R04 TR: Snowfall, Blue Skies, and Big Fish- Woodchuck Country to Blackcap Basin 10/10 - 10/19 2021

[Harlen]

Hey Russ, those were the biggest Brookies we'd ever seen, let alone caught. I'd heard about them, and even thought to bring a landing net, but they were pretty weak fighters. Is that expected of Brookies? On the other hand, up in BC Basin some of the smaller Rainbows lept out of the water, and made great darting runs. We had a blast until it came time to clean them all in absolutely frigid water!

One more set of pics coming.

[Harlen]

Crown Lake's outlet, the morning after our second snowfall.

The fresh snow made for a truly amazing morning!

Nearing Crown Ridge and Pass. Kaweah Peaks Ridge, and the GWD in the far distance. (click twice to enlarge)

Mount Goddard and Reinstein, center right.

The dogs were great-- they suffered us lifting and tossing them up snowy ledges, long hard days, cold, wet weather, with no trouble at all.

Dog-tired, we almost camped here for our last night, then pushed on 4 more miles into the night. The sky was looking threatening again.

On our last day, we hiked out through a snowy wonderland.

It was a fantastic 10 day trip that we managed to sneak in before the really rough weather arrived. We hiked a total of 70 miles counting day hikes, and everywhere we went, especially in Blackcap Basin, the scenery and experience surpassed our expectations.

[Harlen]

Wandering Daisy writes: I was not sure from your photos; I think you day-hiked to Cathedral Lake? It is below Finger Col. I caught a 14-inch Rainbow in the lake this summer. Did you fish Cathedral Lake?

As you can see from the next bunch of photos, were sure did get up to Cathedral Lake. Your summer TR, and the photos you took are what lured us up there. We also really love the look of some of the more northern lake country you got into Nancy. Lizzie and I want to see Holster, and Bullet Lakes in particular. Is it indeed a good destination, or was it just a really nice picture you captured? Thanks for the inspiration to get back up there.

West side of Blackcap Pass is hard, even in good weather. I cannot imagine going down those ledges and cliffs in snow and ice. You have longer legs then me; I had a heck of a time with the huge "steps/cliffs".... I have always disagreed with the class 2 rating.

We are in total agreement, at least about crossing at the low point, at the south end of the pass. Going higher up the slope to the north really made it a lot easier, if a bit longer.

Speaking of tricky routes, how do you get up to Cathedral Lake? We went up the willowy ramp to the east above Portal Lake, and that's where the dog tossing and scariness came in.

Here is the where the hard part of our route began, on the way up to Midway/Cathedral.
The day before, I found 2 other ways up to the upper basin by scrambling up the ledges above Pearl Lake, by deemed them too sketchy for us all. On the way back down from Cathedral, we found the easy route down into Crown Basin, and walked back around from there. Thanks, Ian.

[Harlen]

WD:

Do you have any trouble getting your dog dry before getting into the tent?

Yes.

[Wandering Daisy]

Here is a map of my routes to Cathedral Lake. I came into it from the south (Crown Valley) and went out north to Pearl Lake. The red lines are all routes I have done carrying a backpack; the dotted blue ones that looked OK but did not actually do. A fellow I met at Cathedral Lake came up on the dotted blue line that intersects the route to Pearl Lake. He said there was a use-trail to follow. I found a faint use-trail on the upper part that I used, but then headed up a gully to get on the top of the ridge to continue to Pearl Lake so I did not have to lose elevation. The route from Crown Valley was particularly easy- nice slabs that avoided most of the brush. I do not think many people use this route because there was no sign of a use-trail. You could traverse to Cathedral Lake, but I wanted to stop at Midway Lake for a photo. The trick on the routes SW of Cathedral bench down to Crown Basin is to avoid brush. The route shown that drops from Portal Lake was a fine little gully that was brush free- I basically went down the dry creek bed. The route north to Pearl Lake was a bit harder with minor cliffs.

Your photo of the route from Portal Lake straight up, does not look as bad as it appears when looking up from Portal Lake.

Routes to Cathedral Lake

Cathedral Lake.JPG (249.94 KiB) Viewed 216 times

[Harlen]

Thanks Nancy,

Our route up (in the photo) wouldn't be bad in dry summer conditions, and without dogs. The snow made it slippery. I'll use the nice forest route in future, from the Crown Basin side. We also went up a steep chute to reach Battalion Lake, which is unnecessary, as the forest route (shown in green on your Nat Geo map) is dead easy.

[Flamingo]

Hi @Harlen, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this trip report. It is thrilling to learn about these special places in the glory of shoulder season. As per usual with your TRs, your photography excels at capturing the complete experience, including the snowy conditions, victories with fishing, the peculiar botany of Sierra rushes, the vibes at your campsites, and plenty of dog shots. I love it.

You are a braver man than me to jump into the backcountry when snow is on the forecast.

[Harlen]

wildhiker wrote:

Did you have any trouble following the trail from Halfmoon Lake to the North Fork Kings River? I kept losing it even in mid-summer in 2019. Much of it barely had any tread, and there was lots of deadfall.

Not so much on that stretch as later, on the way down from Crown Pass to the Woodchuck trail. Phil, didn't you write once about using a ridge route from Crown Pass area, and on to the east? I looked back southwest from up in BC Basin, and saw the possibility of a long, fairly level ridge one (you?) could take from Crown through Scepter, and on eastward to the Crown Basin area.

[giantbrookie]

What an amazing trip with really gorgeous scenes, including fall colors, decorated with the new fall snow. The really takes an already good trip to the next level. There is a somewhat wistful feeling of viewing this post as last weekend's storm appears to have dumped enough snow so I have cancelled my last planned trip (would have dayhiked to somewhere in 168 country with a bit of a 4WD assist).

[robertseeburger]

Wow Ian, what a great trip. I am envious.
Looks like you indeed looked at the weather report as I did, and decided to make a go of it anyway, with fantastic results.
I love this area..been in there 4 times more or less in last several years, and your photos really capture it well! I was even in there this summer for a quickie, but decided that my pics were not worthy of a post. Yours sufficed well. Glad to see someone loving the outdoors in October.