TR: Into The Blue- Tunemah Lake, Blue Canyon, Goddard Creek At Last! 7/29 - 8/7/21
Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2021 1:38 am
Michael(zim) and I had an HST meetup of 2, and followed his plan to reach the promised land of Blue Canyon and Tunemah Lake. It was Michael's dream, and route plan more than mine, so I'll just provide my sketch of our trip, and some route details that Michael asked me to include, in anticipation of a later, more full TR from Michael. We followed his route perfectly, until I got to use some of my bright, and less bright route ideas. We made these work for us, but will not be recommending them to other, saner folk. We added a few small, but very nice circles to what was mainly an out and back route. I'll describe these in the photo captions. It was a great trip, and we both were immensely pleased to reach these remote areas that shine out of the maps to us like beacons. The branches of Goddard Creek connect to the Ionian Basin as "Enchanted Gorge"/ Disappearing Creek; the "Blue Canyon;" and combine with other high tributaries of the Middle Fork of the Kings to form one of the largest trail-less areas in the Sierra.
The highlights of the trip for me were first, dropping into Tunemah Lake Basin from the north, to finally gaze on that magic blue water; and secondly, to make the long-awaited climb of Finger Peak. I chose the south ridge of the mountain, and it proved to be another of those amazing, airy ridge climbs. There was no one about in any of these remote basins, we even had Martha Lake Basin to ourselves on the way in. We had 7 of our 10 days all alone in the mountains, and that was fine with us. For Michael, the journey was even more special, and those of you who read his epic Trip Report in 2020: "A Ridge Too Far," you will understand what this trip meant to him.
One of the many "pig chutes" of Goddard Canyon.
These falls were fed by nearly a week of thunder-stormy weather.
Michael proved to be a super-fit 70! Here he is pointing to Gunsight Pass.
Martha Lake, Mt. Goddard, and the gateway to Mordor, aka Ionian Basin.
Our path this time was into new territory, beginning with Reinstein Pass, seen here just left of the mountain.
We felt we deserved a rest day after reaching M. Lake in 2 long days (21mi). I fished and fished, along with the Ospreys and one Bald Eagle, with few results. I thought we were all after big Rainbow Trout, reputed to spawn in the outlet, but look what I caught?! My ignorance has its rewards. As I rarely know what species I'm after, this big Golden was a great surprise.
This healthy fish was about 14." On the return trip, we found a much larger one in the shallows, torn in half by either the Osprey or Eagle. We believe the bird had been startled off it's fish by people arriving, so I retrieved it from the shallows, and placed it back on a big rock. I had startled up an Osprey at the outlet, while walking toward the outlet to fish, and so, left the area to fish at the inlet end, and that's when I caught the big Golden.
It stormed off and on for the first 3 days, which included some exciting thunder and lightning, and really fine light. Sadly, this is the same storm that on July 30th led to a fatal lightning strike about 7 miles north of us.
Michael's silhouette on that fateful night- 7/30.
Mt Reinstein far left.
The highlights of the trip for me were first, dropping into Tunemah Lake Basin from the north, to finally gaze on that magic blue water; and secondly, to make the long-awaited climb of Finger Peak. I chose the south ridge of the mountain, and it proved to be another of those amazing, airy ridge climbs. There was no one about in any of these remote basins, we even had Martha Lake Basin to ourselves on the way in. We had 7 of our 10 days all alone in the mountains, and that was fine with us. For Michael, the journey was even more special, and those of you who read his epic Trip Report in 2020: "A Ridge Too Far," you will understand what this trip meant to him.
One of the many "pig chutes" of Goddard Canyon.
These falls were fed by nearly a week of thunder-stormy weather.
Michael proved to be a super-fit 70! Here he is pointing to Gunsight Pass.
Martha Lake, Mt. Goddard, and the gateway to Mordor, aka Ionian Basin.
Our path this time was into new territory, beginning with Reinstein Pass, seen here just left of the mountain.
We felt we deserved a rest day after reaching M. Lake in 2 long days (21mi). I fished and fished, along with the Ospreys and one Bald Eagle, with few results. I thought we were all after big Rainbow Trout, reputed to spawn in the outlet, but look what I caught?! My ignorance has its rewards. As I rarely know what species I'm after, this big Golden was a great surprise.
This healthy fish was about 14." On the return trip, we found a much larger one in the shallows, torn in half by either the Osprey or Eagle. We believe the bird had been startled off it's fish by people arriving, so I retrieved it from the shallows, and placed it back on a big rock. I had startled up an Osprey at the outlet, while walking toward the outlet to fish, and so, left the area to fish at the inlet end, and that's when I caught the big Golden.
It stormed off and on for the first 3 days, which included some exciting thunder and lightning, and really fine light. Sadly, this is the same storm that on July 30th led to a fatal lightning strike about 7 miles north of us.
Michael's silhouette on that fateful night- 7/30.
Mt Reinstein far left.