Trip Report Northern Kings Canyon 7/6-7/16/17

[robertseeburger]

I did a backpack starting at Florence Lake and going into various areas of Kings Canyon. I very much like to go early in the season, preferably just after ice out at high lakes. ( and just before both people and mosquitoes as well!). I have posted my June trip reports in each of the last 3 years, and overall I think I have been successful. This year, with the high snow levels, I of course decided to wait. I followed the various posts here and followed a Facebook page on the John Muir Trail and decided to give it a try on 7/6. I was excited by the post from the team that went over Piute Pass/Alpine Col and Lamarck Col a couple of weeks ago, and it looked like some of the lakes ( particularly Darwin Bench ) were thawing. So, I designed a trip that minimized stream crossings, and also gave a lot of flexibility if things went wrong. My desire on a 14 day trip was to go into Evolution Valley, over to Mcgee Lakes, to Wanda, Davis, and Martha Lakes, then over Reinstein Pass and eventually over to Tunemah Lake and return. The only stream crossings I was worried about were Evolution Creek on day 2 and then the North Fork of the Kings near the end. Well, I am sure many of you will laugh at the itinerary. I knew I might have to turn around or adjust due to snow levels, but I thought I would be in a good position to try the trip and felt good about safety. Well, the executive summary here is that I made it part way, and chose to turn around....there is a LOT of snow out there as everyone knows!!!! I hope some views are helpful to others.

Day two... crossing Evolution Creek. I had heard that all that had to be done was cross at Evolution Meadow. That was indeed the case.
Here is the "normal trail crossing" on 7/7/17. (Not crossable)

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And here is the Evolution Meadow Crossing about a quarter mile upstream. It was belly button height for me and then I crossed it a week later at the same place again and it was perhaps two inches lower. It was slow moving, easy flat bottom, no problem at all, other than I forgot to move toilet paper from the bottom of my pack.

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I met Maclure Meadow Ranger Dario... three times and got good insight into what was going on. He called Maclure Meadow Maclure Lake, which fit the description. I got advice on where to cross Evolution Creek to go to Mcgee Lakes ( upper end of Colby Meadow), which was perfect and he also told me about the use trail to lake 11092. It starts at a campsite about 200 yards downstream from his ranger station ( where two logs are cut on either side of the trail and follows an indentation on the map which is currently a stream not on the map, up and left, essentially hits the outlet stream from 11092 and just goes upstream to the lake. It is class 1, very easy although steep in sections, but is easy to lose. (I found it like ten times). Horses have been up it.

A shot toward Hermit/Mcgee/Goddard

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I crossed Evolution Creek and went over to an unnamed lake.. (frozen)

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I went over to McGee Lakes. ( first time for me...always wanted to go there). Ranger Dario told me hurry up if I wanted to fish there because they would be chemically treated for the frog within a year. I caught a few six inchers, but it was mostly frozen as well. The lakes were beautiful and I was the only one there, and they had an eerie closed in feeling with all the snow.

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I went from Mcgee Lakes over Sapphire Pass to the Muir Trail. This was one of the routes where I was prepared to turn around. I made it up to the pass without too much difficulty. The route went up the south facing slope which didn't have much snow. Coming down the east side was more difficult as all of the easy routes had steep snow and I did not bring ice ax or crampons. Suffice it to say that I made it down, lowering my pack twice, doing easy class 3 on rock, and while it took a while to find a safe route, made it down to the Muir Trail.
A view toward Darwin from Sapphire Pass.

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The Muir Trail was solid snow from between Evolution Lake and Sapphire Lake ( which was frozen). I started seeing people again, 100% either JMT or PCT northbound hikers. No cross country explorers.
Here is a view of Wanda Lake (7/10/17). It doesn't look like it will ice out any time soon. ( A theme).

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I went over Davis Lake Pass and made it to Davis Lake. When I left the JMT, I was faced with HORRIBLE suncups going up the pass. Many were knee and hamstring deep, and some were thigh deep. It was very very slow going. I don't think any additional equipment would have made any difference. It was slow and exhausting. I did make it over the pass and here is the view of Davis Lake. (Frozen solid)

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My plan was to go around Davis Lake. I had done most of the route before. I remember Wandering Daisy's comments about difficulty on the north side of the lake. My memory was difficulty on the south side of the lower lake. ( I would still say the south side of the lower lake is undoable, due to cliffs). Well, I found
I had to turn around here. There was steep snow/ice on both sides of the lake going right into the frozen lake and there was evidence of it breaking off.
I decided that I needed ice ax, crampons, and steely nerves to continue...and I didn't have any of the three.
Here is shot of the steep snow.

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Oh well, I had to turn around. The only problem for me was to turn around meant going back over Davis Lake Pass. Relatively easy (just class 2) on the west side, but the Wanda Lake side had the snow cups that I described above. Oh well....had to be done.. it was slow.

So, instead of going from Davis to Martha cross country ( 4 miles, relatively easy when doable), I chose to go down the Muir Trail all the way to the San Joaquin and then up the San Joaquin to Martha, about 20-25 miles. Again, I knew I might have to do this. This also had the effect that I knew I would never make it over Reinstein Pass to Tunemah. Oh well.

Here is shot of what the JMT looks like right below Wanda.

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I wasn't surprised that some of these lakes were frozen. That was a risk. I was surprised by JUST HOW MUCH SNOW there was at higher elevations. If you had told me some of the shots were winter, I would have said OK.

I made it up the south fork of the San Joaquin. Here is a shot of where North Goddard Creek ( from Davis Lake) joins the San Joaquin. I crossed this two years ago ( dry winter 2015) without incident, just to the right in picture. I don't think I would have tried to do it this time if this was my destination.

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Getting further up the San Joaquin toward Martha Lake, here is a shot looking at Confusion Pass. Lots of snow.. looks difficult. Gunsight pass to the right not in view is similar. Note also the loooong cornice on the ridge to the left. Just interesting. Solid snow above 10,400 feet going up to Martha.

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More in part 2.

[Jimr]

Epic!

[robertseeburger]

OK here is next part.

I had hopes that Martha Lake would not be frozen. I thought it was not as sheltered as other lakes....
WRONG.. It was more frozen than the rest.

Here is a shot of Martha and looking up at Reinstein Pass and Mount Reinstein. I went over Reinstein in June 2015. It was pretty easy.
I wanted to show a side by side.. of June 2015 vs July 2017, but ran out of time. I spent a night here in the only flat spot without snow I could find.
There was a clear night, a 3/4 moon and a coyote howling in the distance. It was quite eerie. I was worried a polar bear was going to get me.

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I knew I was not going to go over Reinstein Pass, so I just exited. It took a couple of days to return to Florence Lake.

I did very little fishing, but had some luck. A rainbow ( estimated 14 inches)...there are some rainbow here.

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Three nice goldens..

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I think I finally found a recipe to cook them that I like. Most of the recommendations in this forum focus on cooking over fire, and I have struggled over the years
to find a recipe for stove cooking and since I spend most of my time above treelike, this is how I need to do it. I used a batter of flour, salt, and white pepper, and they were quite good!

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The stomach contents of all the fish were the same. Anyone know what kind of grub this is? And how to match with a fly? No surface action at all.
They all were packed with this grub .

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Lastly, on equipment, I bought these light running/water shoes...and they worked great. They were very light, and strong enough to cross streams and have some durability. I have always been frustrated that these kind of things are either too flimsy or too heavy. This seemed a good balance at least for me. The toes though didn't work well for me. I did find I could even walk on snow around camp. ( Boots and socks were essentially wet for all 11 days.).

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In summary it was a good trip, even though I didn't do all that I wanted. Also, I met another HST member Almostthere and we had a good dialogue about the environment and the sierras. Obviously, I wish that I had waited a little longer to do the trip. The question is.....how much longer? I don't think some of the lakes will be ice free for weeks..I don't think a 2 week delay would have made any difference.

Happy trails...

[giantbrookie]

Wow. Nice improvising to make a great trip in the face of fairly difficult early season conditions. Those are some monster fish! That's especially impressive considering the scarcity of open water on your route.

[Wandering Daisy]

Amazing photos!

Oh no, I hope I did not get my directions wrong in that old trip report! It IS the south side of Davis Lake that I was referring to that was difficult. I have never been on the north side. If I messed you up you can hit me over the head with a big golden trout! If the sun cups between Wanda Lake and Davis Lake were not there, you would still go slowly because under those sun cups is endless talus.

I am not clear on how you initially got to McGee Lakes. If you go up from Evolution Meadow you have to cross the creek (did you mention crossing the creek again? or was it an insignificant crossing?). You said you came OUT Sapphire Pass, so I assume you did not go in that way.

[SSSdave]

Sad to hear the frog people have won out over letting the McGee Lakes basin be. I was generally ok with several lakes and basins listed for treatment but not the wonderful out of the way McGee Lakes. Were that up to this person, would switch that to the heavily used Evolution Lake in a second. Advised someone a few weeks ago not to go through Davis and rather just go around via Evolution Valley as the satellite image was showing those areas were just huge bright suncupped snow fields. Martha Lake is a special place for this person. Will be a very nice destination in about a month. In the El Nino year of 1980, there was a huge slope of lupine below the lake.

David

[giantbrookie]

Martha Lake is a special place for this person. Will be a very nice destination in about a month. In the El Nino year of 1980, there was a huge slope of lupine below the lake.
David

There was a huge lupine field there in 1994, too. These were really fragrant, too and we camped downwind and enjoyed the scent. It was positively wonderful, even if the lake's aquatic residents teased us so and ultimately did not cooperate (ie had no intention of becoming our meal that night).

[kpeter]

Thank you for the report on a wonderful adventure! Your photos give a sobering look at the snow. I walked over suncups in 2011 from Sapphire to Wanda to Helen. Yes, some of them were well over my knee. It is the equivalent of having deadfall across a trail with every step. I found that in the late afternoon when they softened a little the traffic of the JMT beat down the edges and made them a little easier. This would be of no help when going off trail.

[AlmostThere]

Nice to finally see someone I "met" online.

We saw you leave in the early hours as it was starting to rain. If you had had more time, you could have helped us finish sawing out the trees.

[Jimr]

With respect to your question on matching a fly to their diet, if you don't tie, then just go to the fly shop and find some nice bead headed nymph patterns that are generally gold or light brown on a curved nymph hook. I'd bet a Hare's ear nymph or Pheasant tail nymph would work. Bead headed to get them down onto the bottom. An appropriate sized weighted scud pattern. As long as you know the size and general look, it should be easy to match it at the fly shop.