So on with the report! If you happen to come across this post later we did this hike in August 2017. Winter of 2016-2017 was a very high snow year for the sierra so there was lots of concern and very little info on the river crossings early on in this trip. That is what initially led me to HST and why I am writing this trip report now. Hope it's useful to somebody. I'll give coordinates in UTM where I have them and was using NAD83 for this trip since that is what the Tom Harrison maps are in.
We left San Diego at something like 5:30am on August 19th because if you live here you are always trying to gameplan around LA traffic, and we wanted to reach Roads End ranger station before they close at 3:30 so we wouldn't have to wait for them to open to start hiking the next day. After a quick breakfast for lunch at Dimples Diner in Visalia (recommended) we made it to the ranger station around 3 and managed to switch our permit to that day so we could break the hot relentless climb up copper creek trail into 2 days. Also recommended! We actually got to walking just around 4:30 pm just in time to get caught in a thunderstorm where we sheltered as best we could for 45 minutes and so couldn't even make it to Lower Tent Meadow (ostensibly the first place to camp) before dark. We did manage to find another campsite on top of a flat rock that was just big enough for our Copper Spur UL2 and had a creek nearby, it was maybe a mile short of lower tent meadow. I forgot to grab coordinates for it for this report but by looking at the map my best guess is about here: 11S 0358900E 4076108N. And here is a pic of the campsite: https://imgur.com/a/LDxu1
On the 20th we went over "the lip" and into granite basin. mosquitoes were about a 2-3 in granite basin (but reduced after granite pass). We elected not to go over granite pass that day since we were still ahead of schedule from leaving a day early and there was another thunderstorm brewing, so we backtracked and stayed near the monarch divide ranger station.
The 21st we made it on Granite pass in time to "see" the solar eclipse. It was cloudy. https://imgur.com/a/bB5qu. That day we descended all the way to where Horseshoe Creek crosses the trail before entering the middle fork kings. It involved a bit of night hiking but we were extra motivated because we ran out of water. The last water source before Horseshoe creek is the east fork Dougherty creek that you cross. If you didn't know this it could be easy to get into a bad situation especially if you were coming up (going the opposite direction as us) in the heat of the day-- its about a 7 mile stretch with no water. The next day we met a couple that would give us some info on Palisade Creek and we would tell them about this waterless stretch. https://imgur.com/a/XKwpp
The 22nd we would go from Simpson Meadow to just before Palisade Creek so we could try to cross it when the water was low. This section of trail was particularly hard- the trail was totally overgrown in places so it was more bushwacking that trail walking: https://imgur.com/a/T53r9 Where it wasn't that it was a lot of ups and downs in little side drainage to the MFK. To put it in perspective I had planned on 10 miles a day to be a leisurely stroll with lots of opportunity for side trips and long breaks, but from granite pass 10 miles a day was strenuous to the point where you get to your campsite and don't even want to make dinner just sleep. We are not athletes or ultralight backpackers, but for comparison when we got on the superhighway that is the JMT and were doing 15-20 miles days without as much effort. Just a thing to keep in mind when planning. Anyway the one creek crossing here that could present a challenge is I think called Dumbell creek (Cartridge creek has a bridge over it). I think this is listed as "very dangerous" on the SEKI website because of the consequence of the worlds worst waterslide directly into the MFK if you happen to go for a swim. https://imgur.com/a/xSdJV. We got to a nice campsite right before Palisade Creek that even has a firepit which we were too tired to use from the day (11S 0359653E 4101819N).
On the morning of the 23rd we ate what we presumed to be our final meal and prepared to cross palisade creek. We are both pretty cowardly and I am clumsy to boot, so we were determined to find a safe crossing spot and Palisade Creek was the scary looming threat in our minds from the previous 4 days. We checked out where the trail crosses- absolutely not. So we went upstream a bit to scout out where that couple we met said they crossed. It was described to us as an "s" bend in the rapids with a deep pool after (https://imgur.com/a/v69EV). We attempted to cross here but made it halfway and decided to turn back and look for somewhere safer. There is like a 95% chance that we would have been fine but like I said: cowardly. We bushwacked/followed deer trails upstream on the south side with the goal of reaching a flatter looking area on the map or finding a log crossing before that. It was tough going and we got cut up a bit on our legs (we were both stupidly wearing shorts). There was a potential log crossing here: 11S 0360516E 4101893N but there was lots of consequence if we slipped off and like I said- clumsy. Eventually we made it to here: 11S 0360955E 4101845N. The flat spot we saw on the map turned out to be a meadow and the water was calm and easy to cross. I would consider this the first reliable spot to cross Palisade creek coming from the south when the water is high. Logs move around and a little more water could make a doable section deadly, but the topagraphy of this crossing point should make it pretty stable. Here is a picture from the north side after we crossed. https://imgur.com/a/ft96y
From here we were on the JMT and there is plenty of info about that kicking around so I won't repeat it. I'll just say that most of the passes had some snow left on the north side but nothing that couldnt be climbed around or just walked across without spikes at this point in the season. I also wanted to get a couple of resupply options in for those trying to do the BSL. We ended up going to the Mt Williamson motel and basecamp which was really nice after 9-10 days out. It was $360 for the two of us (expensive but considerably cheaper than the other option which would have been a divorce
and we got to go to the Eastern Sierra Museum https://imgur.com/a/Cm2IV. We also got a ride with the people that run the Sequoia Kings mule pack station right out of onion valley (with pine creek packstation). They have zero internet presence because they are old school, but here is a couple of numbers (760)387-2797 or (760)920-5588. They would bring your resupply to where the JMT meets the trail over Kearsarge pass for around $400. Also not cheap but would save the time to come out and go over kearsarge twice. Anyway, seemed like good people when we got a ride with them.Feel free to PM me any questions you got.
Thanks!
Jake
Surely you are joking about swimming in the Washbowl? People can get in that thing?!?