Day 1. Horseshoe Meadows to Cottonwood Lake 5.
Day 2. Cottonwood Lake 5 to Sky Blue Lake via Old Army Pass and the Miter Basin Trail.
Day 3. Sky Blue Lake to Middle Crabtree Lake via Crabtree Pass.
Day 4. Middle Crabtree Lake to Wallace Lake.
Day 5. Wallace Lake to Upper Wright Lake.
Day 6. Upper Wright Lake to Anvil Camp via Rockwell and Shepard Passes.
Day 7. Anvil Camp to Shepard Pass Trailhead.
Day 1. Horseshoe Meadows to Cottonwood Lake 5.
We drove from the Bay Area starting at 5 am to meet up with Grizzly’s father-in-law(Steve) and his friend(Bill) in Independence who were both kind enough to help us leave our car at the Shepard Pass trailhead and then shuttle us up to our starting point at the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead. The clearance on my Honda Crosstour was just high enough to clear on the dirt road to the Shepard Pass trailhead parking lot. After being treated by Grizzly’s father-in-law to lunch at the Alabama cafe, we were off to the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead.
The air quality in the Lone Pine area was poor due to the Dixie fire in Northern California. We were worried about the impact this would have on our air quality for this trip and also on the effect it would have on the overall scenic beauty of the area we were hiking in. We lucked out. As we drove up from Lone Pine to the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead, the smoke cleared as we drove above 8,000 ft and when we arrived at the trailhead the skies were as clear and blue as usual.
The hike up to Cottonwood Lake 5 was pretty easy. Steve and Bill joined us for the first 3 miles before turning around to head back to their car. We camped in the area between lakes 4 and 5. We fished for bit in lake 5. Lakes 1-4 are currently closed for fishing until September due to new fishing regulations. We did see about 50 Golden Trout in the area of the Lake 4 outlet.
Day 2. Cottonwood Lake 5 to Sky Blue Lake via Old Army Pass and the Miter Basin Trail.
We started off towards Old Army Pass around 930 am. Even though one cannot see a trail heading up to the pass, the recent reports stated that the trail was there and was in mostly good condition. This turned out to be true. The trail was fine except for three short sections near the top where boulders were covering the trail but it was easy to climb over them or to simply go up higher to avoid them. It only took about 1 hour to make it to the top of the pass.
Cottonwood Lake 4 in the morning
Nearing the top of Old Army Pass
One of the damaged trail areas
Top of Old Army Pass looking East
Top of Old Army Pass looking West
We next headed down to the trail towards Lower Soldier Lake. We made it there and we were planning then to travel off trail to Upper Soldier Lake and then to continue cross country hiking to Sky Blue Lake. After seeing the terrain closer up, we decided to change course and take a longer route to Sky Blue Lake via the Miter Basin Trail which follows Rock Creek. This added some miles but turned out to be a good decision. The Miter Basin Trail was in decent shape and had great meadows, peaks and wildlife on it that we would have otherwise missed seeing.
We kept hiking and climbing through the Miter Basin and finally reached Sky Blue Lake.
We had the lake to ourselves until a group of 3 guys arrived and camped nearby. We got to bed early because we had a big day ahead of us which included going over Crabtree Pass.
Day 3. Sky Blue Lake to Middle Crabtree Lake via Crabtree Pass.
Before heading out on the trail in the morning we admired our surroundings at Sky Blue Lake. The reflections were gorgeous.
This reflection reminded of being at Precipice Lake last summer.
The cross-country hike up to Crabtree Pass was fairly easy to navigate. There were some useful cairns marking the trail along the way. We passed a few lakes on the way to the pass.
As we neared the pass, we saw the incorrect pass which is incorrectly marked with cairns. This incorrect pass is to far to the west and from our research involves a very dangerous descent on the West side of the pass. We found the correct pass that is farther to the east.
After tackling Pyra Queen Col last summer(we just refer to her now as the “Queen”), I would say that in comparison Crabtree Pass is significantly easier and only required a couple of spots that make one pucker! We took a very easterly route down that after looking back may have caused quite a bit more distance to get down, but none the less, we made it down.
We had to still cross a boulder field before reaching the lake and use trail around the lake.
We made it down to the Middle Crabtree Lake by mid afternoon which gave us the opportunity to fish, cook amazing fish tacos and rest up for the next day of hiking. It was amazing to find such a large beach at an alpine lake at 11,000 feet!
Day 4. Middle Crabtree Lake to Wallace Lake.
We knew this would be a long and tiring day due to the 11 miles that included quite a bit of route finding hiking off trail at the end the day.
We started out early and reached the Lower Crabtree lake in about 1 hour. The lake was filled with an incredible number of golden trout! And it is a very beautiful lake!
We continued onto the main intersection where the Crabtree Trail hits the JMT. We then headed North on the JMT for four miles until we reached Wallace Creek. We were in this same location last summer coming from the High Sierra Trail along the Wallace Creek Trail. We stopped for lunch and a rest before heading up the cross-country trail towards Wallace Lake. We followed Wallace Creek on and off along this 4 mile journey and found the area to be very nice.
We reached Wallace Lake a bit exhausted but were rejuvenated by the beauty of the area. We were the only two people in the entire area that day and night.
We fished quite a while and then cooked what may have been the best fish tacos ever! Tortillas, golden trout, fresh cut onions, and Louisiana hot sauce. Pure goodness! I don’t think Gordon Ramsay could outdo the flavors! We lathered the fish in olive oil and spices and wrapped them in foil and cooked them for about 6 minutes per side in a pan on the Jetboil.
After dinner, we looked to the west and found a spectacular view of the Kaweah Mountain range as the sun was setting. I must say that Wallace Lake was my highlight of the trip and hope to return one day.
Day 5. Wallace Lake to Upper Wright Lake.
Leaving Wallace Lake, we made our way up a ridge between the Wallace and Wright Creeks and found the going easy until we hit a large boulder field. There was no way except to keep going forward right over it.
After the boulders, we kept going towards the lowest of the Wright Lakes. We had contemplated about stopping at that lake for the night but we found it to be quite shallow and its banks were predominantly covered by reeds which would have made fishing difficult. So, we decided to keep moving and to head to the upper most Wright Lake. It was a good decision. The scenery and solitude were incredible. We had to set up our tents on pretty rocky terrain. We fished for a while before we encountered out first rain shower of the trip. We hunkered down for about 1 hour while it rained which wasn’t so bad since it gave us each some time to chill out and rest our bodies.
We fished again before dinner so we could once again have fish tacos for dinner. These fish had white flesh which was different than the orange flesh from the Golden Trout from the previous days. I wonder if these fish had a lot more of a Golden Trout and Rainbow Trout mix. The wind picked up at nightfall and high winds lasted the entire night which made getting a good night sleep difficult.
Day 6. Upper Wright Lake to Anvil Camp via Rockwell and Shepard Passes.
We fished again in the morning before breakfast and then got on the trail around 10 am on our way to Shepard Pass.
We had some real successful fishing at one the Wright lakes along the way. We headed over Rockwell Pass at the top of the Wright lakes basin. This was a very easy pass and it even had use trails on both sides of the pass.
Heading up Rockwell Pass
We headed down the east side of the pass towards Shepard Pass by mid-afternoon. We made the approximately 1.5-mile hike from Rockwell to Shepard Pass across a pretty devoid landscape however there was still water flowing in the small creeks.
Looking up at Shepard Pass
I was contemplating on doing some loose herding but I was glad I read the sign and then refrained from that endeavor.
We were happy to make it to the top of Shepard Pass but we lost excitement as soon as we headed down the east side of the steep pass. The trail was very narrow and had very loose rock.
Here is a picture of what I believe is the section of repaired trail that fell a few years ago. You can see below the trail where hikers had previously routed themselves below the damaged section.
We kept constant focus as we made our way down the steep section and were very relieved when we made it down to flatter, more stable terrain.
Looking back to the east at the pass
We kept traveling down the trail until reaching Anvil Camp, where we happily set up camp for the night in a pretty exhausted state. Maybe the camp could be renamed to “Advil” Camp.
Day 7. Anvil Camp to Shepard Pass Trailhead.
We woke up at 5 am to get a very early start on the trail to give us time to get lunch at Holy Smoke in Bishop and to ensure we could make it home in time to go to work the next morning. The hike down the trail was quite tiring and hot but I must state that the builders of this trail did an excellent job in constructing a trail on tough terrain that continually had reasonable grading. We started with 3.5 L of water each to ensure we would not run out due to unknown water availability along the way. As it turned out, there was a lot water flowing both on the Shepard and Symmes Creeks but it was better to be safe than sorry. We ran into about 8 folks hiking up the trail. I must say that I would not want to try to hike this going up in the beginning of a trip, with a full pack, under the hot sun. I would struggle to make it Anvil Camp in one day and then I probably would only make it another 5 miles the next day due to elevation and due to the steepness of the trail at the top of the pass. To say it another way, I’m very glad to have only gone down this trail. We wondered as we hiked as to how this trail came to be planned, approved, and constructed. It seems like the amount of effort to construct this trail, with a very questionable end to the trail at the pass that may not be able to be sustained long term, leads one to wonder how the trail construction was approved. If anyone has any good information or books on the history of Sierra Nevada trails and pass, I would like to read about them.
We made it down the 8+ miles and down almost 6k feet in only 5.5 hours. My toes and feet were sure hurting. I took the extra two liters of water that I carried but didn’t drink and dumped it over my head when we reached the car as the temperature at 1 pm was 100 F.
If there is anyone living near Independence that is looking for a weight loss program, I think a 7k feet hike up to Anvil Camp and back down every day, while carrying 7 liters of water and about 15 Cliff Bars would make the weight fall right off!
We changed into some clean clothes that were stashed in the car and headed for Bishop and the Holy Smoke restaurant. We probably lost about 5 pounds while hiking during this trip and probably put them back on during this one hour feeding frenzy at Holy Smoke. We took our time during our traditional brisket lunch to review the stats for the trip.
How did we do on achieving our trip objectives?
1. Less miles per day. 8 out of 10. We shortened our miles per day from previous years but still had a couple of long days but the trip would have needed to be extended and that was not an option as 6 nights out at one time is our limit.
2. Less difficult terrain. 7 out of 10. Crabtree Pass and the top of Shepard Pass were both a bit sketchy, but these locations also allowed us to significantly shorten the mileage of the trip.
3. Better fishing. 10 out of 10. We both caught many golden trout which included a couple of 15 inchers! The fishing action was usually quite active in terms of about 5 fish caught per hour. Couldn’t ask for better fishing conditions. Here are some fish pics.
Grizzly
Dayhike
Other notes
4. Mosquitos. 0 mosquitos in the sierras the summer. What a joy!
5. We both did a better job regarding the amount of food that we brought. We both had very little extra food left at the end of the trip.
6. We both brought water purification systems that either filtered water by gravity or by pressure and this allowed to keep making water at fast rate and also kept us very hydrated. Grizzley has a homemade pressure system but mine is a Sawyer 2 bag gravity system and I would recommend it. It is lightweight, durable, and makes 2 liters by gravity in about 5 minutes. It definitely is better than the smaller Sawyer squeeze filter systems.
7. At every stop for a rest or to make water along the trail, we kept taking off our shoes and socks for a few minutes to let our feet, socks and shoes dry out. It doesn’t take long to do this and it really gives your feet a nice break and helps reduce on the blisters.
8. We bought really good chicken wraps and french fries from the Alabama Café to go which we carried with us and had for dinner the first night at Cottonwood Lake 5. I liked that in that it saved time the first night in that we didn’t need to cook and it was very tasty.
9. Both of our inflatable pillows failed in that the internal seams separated which turned the pillows into beach balls which made sleeping a little more difficult. Time for new pillows.
Well, hope you enjoyed this report and hope to see you all on the trail next summer. Let’s hope for a heavy snowpack to ensure there is plenty of water in the alpine lakes and creeks for our enjoyment next summer.
