Photo album below:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/x2SxYC1bmAEKwG8L6
Night 1 - Buck creek
I barely slept the night before (kept going over my gear list and remembering things in the night
) and was on the road by 6 am from san jose. It was a pretty easy process picking up the permit from the giant forest museum. They actually were operating the shuttles that would go between wolverton and crescent meadows TH due to the 4th of july weekend if I wanted to have zero trail overlap, but it would require a bus transfer. I opted to not mess around with the bus and went straight to wolverton, taking the cutoff trail to the HST. I was on the trail by 11:30 or so and was pleased that I had no issue making it to Buck considering the # of days food in my pack, the lack of sleep and the coming up from nearly sea level. I love this trail, despite its popularity, due to views you get right off the bat! I slept really well that night after a nice dip in the creek - watching a dipper do the same. 0 mosquitos. Night 2 - nine lakes basin
I got a pretty early start and beat many of the people staying at bearpaw on the trail. Saw a mom and baby marmot by the ranger station and then views, views, views, the entire day! The embarrassing thing that happened on this day is a had a bad trip and fall just after the tunnel above hamilton lake. I think this was the section of trail that was blown out a couple of years ago - it is now filled in but the fill was loose, and I think somehow I just really slipped on the loose stuff. It really caught me by surprise as I was not able to catch it or even be aware I was falling until I was on the ground with my heavy pack smooshing my face to the earth in a gentle kiss. Nothing was broken - just some good bruises on my arms, knee, and some lacerations on my finger and elbow - and the bruised ego of course
Great swimming at hamilton and not that cold right now- but that lake does get busy with people staying there. I also dunked at precipice but that lake is MUCH colder. I spotted my first pika there. Most of the people you encounter are doing the HST entire and the general discussion is which camp are you staying at and when are you planning to summit whitney. I tend to stay in more out of the way spots, so made my way a bit xcountry to a foxtail pine grove above the lower nine lake - near the outlet stream of some of the upper lakes. Beautiful views down arroyo canyon and solitude. Bit of mosquito action here. Night 3 - upper funston meadow
Foxtail pine country is the best country
-- the stretch from nine-lakes to big arroyo is easy walking and very beautiful. I had previously been in this area on a loop that went up through mineral king - so the area beyond big arroyo was new to me. The forested area just near big arroyo had the worst of the mosquitos I encountered on the trip - and according to mosquito law once I stopped to apply my bug stuff - that is when I exited mosquito zone I ran into the little 5 lakes ranger heading up to chagoopa plateau - he recommended the fungston meadow site as a good option for solitude if I did not want to stay with the pack at the hotspring. It was awesome seeing more foxtails (big, beefy ones) on the way up to the plateau. I opted to go the shorter route as I as planning on pushing the miles a bit for me today, but a dip in morraine lake sure would have been nice as it was another HOT day. There is some older burn as you start to descend into the kern, and you start to hit the new rattlesnake burn towards the bottom. Speaking of which I got to see a beautiful fat rattlesnake - before getting to the real switchback area. The descent down the kern was HOT HOT HOT in the afternoon and my dogs were barking. While you go near a couple of creeks - there really isn´t water access until near the bottom - so do recommend getting a good fill up while still on the plateau - I had to go into a bit of conserve mode as I thought the creeks would be easier access earlier. Funston meadow spot is perfectly pleasant - not much of a detour and definitely a good option for solitude with easy creek access. Almost 0 mosquitoes.Night 4 - first camping spots up the kern drainage on the way to colby pass.
I got a fairly early start and got to the hotsprings by 9:30 am - it was just cool enough for me to still want to use it and by this time most of the folks camping there had cleared out. Not too shabby considering how much use it gets. The rattlesnake fire before and after the hotspring was pretty devastating, but the hotspring area itself was only lightly burned. Basically anywhere you had the flat, younger, dense stands in the river drainage it was burned to a crisp - about 3 miles total. You get out of the fire once you start climbing up out of the flat area. Not too much tree fall yet, but I am sure this area will be impacted by tree fall for years to come. Once again it was a HOT HOT HOT day with the kern canyon concentrating the heat of the day. Thankfully there is plenty of river access to cool off when needed, and the kern was lovely looking even in the burned areas. It was around 2pm when I got to junction meadow and peeled away from the HST pack - now the solitude section of the trip begins! Afternoon thunderhead clouds started rolling in making it MUCH cooler as I started climbing up the canyon toward colby pass. A beautiful rain (warm, big fat lazy drops) started shortly after I got to the first flat campsites with river access and views to whitney. The rain was not bothersome in the slightest and made everything smell so good - with the sage and juniper and petrichor. It made for a great sunset and golden light on whitney before bed. Almost 0 mosquitoes.
Night 5 - colby lake
The last time I went over colby pass I vowed I would stay at colby lake next time - but unfortunately my fantasy of a hot day swimming at the lake would not come to pass. Instead I got a good, early thunderstorm and one of the colder days. The thunder started around noon or so even before I was over colby pass - but I did not see where the lightning was striking - I assumed it was the next drainage over in cloud canyon. I hunkered down in the tent for 3-4 hours until the rain passed and I got out to clean up and cook dinner. Even with moody rain instead of hot swimming this lake basin is a beautiful spot to stay out. Mosquitos were pretty bad at colby lake.
Night 6 - marginal creekside spot above the roaring river ranger station
I had been through cloud canyon on a previous trip (circle of solitude from roads end) but this area is so gorgeous I could go back to it again and again! Marvelous foxtail pine section as you descend the whaleback. Amazing views up and down cloud canyon. And I was able to find shorty´s cabin this time. On our last trip my husband and I camped near the cabin in a wooded spot. He spotted it when getting water and was planning to check it out as we hiked out in the morning - but we never saw it again! This time I tried retracing his likely steps and was able to find it - a very cool detour if you are in the area. It is hidden behind a protective granite berm so not visible from the trail. If you are hiking up to colby lake, it will be in the wooded area you pass through after the meadow and before you start climbing up the whaleback. It really started pouring on me around noon today but the rain cleared up around 2. I did not want to stay right at the big campsites at the ranger station, so headed up toward deadman canyon a bit and found a tucked away spot as the trail got near to a creek - that included a nice little waterfall and deep swimming hole section. Even with the rain earlier in the day it was HOT by afternoon so the swim was fantastically refreshing. Strong mosquito action in the cloud canyon meadow area, but none in the lower pine forest area.
Night 7 - big bird lake
This is my first time in deadman canyon and I have wanted to check this area out for EVER! Really amazing large aspen groves in the lower meadowy section and mosquitos as well of course:) I was not sure if I would feel up to doing the big bird xcountry route or not(plan B was to head up elizabeth pass and then over via pterodactyl pass as I had been over that route before and would feel comfy doing it solo), but the nice thing is that the first section between deadman and big bird is obvious and easy granite slabs - so the decision was practically made for me. I ascended on the south side of the outlet stream so did not have to deal with crossing any tricky terrain. Then you are already committed when it comes time to consider the stretch between big bird and tableland
It was another HOT day and I was fighting a bit of a heat headache as I was heading up the xcountry route to big bird. I am glad I had my salt pills and took plenty of water breaks. Once I got to big bird though it was all worthwhile. My favorite camp perhaps of the trip - rivaling nine lakes basin even. It was threatening rain again in the afternoon but it never came and instead cleared out and got hot - so I got my relaxing lakeside swimming day after all. Almost zero mosquitoes. Night 8 - pear lake
I had plenty of time to check out the possible routes up to tableland from big bird. From the map I would have picked a less steep section, but once there even the steeper looking sections had nice granite escalator routes you could follow up to get to the obvious ridge. It really was not too bad on the way to the tarn near bird bird peak - where I encountered some VERY aggressive marmots considering it was an off-trail spot. I had lunch at the tarn and opted to not take a dip - a decision I would regret when I found out later the river was not flowing in tablelands. My original plan was to camp by the river close to pear lake. I got to the appointed area and was having a bit of a bummer moment. It was hot, there was only marginal stagnant water sources, no cool river to dip in and angry carpenter ants biting the heck out of me. This is not what I had in mind for my last night. I made a rash decision to continue to pear lake to at least take a dip and refresh my water - and to scope out the situation. I figured I could hang out a while and be prepared to backtrack a bit if approach by a ranger. There was only one other couple camping at pear lake and I felt SO much better after a good swim and some salty snacks. I hung out without unpacking my gear for quite a while, but when 6pm rolled around I opted to setup camp at pear lake in one of the more tucked away sites. I was out and on the trail by 7am - and home for dinner time. Almost zero mosquitoes in tablelands and pear lake.
Overall a fabulous trip.
Notable moments:
- It was HOT this week - I barely needed a sleeping bag, downjacket or warm hat at any point in the trip. The warmest I have ever experienced in the backcountry.
- I only carried 1 L of water at a time and generally did not have any issue getting water sources. The exception to this was the marble fork of the kaweah in table lands where I was very surprised to see the river was not running.
- Amazing stars every night. Even though it was cloudy and rainy at times it cleared out every night. I had a new tent (sea to summit alto 1) that has a great stargazing option with easy rainfly deploy and I used this feature extensively on the trip.
