TR: Cartridge, Dumbbell, Cataract 7/28-8/4
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 2:43 pm
My first post. I got great info here to plan this trip to Lake Basin and environs.. thanks, everyone! A few items of note:
Cartridge Pass: The trail on the south side is easy to follow all the way from the Muir trail to the pass with just a few obscure sections where it's damp and/or grassy. From the river up it is just as shown on the old Mt Pinchot quad. We stayed on the north side of the Kings, encountered almost no bushwhacking and only had to cross the westernmost rockslide; the trail took us around the toes of the first 2. We lost the trail west of the slide before it turns uphill but had no trouble locating it using the old map. Others mentioned a tree down across the trail at about 10,320. This marks the beginning of a traverse west, so be sure to look for the trail before continuing.
The trail is (even) steeper on the north side but still easy to follow thru loose but generally non-dangerous talus.
Dumbbell Pass: The north side is not fun. Talus blocks are disconcertingly tippy and we were glad to have a little strip of soft-ish snow left to descend on (maybe a couple hundred feet. This was about a week ago). About halfway down we were not liking the prospect of a LONG boulder traverse around the east shore of the lake. There were some vegetated ramps leading north and west over the shoulder of the ridge that projects into the lake making the "dumbbell". We followed these and found a pretty good class 2 route down to the shore just west of the ridge and past the high-angle slabs, with easy boulder hopping around to the outlet.
Cataract Creek Pass: Snow is a non-issue at this point. The descent from Observation Lake to Palisade creek was more work than getting from the pass to the lake. There is a very nice section of trail about halfway down on the west side that takes you around some cliffs and the big rockslide that dams the ponds shown on newer quads, but it fades away above and below. I had heard there was a lot of avalanche debris in the lower canyon and was concerned there might be some windfall from the big wind storm last November but there were just a couple new trees down and the older ones weren't much of an impediment.
Creeks and lakes were down a little, no problems with crossings but still lots of water. Almost zero mosquitoes.
Cartridge Pass: The trail on the south side is easy to follow all the way from the Muir trail to the pass with just a few obscure sections where it's damp and/or grassy. From the river up it is just as shown on the old Mt Pinchot quad. We stayed on the north side of the Kings, encountered almost no bushwhacking and only had to cross the westernmost rockslide; the trail took us around the toes of the first 2. We lost the trail west of the slide before it turns uphill but had no trouble locating it using the old map. Others mentioned a tree down across the trail at about 10,320. This marks the beginning of a traverse west, so be sure to look for the trail before continuing.
The trail is (even) steeper on the north side but still easy to follow thru loose but generally non-dangerous talus.
Dumbbell Pass: The north side is not fun. Talus blocks are disconcertingly tippy and we were glad to have a little strip of soft-ish snow left to descend on (maybe a couple hundred feet. This was about a week ago). About halfway down we were not liking the prospect of a LONG boulder traverse around the east shore of the lake. There were some vegetated ramps leading north and west over the shoulder of the ridge that projects into the lake making the "dumbbell". We followed these and found a pretty good class 2 route down to the shore just west of the ridge and past the high-angle slabs, with easy boulder hopping around to the outlet.
Cataract Creek Pass: Snow is a non-issue at this point. The descent from Observation Lake to Palisade creek was more work than getting from the pass to the lake. There is a very nice section of trail about halfway down on the west side that takes you around some cliffs and the big rockslide that dams the ponds shown on newer quads, but it fades away above and below. I had heard there was a lot of avalanche debris in the lower canyon and was concerned there might be some windfall from the big wind storm last November but there were just a couple new trees down and the older ones weren't much of an impediment.
Creeks and lakes were down a little, no problems with crossings but still lots of water. Almost zero mosquitoes.