Forester pass via western Divide over Colby or via Shepherds Pass

[reneekramer]

I am 65 level 2 and sometimes level 3 hiker. My husband and I want to do a west to east hike going accross the Western Divide in Kings Canyon Natioal Park exiting out Kearsarge through the John Muir wilderness. Our other goal is to go over Forester Pass going Northbound. We want gradual acclimation, so we chose not to start at Roads End avoiding Avalanche pass before getting to Roaring River. We decided to start at Sugarloaf trailhead going to Marvin Pass and seeing Mitchell Peak go through Sugarloaf Valley on down Clouds Canyon to Colby lake- Colby Pass. Then head on up and probably not take High Sierra trail to jmt/PCT but keep going north then about a mile and follow Tyndall creek to the Jmt/pct. The alternative is to hike in Shepherds Pass go over Forester and again out Kearsarge and maybe visit a couple lakes near and around Kearsarge..

Question is we prefer to go over Colby Pass and avoid Shepherds Pass to get over Forester Pass- Is Colby Pass desirable? Has anyone done both Colby and Shepherds pass to give a comparison. I know both have skree and broken slab. Colby has 3 Plus miles on west side ascending 3000 feet on a rocky narrow trail.
Any opinions out there
We plan to hike 60+miles over 9 days as a section hike.

[c9h13no3]

If the question is whether you should enter Sugarloaf or Shepherd (exiting via Onion Valley either way), I’d think the monstrously horrible car shuttle to get back to Sugarloaf would decide it for you. You could easily lock a bike up at Onion Valley Campground and do a mostly downhill ride back to Shepherd Pass Trailhead.

With 9 days available, there are plenty of loop options. If you insist on going over Forrester S to N, you could loop back to Shepherd via Junction Pass. It is essentially a cross country route with bits of old trail visible here & there.

[cgundersen]

To riff further on the preceding answer, first, I agree that the head-scratcher for the West side start and exiting at Kearsarge is getting back to your vehicle/transportation. If that is not an issue, please share your secret (magic carpet, helicopter, limo?). My last experience on Colby was that the route out of Cloud canyon to the lake is fine and halfway to the pass is OK, but the last several hundred feet will have you scrambling with few signs of the trail to be found. It's not a bad experience, but if you're not accustomed to that kind of terrain, it will be disconcerting. So, realistically, this seems like 2 strikes against a Westside entry.

So, what about going in from Horseshoe Meadow and working your way North either via Cottonwood Pass or New Army Pass? This will give you plenty of time to acclimate with a multitude of options for places to camp en route, and depending on how fast you knock down the miles, even leave time for side trips (to Lake South America, or Wales/Wallace Lakes). Good luck! Cameron

[Harlen]

cgunderson writes:

To riff further on the preceding answer, first, I agree that the head-scratcher for the West side start and exiting at Kearsarge is getting back to your vehicle/transportation.

Both the previous Comments question that onerous return trip, and I will "riff still further." Our "magic carpet" plan was once to trade cars with 2 friends, who began at the foot of the Shepherd pass route, while we dropped their vehicle at the TH for the High Sierra Trail, and began there. We planned to meet, and spend a few days together in Kaweah Basin, and then we carried on to our own cars.

If you can't manage that trick, then why not plan a great big circular route from Sugarloaf TH to Cedar Grove? You could cross Colby Pass, explore through the upper Kern Basins, cross Forester south to north, as you wished, and then either troop down the easy trails to CG, and arrange a ride to your car, or make it even more burly by climbing up and over the Sphinx Trail route back to Sugarloaf?

Let us know how it goes--Good Luck!

[thegib]

Colby is very different from Shepherds. Sugarloaf to Roaring Rvr is day one, day two takes you to Colby lake and day 3 is over Colby pass. So your uphill (from 7k to 12k) is spread over 2 days and you've two nights to acclimate. I didn't have any difficulty following the trail over Colby N to S last year. Shep starts out in the heat and is unrelenting. The top of Shepherd (crossing the snow field that'll be there this year) is scarier than anything on Colby. You said you wanted gradual acclimation and that's why you aren't starting at Road's End. Shep makes no sense then. I say this as someone who actually enjoys Shepherds pass. But for me, I don't lose sleep heading for Colby. Shepherd is beastly.

[TheFool]

From July 7 to 13 in 2018, I completed a 7 day loop trip with my daughters starting and ending at Road's End which included Avalanche Pass, Colby Pass, and Forrester Pass. I've hiked the HST two times West to East and both times had logistical issues with the transportation, so try to avoid trans-Sierra point-to-point trips and recommend considering a loop like the one we did which includes Forrester Pass South to North. If you want to lessen the elevation gain and mileage on the first day from Road's End you could camp earlier at the Lower Sphinx Creek junction.

I agree with @thegib comment on Shepherds Pass as being more difficult than Avalanche Pass and Colby Pass. One downside to the Colby Pass Trail is that while it is class 1 the whole way it is not maintained. In 2018, there were fallen trees on the east side of Colby Pass that obscured the trail, the brush from Kern-Kaweah Gap to the Kern River was almost to the "bush bashing" level, and due to rain that week the Kern River was high and very difficult to cross to reach Junction Meadow. This year in 2023 due to the high level of snow, the streams and river crossings will likely run high late into the summer and remain dangerous. I would avoid this trail and the Kern River crossing unless you have first hand reporting that the Kern River is crossable to Junction Meadow.

If the Kern River is safely crossable I do highly recommend the Colby Trail for the views at Colby Lake, Colby Pass, and the Kern-Kaweah Gap feature which is magical. The trail is very lightly travelled compared to the HST or JMT, so it is wonderful if you are seeking solitude. Even less travelled is the trail up the Kern River Canyon we took to Lake South America. The views of the Great Western Divide looking west from Lake South America are awesome. We were the only campers at Lake South America when we visited and from Junction Meadow did not encounter any other hikers until we reached the JMT intersection and headed up to Forrester Pass.

D1 Road's End -> Upper Sphinx Creek (8 miles, 3500' elevation gain)
D2 Upper Sphinx Creek -> Avalanche Pass (10000') -> Roaring River Camp (9 miles, 1400' up to Avalanche Pass, 2600' down to Roaring River)
D3 Roaring River Camp -> Colby Lake (10630') (10.5 miles, 3400' up to Colby Lake)
D4 Colby Lake -> Colby Pass (12000') -> Junction Meadow (11 miles, 1370' up to Colby Pass, 4000' down to Junction Meadow)
D5 Junction Meadow -> Lake South America (~11000') (9 miles, 4000' up to Lake South America)
D6 Lake South America -> Forrester Pass (13200') -> Center Basin Creek (10500') (12.5 miles)
D7 Center Basin Creek -> Road's End (17 miles, 5700' down to Road's End)

[cgundersen]

It looks like you've got the full gamut of options here, and The Fool makes a good point that any crossing of the Kern is likely to be sketchy till late summer, so tread cautiously there. However, if the river crossing is not an issue, then doing that grand loop he recommended (The Circle of Solitude, in the vernacular) is a great option. It's surely more challenging than the point-to-point options I suggested, but it will kick the tranquility up a notch. Cameron

[reneekramer]

Thanks Cameron. WE may end up doing the loop from Roads end and back taking 2 days to go over Avalanche. We are planning a mid to third week in August trip. To minimize river crossing hazard and it is still warm least amount of mosquitos. Loop would also include Center Basin and S Am lake .

I replied to someone about my magic carpet ride solution and here it is if we do a west to east excursion skipping the Sphinx. Sphinx sounds strenuous due to immediate elevation gain and "sketchier than Colby"

Drop off at Sugarloaf ( friend wants to hike in Jenny Lakes are for a couple of days who cannot do high elevation hiking). We hike out to Onionn Valley and get to Independence somehow( this is the hiccup I can see) Get to Independence by 5pm to catch ESTA bus to Mammoth. Spend the night there. Morning YARTS bus to the Valley Floor where i pick up a connecting Yarts bus at 4pm (4 hours hanging out in the Valley--not a bad place to be) That Yarts bus practically takes us to our back door in Jamestown. 120 route bus.

Another option is someone do EAST WEST ( someone from where we live -2 people who may be game for this-very experienced adventure hikers) We do WEST to East but from roads End( to make it easier for other hiker to drive our car back to Calaveras County)

What do you think of the magic carpet ride?

[c9h13no3]

We hike out to Onionn Valley and get to Independence somehow( this is the hiccup I can see) Get to Independence by 5pm to catch ESTA bus to Mammoth. Spend the night there. Morning YARTS bus to the Valley Floor where i pick up a connecting Yarts bus at 4pm (4 hours hanging out in the Valley--not a bad place to be) That Yarts bus practically takes us to our back door in Jamestown.

That public transit option sounds brutal. You can literally hike from Onion Valley to Roads End in a day, I'd rather do that than ride buses for two days. If you can get a ride to Sugarloaf and stash a car at Roads End, that shuttle isn't so bad.

I expect the hitchhike from Onion Valley to Independence is quite easy. A bit harder with two people, but it is a popular trailhead and everyone is going back down the hill.

Late August, river crossings are usually manageable. In a big snow year the mosquitoes never go away until a freeze though, since everything stays wet. The worst mosquitoes I've ever experienced were in August of 2019 around Upper Piute Meadow (near Tower Peak).

[reneekramer]

Thanks for your advise. I think stashing a car at Roads End would be the best and to forget about Kearsarge -do it for a different excursion. This will allow time to explore Picket Guard, S am Lake, Center Basin, East and Reflection lakes.