Circle of Solitude 2024 = Feedback Sought

[Lenier]

Hey HST! Currently planning my Circle of Solitude trip, hopefully for late July to Early August of 2024. Planning on beginning out of Onion Valley, going CCW. I've chosen the routes intentionally - I know that many will head over Milestone, or Harrison on this loop, but I've never been over Forester, would love to see Lake South America, and want to actually go down the Kern-Kaweah drainage after seeing into it when I did the HST a few years ago.

Here's my caltopo planning so far:
https://caltopo.com/m/HQC52

I have a few questions regarding campsites, mainly:

1). Is there anywhere worth camping at in the Avalanche Pass area? Should I head off-trail to one of the two lakes up there?

2). Should I camp at Garret's Lake (sp?) instead of pushing all the way to Junction Meadow?

3). I've only been up Bubb's from Road's End to the intersection with the JMT. Should I camp closer to Forester for views, or go ahead and get to Upper Vidette?

Thanks for any input!

[Wandering Daisy]

Early season there is a small creek down the south side of Avalanche Pass and a few tight camp spots. But you are going downhill at that point, and it may not be that hard to drop to Moraine Creek, which usually has water and nice camping.

I think you mean Gallets Lake- it really is not a lake but now is more of a wide spot in the river. There are nice camp spots all the way down before you drop to Junction Meadow.

If I had time for a side trip it would NOT be Vidette Lakes. The more rewarding side trip would be Casper Lake, or the unnamed lake below Mt Jordan. This are of the Upper Kern is much more scenic than Lake South America. It is fairly easy off-trail travel to get to these lakes.

You also do not need to drop all the way to the cross-trail junction to go between Lake South America and the trail below Forrester Pass. You can cut across before you get the large lake. That valley is full of mosquitoes, so I would not suggest camping there.

Once you figure out campsites a clockwise route may be better. At any rate, I would figure the daily mileages for both ways and have travel plans. If the weather is great and stable, personally I would go over Forrester Pass while you have a recent weather forecast for good weather.

I would not personally camp at Roaring Fork Ranger Station or Cement Table Meadow. Colby Lake is a great camp.

[oleander]

I did the Circle of Solitude in 2014. We spent too much time sticking to the trail. It's a long trail, some of it nice, some of it not quite so memorable. If I were to do it over again, I would have done longer (12-13 mile) days on the more rote sections of the trail so as to free up more time to explore the enticing off-trail areas. That said, you are right that the Kern-Kaweah section of trail is quite beautiful; the whole way from Colby Lake to the Kern. Try not to rush that section.

Leave Upper Vidette for another time. You can get in there in just one day from Kearsarge on *another* trip. It's charming, but it didn't rock my world like the following 3 places. And these 3 are quite a haul in; so it's a shame to not see them while you are passing by. You may not be able to hit all of them, but maybe 2?

* Reflection Lake - since Roads End out of Kings Canyon will be closed, this will be the rare year when nobody is walking up the Bubbs Creek Trail from there. You can have Reflection to yourself.

* Pickett Creek

* Upper Kern

Other ideas (places I haven't been to personally): Upper Cloud Canyon; Glacier Ridge; Triple Divide Peak area; uppermost western extreme of the Kern-Kaweah Basin; Center Basin

- Oleander

[Lumbergh21]

1) Avalanche Pass is a wide flat area in the woods. I'm sure there are many flat spots where you could camp, but no views and no water. Like Daisy wrote, I passed by a couple of potential sites where the trail is near Moraine Creek on my way to camping at Roaring River Ranger Station. I think I should have stopped at Moraine Creek, though I did have Roaring River all to myself.

2) I've never been to Gallets. I passed by Junction Meadow in 2016 on my way to Lake South America, and it seemed like a nice place to camp but well used.

3) I camped along Bubbs Creek in 2015 as I was stopped for lunch then was stopped from continuing south over Forester by a storm. I stopped along Bubbs Creek for lunch again in 2016 (this time headed north) at a site that had a bear box, and I didn't care too much for how dusty and well used the camping area was. I would rather camp further south above tree line or further north, preferably in a less used area.

I don't have nearly the experience of some of the regulars on here, so I'm sure that you will get some great recommendations from others.

[Lenier]

Thanks for all the tips so far, confirms a lot of my thoughts!

With regard to Upper Vidette, that was my mistake - I was speaking of Upper Vidette *meadow* on the JMT/PCT, not the Vidette lake basin. If I have tons of extra time, I will likely go off-trail in the upper Kern basin.

Regarding Road's End, all the info released so far indicates it will open next summer, just not on the traditional opening date. Still, I want to start this out of Kearsarge for multiple reasons other than that.

I want to go CCW to 1) Not have to see the same view climbing up Bubb's again and 2) I want to see the Whaleback coming up Cloud Canyon instead of seeing it first from above. Is there a reason to specifically go clockwise?

[BigSea]

I agree with Wandering Daisy, especially this part:

If I had time for a side trip it would NOT be Vidette Lakes. The more rewarding side trip would be Casper Lake, or the unnamed lake below Mt Jordan. This area of the Upper Kern is much more scenic than Lake South America. It is fairly easy off-trail travel to get to these lakes.

I really wanted to check out Lake South America, but I wasn't all that impressed when I finally got there. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I found views like this to be much better. This pic was taken near our campsite in Thunder Basin just above of Casper Lake.

HS to SP 082019_108.jpg

[LMBSGV]

I agree with the above posts. If you have the time, taking the detours to Reflection and Picket Creek are worth it, though you may prefer saving those for another trip. I agree about not camping at Roaring River. There are places farther up Cloud Canyon that can offer more solitude than at Roaring River. I also loved Colby Lake. There are lots of choices at Gallats Lake. In 1999, I waded the Kern-Kaweah and found a great campsite near one of the bends in the river. As I've posted in the past, I think Lake South America is not the best place to camp in the Upper Kern. Almost any of the other lakes offer better views and less heavily used campsites. The cross country from the ridge on the trail above Lake South America to the JMT below the climb to Forster Pass really is gorgeous and easy walking. Have a great trip!

[Wandering Daisy]

Camping near Upper Vidette Meadow can be a zoo. It is a standard campsite for those doing PCT and Rae Lakes Loop. Junction meadow (the one on Bubbs) below is much better. There are also nice sites near the falls before you drop to Junction Meadow. Great day-hike from Junction Meadow to Reflection Lake.

Another easy side-trip is Milestone Basin. There are some cairns where you cross the creek and then a fair use-trail up to the first meadow which is scenic.

Instead of staying on the trail to go back to Kearsarge Pass, go off-trail up the drainage to Kearsarge Lakes where there are nice campsites at the outlet of the lake (the lake where the trail from Kearsarge Pass ends). Everyone camps by the bear boxes. The outlet is less used.

[wsp_scott]

I thought Gallats Lake was beautiful, I'd love to camp there again, way prettier than Junction Meadow on the Kern.


I would not camp at Upper Vidette on purpose. It is fine if that is the way the day worked, but I would not make it a destination.

The Upper Kern basin is way better than Lake South America. This is looking down on Casper Lake

[thegib]

Since you say you want to experience Whaleback (and are committing the direction of the route just to walk up Cloud Canyon), you might consider leaving the Colby pass trail at 10000' and following the creek (still Roaring River) up to 10400'. It's a classic U-shaped glacial canyon so there's ample flat space for camping and you get to enjoy Whaleback on a more intimate scale for sunset and sunrise. Colby lake, while beautiful in its own right, doesn't really offer direct views of Whaleback (if memory serves). For me, the little tarns near 10400' were a special site.