TR: Vidette/Gardiner Aug-Sept 2021 [Part I]

[bulaklakan]

Each summer since 2007 my sisters, my daughter (‘Trekker9’ in HST) and intermittently other family members make a 9-day (or more) backpack in the southern Sierra. My sisters and I went on Sierra trips with our dad when we were young, and we’re continuing to enjoy these incredible mountains. For the past 7 years our core group has been myself (now just short of 70), younger sisters Megan and Julia, daughter Trekker9 and her S.O. (‘Slabwalker’ in HST).
This year the logistics of our trip were somewhat involved. We extended our main trip to 10 days. In addition, Trekker9, Slabwalker and I started our hike 6 days earlier. We three timed our hike so as to meet a packer and Megan, Julia, niece Natalia and nephew Bryce on our 7th day. Natalia and Bryce were with us for two days; then they returned to the trailhead and the five of continued on.

We entered the mountains on 8/24/21, exit on 9/8/21. Generally our route was:
• Trekker9, Slabwalker & I start out of Onion Valley, over University Pass into Center Basin,
• Over the East Vidette divide into Vidette Lakes,
• Down to the JMT and around to Kearsarge Lakes,
• Meet Megan, Julia, Natalia & Bryce, and a packer with their packs and our food resupply,
• To Charlotte Lake (Natalia and Bryce leave us here),
• Over Gardiner Pass to Gardiner Basin,
• I exit over King Col and Special K Pass, meet the others in Sixty Lakes Basin,
• Return to Onion Valley via Glen and Kearsarge Passes.

Some general info about the trip:

WEATHER
We had sunshine and blue skies every one of our 16 days. A few wispy clouds on 3-4 days, but nothing in the least threatening weather-wise. Days were warm, sometimes hot even at our typical 10-11,000 ft elevations. Not a lot of wind either… some afternoon breezes, occasional brisk winds at sunset or sun-up, but not particularly cold.

SMOKE
Basically none. From the tops of passes and peaks Trekker9, Slabwalker and I could see smoke to the NW on our days 3, 4 and 5. It disappeared soon after and we only saw blue above.

AVAILABLE WATER
Because of the significant drought and warm weather, snowbanks were rare. We saw a little residual snow high on the north slopes of tall peaks – University Peak, Mt Stanford, Mt Clarence King. Not surprisingly there was good running water in the drainages downstream of these snowbanks. Major streams – in Center Basin, Vidette Lakes, Bubbs Creek, Gardiner Creek, Rae Lakes Basin – had running water, sometimes barely.

NATIONAL FOREST CLOSURES
On our Day 8 (August 31) we heard from other hikers that CA National Forests were closed as of the following day. The National Parks were not closed… however since the various eastside entry points – including Kearsarge Pass – all involve crossing US Forest Service lands, hikers were no longer allowed in. This didn’t affect us directly. JMT through-hikers were unable to get their planned re-supplies over Kearsarge, although the local NPS ranger was kindly offering food to get those hikers to their Mt Whitney destination. It did mean that over the last 3 days of our trip when we passed through areas that are normally heavily populated – Rae Lakes, Glen Pass, Kearsarge Lakes & Pass – we saw few people. For example, on our Day 16 hiking over Kearsarge Pass into Onion Valley we saw 4 people – 3 trail workers and a packer – rather than the usual 30-50 folks we would usually see on that route.


Day 1. Trekker9, Slabwalker and I drive directly from home to the Onion Valley trailhead. Our intention is to get up to Robinson Lake that night so as to reduce our climb to University Pass the following day. We start hiking at about 6pm, and reach Robinson Lake at dusk.

Day 2. We awake to see Robinson Lake in the daylight, and sunshine high on the walls of our canyon.
At Robinson we are at about 10,500’. University Pass is at 12,700. It’s a nice climb up benches and ridges to a valley above the lake.

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Robinson Lake - view toward University Pass

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Robinson Lake, smoke in Owens Valley

Then it’s a slog over talus fields of various sorts. First relatively flat talus across the ‘valley’, then more steep, finally climbing the scree-filled chute to the pass. Slabwalker gets to the pass at ~12:30, puts down his pack and heads to up University Peak (elevation 13,362’). Trekker9 arrives at the pass at 2:30, and I at 3:00. Slabwalker returns from the peak 10 minutes later. Great views of Center Basin and beyond from the pass.

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University Pass into upper Center Basin

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University Pass across Center Basin. Purple line is Day 4 route.

We start down the steep chute that is the west side of University Pass. It’s mostly scree – going up this would be a chore. Trekker9’s pack gets away and rolls down the chute, retrieved by Slabwalker. Farther down where a large rock fills the chute and necessitates a short downclimb, I toss my pack down and it also rolls aways before Slabwalker intercepts it. [Note: it seems to me that in the past – maybe back in the day of external pack frames – backpacks (sans humans) were flat-ish objects. Now they seem to relatively round, without flat sides and no real ‘corners’ on them. And so they seem to ‘roll’ when allowed, especially on v steep slopes such as University Pass.]
Down. It’s a 1700’ descent on scree & loose rock, reminiscent of Haeckel-Wallace Col. Stagger across the valley bottom floor and up to the rim of Golden Bear Lake. There we have an excellent campsite overlooking the lake. Wash up, good dinner, late and beautiful sunset. So far we haven’t seen a wisp of smoke or cloud in the sky.

Day 3. Awake to our gorgeous basin.

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Sunrise at Golden Bear Lake

There’s a little breeze but it gets warm quickly. It’s a planned layover day for us. Slabwalker muses about doing a Junction/Shepherd/Forester Pass Loop, or a climb of Mt Keith. In the end we all 3 take a late morning hike to the attractive lake south and 600’ above us. Lunch on the shores. Over lunch we discuss the following day’s hike over the divide to Vidette Lakes, and come to the conclusion that we’d be best positioned for that trek if we camped along the stream west of and below the JMT. We return to camp, pack up and hike down and around Center Peak, drop below the JMT and find a passable campsite on the west side of the creek. This late afternoon hike takes perhaps 90 minutes. The sun goes down early down in this canyon – it’s a relatively chilly night.
[Note: south of us on the rim of Center Basin is Junction Peak, elevation 13,888’. It was first ascended on 8/8/1899 by Edwin Copeland – my step great-grandfather.]

Day 4. Our goal today is cross the divide to our west and drop down into Vidette Lakes. We’ve been targeting a crossing point south of East Spur and north of Mt Stanford where the slopes (on the east side anyway) appear relatively benign. From University Pass and Center Basin we could see what appears to be a broad basin of granite benches leading towards this pass, and then a talus field on the ridgetop that is not terribly steep. The west side of the divide is an unknown. It’s a 2100’ climb to the top (to about 12,850) from our camp site, then a 2100’ drop to the upper Vidette Lake.
We’re up early and hiking by 8:15. The climb generally goes well. Getting out of the canyon bottom consists of walking up white granite benches between black rock talus piles.

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Starting up the Divide. Looking east across Center Basin to University Peak & Pass.

Then into the broad granite basin – easy walking as we ascend. Up to the ridge on the south side of the basin until the talus begins. Up the talus, across a broad sandy/rocky flat area, up another 300’ of talus and we’re on top. Lunch. We dub this crossing ‘No Reason Pass’, in recognition of the range of motivations that other hikers might have for ascending to this place.

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Nearing No Reason Pass, looking south to Mt Stanford

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View west from No Reason Pass - Mt Brewer in the haze

The west side of the divide is mostly steep talus, interrupted by a couple of benches. Large blocks at the top, then more moderate sizes as we descend. A lower bench holds a small lake in wetter times.

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Descending west side of No Reason Pass - Vidette Lakes

800’ more to go down. There’s some cliffs below that seem descendable… I start down them thinking that I’m generally following Trekker9 & Slabwalker, then (poor late-day decision-making!) I downclimb a steep crack and then find myself cliffed out below and with a difficult climb back up. Eventually Slabwalker and Trekker9 come up below a short cliff, I lower my pack to them via rope and climb down ~20 feet. Exhausting and time-consuming. We descend further to a fine campsite near the lower end of the upper Vidette Lake.
[Note: we saw NO ducks, footprints or other human artifacts in our trek over No Reason Pass.]

To Be Continued --

[balzaccom]

Yeah...don't stop now! So far, so good. This is great stuff...

[bulaklakan]

Part II of our Vidette/Gardiner trek, beginning with Day 5:

Day 5. It’s a layover day. I decide to hike (at least partway) up West Vidette (elevation 12,560). Start hiking at about 10:30, climbing up granite benches until reaching talus slopes. Big talus, then medium-sized, then scree. To the top of the scree, turn right and work along the rocks to a saddle on top of the ridge, then along the ridge to the summit (1:45pm). Lunch on top. The air is still. To the north and west the smoke has come in – I can just see the outline of Brewer and of Longley Pass. The register shows that I’m just the third party to the top this year, the last before me was 3 weeks ago. Just one party was here in 2020, but a number (including Burd’s Sierra Challenge group) in 2019.

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View east from West Vidette. Purple line is our Day 4 descent from No Reason Pass.

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South view from West Vidette - Deerhorn, Mt Stanford

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Looking west from West Vidette - Brewer in the haze

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North from West Vidette - Bullfrog Lake, etc

Down, to camp around 5:15. Trekker9 and Slabwalker spent the day enjoying the lake. Another gorgeous night at Vidette.

Day 6. Today’s objective is to get to Kearsarge Lakes in order to meet the packer and Julia, Megan, Natalia and Bryce on Day 7. We’re up and hiking before the sun hits us.

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Departing Vidette Lakes. Deerhorn Saddle on the horizon.

Slabwalker pushes on ahead. Trekker9 and I follow, down Vidette Canyon in semi-cross country mode. We reach Bubbs Creek. Check out the old cabin there on the south side of the creek. Onto the JMT, down the trail to the trail junction, up the switchbacks toward Bullfrog Lake. Trekker9 pushes on ahead. I’m slow up the hill… succeed in meeting Trekker9 at the lake to filter & replenish my water. Trekker9 goes on – I wander a few hundred yards uphill from the lake, lunch, read & snooze. Repack and hike up to Kearsarge Lakes, find Slabwalker and Trekker9 at our favored campspot.
Before my arrival there, Trekker9 and Slabwalker were at the campspot near the lake unpacking when a young bear ran up the lakeshore past them.

Day 7. This day we’re meeting the packer, plus Megan/Julia/Natalia/Bryce. Slabwalker heads off for a tour of the summits of Mts Rixford and Gould. The packer is supposed to arrive between 11 and 12 up at the trail junction above Kearsarge Lakes, so Trekker9 and I head up there in a timely way. It’s a long wait – apparently a mule needed shoe work, so the packer was late, arriving close to 1. Tom the packer is chatty. He leaves and we wait another hour or so for M/J/N/B. With packs and new food we traipse down to camp, set up, laze a bit and enjoy a fine dinner of pre-made chili (courtesy of Megan), fresh fruit (Julia), and Sees Candy.

Day 8. Today all 7 of us are hiking to Charlotte Lake. It’s not far – 3+ miles. We take a while to pack up, then hike down the lower trail towards Bullfrog Lake. At the west side of the Bullfrog we angle up through the forest to avoid a descend-and-climb, arrive at the 4-way trail junction with the JMT, head down to Charlotte.

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Hikers (our group) at the east end of Charlotte Lake
We find a good campsite at the far/west end of the lake. The lake outlet is totally dry. Campsites fill up as the afternoon goes on – a group next to us (climbers?), a party of 5-6 older guys farther up-lake (fishermen?), and at dusk an earlier trail acquaintance of ours (‘London Alex’) arrives after hustling out over Kearsarge, re-supply in Independence and back to Charlotte. To bed.

The day following Natalia and Bryce are heading back to Onion Valley, while the other 5 of us head out to Gardiner Pass and ultimately Gardiner Basin. This loop through Gardiner Basin is a re-visit of a trip that Megan, Julia and I went on with our Dad and some of our friends in 1971 – 50 years ago. For that 1971 trip we also came in over Kearsarge Pass, to Charlotte Lake, over Gardiner Pass… then out over 60 Lakes Col, Glen Pass and back to Kearsarge Pass.

Day 9. After saying good-bye to Natalia and Bryce, the 5 of us head west from Charlotte Lake. The trail from Charlotte Lake to Gardiner Pass is no longer maintained. The initial section running parallel to Charlotte Creek seems to be well used – perhaps by climbers heading for Charlotte Dome.
As noted there’s no surface water coming out of Charlotte Lake. But surprisingly we cross 3-4 small streams running down the south-facing slope and into Charlotte Creek below. There must be something about the geology/hydrology of this area that stores water in these dry times. The (unmaintained) trail contours along the north slope of the Charlotte Creek valley, passing through forested areas and open areas that appear to the result of snowslides wiping out the lodgepole tree cover. We drop in elevation a bit and start seeing other tree species – limber pine, western white pine, red fir. Aspen of course, and a few junipers. The route reaches a mid-slope basin to the immediate NE of Charlotte Dome, with a running stream passing through the basin. We lunch there by the stream, then start climbing the slope to the north and a little west towards Gardiner Pass. There is not an obvious trail here that we find… occasional ducks intermittently suggesting a route. The climb up from our lunch spot is about 1300’, and agreeably is forested all the way to the pass. Good views from the pass of course – Brewer, Ericson, the Videttes.

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Gardiner Pass looking south to Brewer - Self, 1971

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Gardiner Pass looking south to Brewer - Self, 2021

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The Elders of our Group

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View north from Gardiner Pass - the basin below

Then we start down.
The north side of Gardiner Pass does have a well-defined trail leading down, which is fortunate as that side is quite steep for the first 300’ of elevation. It’s getting late, we are ‘knackered’ (to use a phrase gleaned from our trail acquaintance from England), and we are looking for a camp spot. Interestingly in this basin – all the way down to Gardiner Creek – there is NO running water to be seen. The lakes have water enough in them, but have no running inlets or outlets. We camp on a pretty bench next to a small lake on the east side of the canyon, about ½-way down the basin.

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At the bottom of Gardiner Pass - looking back (south) at the Pass

- End of Part II -

[bulaklakan]

Part III of our Vidette/Gardiner trek, beginning with Day 10 -

Day 10. We’re up and off fairly promptly, but not before the sun hits us.

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Morning sun at campsite below (north of) Gardiner Pass

The map shows the ‘trail’ on the west side of the canyon here, but we meander down the east side on forested benches. We reach the big lake that sits above Gardiner Creek. A fine lake, despite the lack of flowing water.

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Large lake at bottom of basin below Gardiner Pass

I enjoy walking the edge of the lake, but then end up lost from my companions for a bit as they follow a pseudo-trail that drops over a saddle east of the lake mouth. Very steep ground here, a 600’ drop to Gardiner Creek. We angle to the east when we can. We reach Gardiner Creek – there is some water flowing here. We have lunch at a secluded spot in the creek bed, then spend the afternoon climbing to the east up the watershed, along the creek, through forests, over benches and rocks. There is a loosely defined trail here, and surprisingly we see relatively fresh horse/mule poop along this route… seems like some pretty rough country for stock. Eventually we reach our target campspot near the outlet of the large Gardiner Lake at about 10,600’. Wash up, dinner, to bed. A gorgeous sky of stars in the open basin.

Day 11. A well-deserved layover day to enjoy this beautiful basin that we worked hard to reach. No one else is here.

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View up Gardiner Lake from our campsite

There’s washing of bodies and clothes, equipment repair. There is an island in the lake nearby and we conjecture about wading/swimming to it, but in the end none of us do so. In the afternoon Megan and I hike to the upper end of the lake, then proceed further up the incoming stream to the east (waterfall!) to the lake above. A pretty little lake. We have a good look from afar at ‘East Gardiner Pass’ – an alternate route into this part of the basin. Back to camp, dinner, bed, stars.

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From lake above main Gardiner Lake - view southwest to East Gardiner Pass

- End of Part III -

[bulaklakan]

Part IV of our Vidette/Gardiner trek, Day 12

Day 12. There’s a set of 3 high basins to the NW and NE of Mt Clarence King that I have been lusting after. There’s no trail through this area, but HST & other lore suggests that there are cross-country passes through this area that others have negotiated. My thought is to traverse around the north side of Mt Clarence King from Gardiner Basin through these high basins and arrive at Sixty Lakes Basin to the east of Mt Clarence King.
None of the rest of the party is interested in this route. So, Trekker9 lends me her Garmin In-Reach and Julia a whistle, and I head off to the north from our Gardiner Lake camp. Megan/Julia/Trekker9/Slabwalker plan to exit Gardiner Basin via 60 Lakes Col, and we will meet at a particular one of the 60 Lakes in two days (night of Day 13).

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Looking north from near Gardiner Lake - King Col is at the right/east end of this ridge

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View southwards to Gardiner Lake, 1971. Sister Megan and Self

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Similar view south towards Gardiner Lake, 2021

The basin to the NW of Mt Clarence King has a string of 4 nice-sized lakes in it. This basin also has some personal family history to it. In 1970 our dad led Megan, self and some family friends into this basin. The 1970 trip started in Cedar Grove, to Woods Creek, and then climbed the 2400’ out of Woods Creek to the basin. We dubbed this basin ‘Hallelujah Lakes’, presumably to characterize our feelings when we finally crested the last bench and viewed the lowest lake. Ever since I’ve known the basin by this name.
The route from Gardiner Basin to Hallelujah Lakes of course is accomplished by crossing ‘King Col’ – a steep scree corridor that is not well regarded by those who have done it and written about it. Ascending the SW side of King Col is benign enough – climbing up to and up a west-to-east sandy ramp. I accomplish this, arriving at the top of the Col (~11,700’) at noon. As noted, the north side of King Col is a steep scree-and-rock corridor, maybe 30’ across. I take my time on the descent, using one hiking pole to help stabilize myself and keeping the other hand free to grab onto the rock face on one side or the other of the corridor. There’s about 3-400’ vertical feet of this, then the corridor opens out into a large talus field which is also time-consuming to negotiate. At about 2:30 I arrive at the lowest Hallelujah Lake. Strip down for a quick plunge in the lake, eat lunch. I’d be happy to stay in this fine basin overnight, but I am on a time schedule to get to 60 Lakes. So at ~3:30 I pack up and climb to the NE, with the purpose of crossing the ridge there into the small basin to the east. Get to the ridge, over and into the basin. From the map I guessed that the small lake there might be a barren body of water in a talus field. But in fact it’s a very attractive lake – above treeline, but with grass and granite benches around it. I can see the next pass that I have to cross to the east and it’s imposing. It’s about 5:30 and I’m knackered. So this basin will be my campsite – I pick a sandy spot on a bench above the SE side of the lake.
This small lake has no fish or frogs. It is well populated with small black beetle-like aquatic insects that appear to swim constantly from the bottom of the lake (for food?) to the surface (for air?) and back again. At dusk a small bird swims around the lake – it swims and looks like a duck, but is much smaller than a typical duck. It appears to be feeding in the lake – likely eating the afore-mentioned insects. And as dusk deepened a number of bats flit over the lake surface, periodically swooping to the surface. I’m guessing that they also are feeding on the aquatic insects.
I eat a stoveless dinner. Stars!

[bulaklakan]

More of Part IV of our Vidette/Gardiner trek, continued Day 12
[I prematurely submitted Part IV - here's s complete version of Day 12 with photos]

Day 12. There’s a set of 3 high basins to the NW and NE of Mt Clarence King that I have been lusting after. There’s no trail through this area, but HST & other lore suggests that there are cross-country passes through this area that others have negotiated. My thought is to traverse around the north side of Mt Clarence King from Gardiner Basin through these high basins and arrive at Sixty Lakes Basin to the east of Mt Clarence King.
None of the rest of the party is interested in this route. So, Trekker9 lends me her Garmin In-Reach and Julia a whistle, and I head off to the north from our Gardiner Lake camp. Megan/Julia/Trekker9/Slabwalker plan to exit Gardiner Basin via 60 Lakes Col, and we will meet at a particular one of the 60 Lakes in two days (night of Day 13).

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Looking north from near Gardiner Lake - King Col is at the right/east end of this ridge

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View southwards to Gardiner Lake, 1971. Sister Megan and Self

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Similar view south towards Gardiner Lake, 2021

The basin to the NW of Mt Clarence King has a string of 4 nice-sized lakes in it. This basin also has some personal family history to it. In 1970 our dad led Megan, self and some family friends into this basin. The 1970 trip started in Cedar Grove, to Woods Creek, and then climbed the 2400’ out of Woods Creek to the basin. We dubbed this basin ‘Hallelujah Lakes’, presumably to characterize our feelings when we finally crested the last bench and viewed the lowest lake. Ever since I’ve known the basin by this name.
The route from Gardiner Basin to Hallelujah Lakes of course is accomplished by crossing ‘King Col’ – a steep scree corridor that is not well regarded by those who have done it and written about it. Ascending the SW side of King Col is benign enough – climbing up to and up a west-to-east sandy ramp. I accomplish this, arriving at the top of the Col (~11,700’) at noon.

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View from King Col to the south - Brewer and North Guard

As noted, the north side of King Col is a steep scree-and-rock corridor, maybe 30’ across. I take my time on the descent, using one hiking pole to help stabilize myself and keeping the other hand free to grab onto the rock face on one side or the other of the corridor.

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Looking down King Col from the top

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Halfway down King Col - Looking back up

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Hallelujah Lakes from above

There’s about 3-400’ vertical feet of this, then the corridor opens out into a large talus field which is also time-consuming to negotiate. At about 2:30 I arrive at the lowest Hallelujah Lake. Strip down for a quick plunge in the lake, eat lunch.

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At Hallelujah Lakes - looking east to Mt Clarence King

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Lunch spot on the lowest Hallelujah Lake

I’d be happy to stay in this fine basin overnight, but I am on a time schedule to get to 60 Lakes. So at ~3:30 I pack up and climb to the NE, with the purpose of crossing the ridge there into the small basin to the east. Get to the ridge, over and into the basin. From the map I guessed that the small lake there might be a barren body of water in a talus field. But in fact it’s a very attractive lake – above treeline, but with grass and granite benches around it. I can see the next pass that I have to cross to the east and it’s imposing.

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The middle basin of my traverse - small lake in this basin, Special K Saddle on horizon center

It’s about 5:30 and I’m knackered. So this basin will be my campsite – I pick a sandy spot on a bench above the SE side of the lake.
This small lake has no fish or frogs. It is well populated with small black beetle-like aquatic insects that appear to swim constantly from the bottom of the lake (for food?) to the surface (for air?) and back again. At dusk a small bird swims around the lake – it swims and looks like a duck, but is much smaller than a typical duck. It appears to be feeding in the lake – likely eating the afore-mentioned insects. And as dusk deepened a number of bats flit over the lake surface, periodically swooping to the surface. I’m guessing that they also are feeding on the aquatic insects.
I eat a stoveless dinner. Stars!

- End of Part IVB -

[bulaklakan]

Part V of our Vidette/Gardiner trek, Days 13-16 -

Day 13. My next pass – to the east of my lake camp – has been named ‘Special K Saddle’ by previous cross-country hikers. I’ve been examining my side of the pass since I entered this little basin. It’s a pretty steep wall, with one obvious opportunity to ascend it – what appears to be a ledge that angles from the talus field below to the ridgeline (angling from lower right to upper left as one faces the wall).
I’m up promptly in the morning and at the base of the ledge within a ½-hour. At the bottom the ledge is 30’ wide, and even has a mini-talus field in the middle. Farther up a couple of granite slabs have slid down across the ledge – I’m able to scuttle around the slabs on the downhill side. [Though if coming downhill this scuttle wouldn’t have been comfortable… probably would try to climb over the slabs instead.] The next obstacle is a thick mat of limber pine brush that fills the ledge. I’m able to push my pack through an opening and then climb through. There’s more brush up ahead. At this point I’m able to leave the ledge and climb up the rocks/talus to the saddle, reaching it at 9:30am.

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Special K Saddle from the west. Purple line is my route Up

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Partway up the Saddle - Morning view back to 'Middle Basin' Lake

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View from Special K Saddle - to the NE and the two lakes below. Baxter Lakes in the distance

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View from Special K to the SW. King Col visible on horizon, center left

The east side of the saddle is not trivial either. From the top I can see that there are probably cliffs below, and I’m wary of descending to a place where I’ll cliff out and have to climb back up. It looks like to my left/north there is a concave part of the slope that may offer an easier way down. I climb along the ridgeline to that area. Now I’m not so sure that I wouldn’t cliff out here. But looking back to the south I can see that there’s an incline down in that direction. I climb back to the south and downwards. The incline is a scree-filled channel that goes slowly, but it is a route to the bottom without cliffing out. Once down the cliffy area, I cross a sandy wash, over more talus and am looking down at the upper of the two significant lakes in this basin.

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Looking up at Special K Saddle from the east. Purple line is my route down

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Upper lake east of Special K Saddle

It’s a fine-looking lake – at 10,700’ it’s in what I consider the ‘sweet spot’ of sierra elevations – low enough to have some tree cover, high enough to be mostly open to the granite and stars. There’s still some cliffs to circumvent and steep ground to negotiate to get down to the lake. There’s as much water running out of this lake as I’ve seen in any creek the entire trip, clearly because of the (small) snowbanks high on the north face of Mt Clarence King. I follow the stream out to a good view of a lower lake below… it’s another superb-looking body of water. Nice waterfalls between the two lakes. I work my way down the cliffs & steep ground along the waterfalls and find a grassy shady lunch spot beside the lower lake.
At 2:30 I pack up. The final pass to be crossed is a low point on the ridge east of the lake that I’m lunching at. It takes a while to get to the bottom of the slope below the ridge– there’s a moraine and other talus to cross in the short distance around the lake.

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Lower lake northeast of Special K Saddle - from ridge to the east

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From the ridge - lower lake below, Special K Saddle on horizon center left

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From the ridge - view SE to Rae Lakes and beyond
Then up 800’ to the ridge, down 600’ on the other side and south to Sixty Lakes. I reach camp at 6pm, quite knackered.
Megan, Julia, Trekker9 and Slabwalker took a day and a half to get to the Sixty Lakes camp, crossing Sixty Lakes Col. On the way Slabwalker put down his pack and climbed Mt Cotter.

Day 14. We’re headed towards Onion Valley now. We generally avoid the JMT and the relatively populated Rae Lakes area, but thought that it would be interesting to walk through the Rae Lakes basin as long as we weren’t camping there. Thus our plan for the day is to drop down from Sixty Lakes Basin next to Arrowhead Lake, then follow the JMT south to the Dragon Lake trail junction.
However, as we found out when leaving Charlotte Lake 4 days previous, the National Forests in California are closed and thus the number of folks who can get into Kings Canyon NP are severely limited. Thus, during our 2-mile hike on the JMT (including a lunch stop) we see less than 10 other people.
Then it’s a 600’ foot climb to Dragon Lake. We camp on a bench near the lake outlet. Dragon Lake is just another of the many excellent & scenic lakes that we’ve camped at on this trip. We have a late sunset, a warm night.

Day 15. Our original plan was to exit the Sierras by climbing over the cross-country Gould Pass, dropping to Golden Trout Lake and from there back to Onion Valley. But, we decide to forego the talus and scree climbing that this route would involve and instead opt to return via Glen and Kearsarge Passes. We retrace our steps down from Dragon Lake, get back on the JMT and head south. We see a few folks around the upper Rae Lake (mostly dayhiking or fishing). Then climb to Glen Pass (no wind there), lunch, hike down the south side.

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From Glen Pass - one more look at Brewer

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Bullfrog Lake & West Vidette

From the upper Rae Lake to the Charlotte/Kearsarge trail junction we see just 9 other folks. [It seems that hikers can still enter the park via Roads End, as hiking from that trailhead doesn’t involve crossing NF land. So we see a few folks who are traveling the Rae Lakes loop.]
At the trail junction there is a note from the Charlotte Lake ranger offering trail food to JMT hikers who are unable to resupply over Kearsarge because of the NF closures – very cool. The following day when we chat with ECC trail workers they also offer food if we need it.
We returned to our favored campsite at Kearsarge Lakes for the night. We understand that there’s one other party this night at the Lakes, but we don’t hear or see them.

Day 16. We’re up promptly and hiking for the trailhead. Trekker9 and Slabwalker get off to a quick start. Up the ~700’ to Kearsarge Pass and down the other side. Megan Julia & I see ONLY the 3 trail workers and a packer taking them a re-supply during the entire hike to Onion Valley – otherwise the trail is deserted. We three lunch at the stream between Flower and Gilbert lakes, then another 1200’ down, reaching our car at 3:00.

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An unlikely sight - nearly empty parking lot at Onion Valley (Sept 8th, 2021)

We drive into Bishop, meet Trekker9 & Slabwalker, shower, and have a fine post-trip dinner.

[Wandering Daisy]

Great photos of many places I want to go! I skimmed your trip report so may have missed a few details. I had trouble following your route to Vidette Lakes. In 2016 I found the trail to Vidette Lakes, by chance. It was in pretty good shape once found. I just crossed the creek a bit above Vidette Meadow and headed straight uphill and soon ran into it. It angles the hillside for quite a distance. It also faded out nearing the lower Vidette Lake.

Was your permit going in via Robinson Lake covered under the quota for Onion Valley in general? Seeing all the talus on your route, I think I would go in the trail to Center Basin and then put up with the backtrack to the trail up to Vidette Lakes.

Your logistics were complicated but worked very well. Did you have means to communicate with the other members of your group when you separated? Who (packer) did your resupply?

[bulaklakan]

Daisy - Yes, a map of our route would be useful - I can prepare one. We did not enter Vidette Lakes via the creek and trail, rather we crossed the East Vidette divide between Center Basin and Vidette Lakes (see Day 4, and the photos with purple route lines accompanying Days 2 and 5). Yes it would've been 'easier' to hike the trails, but for me part of the point was to get off the trails and follow these more obscure routes (University Pass, crossing the East Vidette divide) and experience those places, get up high and see the views. Not everyone in the group shares my attitude, but for this trip anyway they humored me.
Yes, Robinson Lake is covered by the Onion Valley permit (I think - correct if I'm wrong Trekker9).
We had an InReach device. Early in the trip when Trekker9, Slabwalker and I were in the backcountry and others were home, we could send brief messages ('bring an extra flashlight battery and some Shoe Goo', etc). Later in the trip when we separated for 2 days leaving Gardiner Basin, we could not communicate.

[bulaklakan]

And we used the packer there out of Onion Valley - 'Kings Canyon Pack Station' I think. However, apparently the owner of that outfit lost all of her packers at the beginning of the season, so Rock Creek was helping her out. Our packer was on assignment from Rock Creek.