TR: Kern Headwaters basin exploration

[kursavwilage]

Great report! Thank you
Brings back fine memories.

I went down Lucy's from the Upper Kern back in 2007. I first made the mistake of thinking the pass was on the lowest part of the saddle but after looking down the terrifying view on the north side I searched and found a large cairn higher up and further east on the crest of the saddle. I also found what was left of the old trail approaching from the south. The route down from the cairn is a little intimidating but, it really wasn't as bad as it looked. Lots of loose small rocks and some ice lower that might be scary during a heavy snow year. I have been more gripped with fear on King Col and Piss in Your Pants Pass.

[bobby49]

Doesn't anybody go over Harrison Pass anymore?

When you look up "loose talus" in the dictionary, it has a photo of the north side of Harrison Pass.

It's amazing to me that there was an official maintained park service trail over Harrison Pass until fifty years ago.

[Wandering Daisy]

I have used Harrison Pass for a 14-day trip that included the Upper Kern in the late 1990's. It was half snow covered. I carried ice axe and crampons for climbs so snow was not a problem. Ice axe was also useful on dirt/scree to keep from sliding back down. At the time I did not think it was so bad, just tedious and slow, not scary at all. The trail from East Lake was in poor shape- that may have been worse than the pass itself.

[sekihiker]

Doesn't anybody go over Harrison Pass anymore?

When you look up "loose talus" in the dictionary, it has a photo of the north side of Harrison Pass.

It's amazing to me that there was an official maintained park service trail over Harrison Pass until fifty years ago.

The scoutmaster of our troop considered going over Harrison Pass in 1961, with a horse and 12 boy scouts, until a reconnaissance party deemed it too risky. I've been over it a couple of times. It's no fun.
Milly's is tough for its short pitch at the top.
Lucy's is terrifying from any viewpoint I've ever had.
Little Joe is tedious but not bad, but it is a cross country route and has never been considered trail.

[Harlen]

kursavwilage writes:

I went down Lucy's from the Upper Kern back in 2007. I first made the mistake of thinking the pass was on the lowest part of the saddle but after looking down the terrifying view on the north side I searched and found a large cairn higher up and further east on the crest of the saddle. I also found what was left of the old trail approaching from the south. The route down from the cairn is a little intimidating but, it really wasn't as bad as it looked.

I felt the same when we did Lucy's with the boys and a couple friends. I had ice axe and crampons to get up easy, and set up a top rope. The boys were confidant and no problem, the friends less so. My wife was fine with the climbing but she has never forgiven Roper for calling it class 2.
and stevet writes:

Also like your description of Lucy's Foot Path. "Suicidal" I too am not sure which couloir to head down. I thought perhaps this:

Stevet, I reckon your photo is right on the best path at the top of Lucy's.

I'll include a few photos of Lucy's Foot Path from our trip in a high snow year about 10 years ago:

IMG_2686.JPG

The boys were around 11 and 8 yrs. and quite experienced by then.

IMG_2693.JPG

Lizzie and I roped them across even the slighter angled slopes.

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There is a sweet spot in the middle. We used deep steps kicked in the snow-- inside the blue line. I'll add red lines for the wrong, or at least harder routes, that some may be tempted to try.

IMG_2714.JPG

East of the easier route. Very broken and unstable rock. I believe a fault zone runs right through Lucy's Pass. Bill?

IMG_2704.JPG

West side sketchy area-- tempting, as it is the low spot. I tried it, and backed off.

IMG_2687.JPG

Give Lucy's a good look!

[sekihiker]

I believe a fault zone runs right through Lucy's Pass. Bill?

You are probably right, Ian.
I haven't studied the geology of Lucy's, but Milly's and Harrison, two other passes on the Kings/Kern Divide, are definitely shear zones.

[kursavwilage]

Harlen,
Love the pics! Your picture with the blue arrow is the same area we went down but, it looks like it was a little more interesting for your group. When we did it in 2007 the way down was clear of snow except for some icy snow right at the base of the steep stuff before the really big bolder hopping begins. Also we discovered a 1970s style back pack, some sweat pants, old camp shoes and a trash bag semi buried in the talus in the area of the hard pack snow. Looked like it had been there a while and was exposed by the dry snow year. Thankfully there wasn't a skeleton to go with it... maybe some just dropped their extra gear.....

[CAMERONM]

Enjoyable report and great photos, thanks. Looks a corner of the Sierra I will have to go visit!

[sukhoi_584th]

Thanks wsp_scott! Very useful for whenever we get to doing this trip. Currently trying to decide if this heat wave is too hot to hike up the Avalanche trail to the Sphinx junction on Sunday. Luckily a couple days ago as soon as I heard about the heat wave I grabbed a backup permit for Cottonwood Lakes so we might do a loop through Miter Basin and Crabtree.

[shtinkypuppie]

Nice report! What's the Kern trail like from around the Milestone turn-off down to the Tyndall junction? I'm going to be coming up the Kern from Colby in a couple weeks and am curious what to expect and how hard the travel is going to be.

Do you mean the cutoff that runs straight east-west from near Milestone straight over to Tyndall, or the one that loops up via LSA?

The cutoff is really good, obvious with excellent tread. There is one spot where I always lose it, where it skirts the north shore of a small lake/meadow, but otherwise it's in great shape. Just look for it to cut across a little finger of meadow and then pick it up as it climbs away from the lake.

The Lake South America trail is SUPER faint, especially as it climbs away from the junction with the cutoff trail. It's still broadly follow-able, but it takes a bit of hunting around. Luckily the area is flat and non-technical enough that you can generally make your own way until you pick it up further up.

Ahh I was a bit confused about the "cutoff". Map for discussion:
map.PNG
I now understand you were talking about Trail 4, and it's good to hear that has good tread. For some reason I thought you had gone south and come up Route/Trail 3. My original question was to try to learn how rough/hard to follow/bushwhacky Trail 2 is. I'm suspicious of the Kern trail north of the HST turnoff to Wallace as there's so little traffic.

Do you recall what the camping options are like along Trail 4? We'll be getting to the 1/2/4 junction toward the end of the day so I'm guessing we may want to camp at the lake at the junction, or the one just a bit east along Trail 4. It sounds like Trail 1 may be difficult to try to take all the way to LSA at the end of the day.

Finally, I presume Trail 5 to LSA is also good tread (in case we actually make it there the prior day)? On Strava Heat Map it looks to have similar traffic levels as Trail 4. Thanks!

Camping is real good on trail 4 right at that Junction lake. From there, there won't really be much until the next lake, and I don't remember seeing much in the way of flat spots in even that area. If you're leading a large ish group you might need to continue up to near the high point of the trail where the terrain flattens out. I would probably just camp at the Junction.

Trail 5 is in good shape and easy to follow, much better than Trail 1. I did Trail 2 a long time ago but I remember it being well built and easy to follow.