail up there at all when there's a sign to Ram at the junction with Purple.

[Vaca Russ]

I thought the trail from Purple to Ram was beautiful as well. We didn't go all the way to Ram
but cut off to Glennette. It's a very distinct trail. It's interesting that most maps don't show a trail up there at all when there's a sign to Ram at the junction with Purple.

The trail is on Acme Mapper. We found the trail easy to follow. It is pretty obvious because of all of the packer traffic.

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I hope to find the energy to post a report.

-Russ

[SweetSierra]

The trail is on Acme Mapper. We found the trail easy to follow. It is pretty obvious because of all of the packer traffic.

-Russ

In looking around, I saw one map that had the trail. This might have been it. It's good to know that it's on at least one map.