Re: Route Planning
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:08 am
Rogue- your route plan is long; my eyes glaze over. I just looked at it in more detail. Regarding the Bearpaw-Kern Hot Springs section, Hamilton Lake and Precipice Lake are really spectacular. If you want good photos of Hamilton Lake, the afternoon to evening lighting is best. Your plan has you doing this stretch in morning to mid-day. Moraine Lake to the Hot Springs will only take you a few hours and it goes through an old burned area that is not very pretty. This, plus the layover day gives you plenty of time to go slower through the Hamilton Lake area. I went from camping just below Keweah Gap on the east side to Kern Hot Springs in about 8 hours. It is a good trail and you can make good time. Moraine Lake is pretty and I regret not camping there. But I think from Moraine Lake to the Hots Springs is short enough that an additional layover day may not be needed. Now, if you have to walk through snow, that is a different story, but I doubt that will be the case this year. I really had trouble getting good photos in Kern Canyon. The canyon is tight and between the lighting problems and being so close that everything is foreshortened, I failed to get a photo that did it justice. You are a pretty good photographer so you may want to think about this and figure out how to overcome these problems. I am looking forward to seeing your photos. I assume you are spending two days at Guitar Lake to climb Whitney. If you get back early and have energy remaining, Arctic Lake is a nice place to get good photos of Mt.Russell. It is about 500 feet gain to get there but it is fairly easy walking and you would not have a pack on. Just a suggestion. As for Tamarak Lake, I camped on the bench just above Tamarak Lake- it has sandy flat spots and gets a nice breeze, as well as has a good view down-valley. You get water from the stream just before it goes over the falls into Tamarak. Tamarak Lake has more comfortable sites (in the trees on the west side) but less of a panoramic view. When I was there, the mosquitoes were thick in the trees so I continued up to the bench. There is a big meadow above Tamarak Lake too, so you want to stay far enough from that too. There are some limited grassy spots up at Lion Lake too and east along the outlet (after the snow melts). Here is Lion Lake early season and it shows the pass that goes over into Cloud Canyon.
This is the view down-valley from just west of Lion Lake. Tamarak Lake is the little blue puddle down there. As you can see from the photos, Lion Lake collects snow but it becomes clear of snow shortly once you start down the valley towards Tamarak Lake.
This is the view down-valley from just west of Lion Lake. Tamarak Lake is the little blue puddle down there. As you can see from the photos, Lion Lake collects snow but it becomes clear of snow shortly once you start down the valley towards Tamarak Lake.